Saturday, April 23 was a great day to go exploring. One of my coworkers, John, wanted to see the
floe edge and asked if I could be his guide.
I agreed. (John teaches Grade
8). I confessed that I only travelled
half the distance but was confident that we could both figure out the rest of
the way. We would follow the main skidoo
tracks as far as we could and then rely on my Garmin GPS. We were only going to spend an hour or two
taking pictures then head back. Since
the weather was great, it was very likely there would be Inuit out hunting
and/or travelling along the main route to the floe edge.
I would drive my own skidoo and John would drive a
borrowed skidoo. For the skidoo
enthusiast reading this post, both machines are Expedition types, but the
models & years are different. Mine
is a 2015 Expedition 550F Rev-XP and the other is a 2016 Expedition 600 ACE
Rev-XU.
We left at 10am, packed and ready for adventure. I was bringing 10 gallons of extra gas, extra
oil, spark plugs, and a drive belt. I
also brought snacks, toilet paper (you never know), camera, and SPOT
Device. For lethal protection, I had my
shotgun and machete. John brought
similar supplies, minus a firearm. We
drove north, following the road to Victor Bay.
When we neared the bay, we could see three long skidoo trails stretching
into distance towards the floe edge. We drove
down to the frozen bay and followed one of the skidoo trails.
The skidoo trail we were following disappeared when we
left Victor Bay. We had to carve our own
path through the snow, leading to a bumpy ride.
Suddenly, we came across two parallel lines of tracks that were made by
a truck. Obviously, we didn't expect to
see such tracks this far out of town, but since the ice is really thick, it
would be possible to drive all the way to the floe edge. The tracks eventually disappeared as well,
forcing us to create our own paths again.
Our speed of travel increased substantially when we found
the main skidoo trail at the foot of the peninsula across Victor Bay. John took the lead and we drove for quite
some time at 50mph. We followed the
coastline north; I wanted John to see the awesome, jagged looking
mountains. We stopped nearly halfway up
the peninsula to take a break and let our snow machines cool down. Our location was about 37km to the north of
Arctic Bay.
My skidoo wouldn't start.
I turned the key several times and used the pull cord, but nothing
happened. John gave it a go but he was
also unsuccessful. In the distance we
heard the sound of an approaching skidoo.
An Inuk, who is also a Ranger, stopped and asked us how we were
doing. I explained my predicament and he
examined the skidoo. After several
starter attempts, he deduced that the engine was flooded. We removed the spark plugs and waited. I put in new spark plugs and we managed to
get the engine to start. Just as we were
beginning to think the trip was saved, the engine stopped working after five
minutes. I shook my head in
disbelief.
We could no longer risk continuing on with our trip. My skidoo needed to be towed back to town and
repaired. We hadn't brought a tow cable
on the trip. John would have to drive me
to the Northern Store where I would buy a cable, drive back out to help me hook
up my skidoo, and then tow it all the way back.
I apologized for the huge inconvenience and for not being able to visit
the floe edge. He said it was alright
and that breakdowns happen.
We "abandoned" my skidoo for the next two
hours. When I was shopping at the
Northern Store, I told several people about the recovery operation. (They asked me if I was going hunting but instead
I told them I was saving my skidoo). We
headed back out after resting for a bit.
I was able to spot my skidoo from a very far distance - it was just a black
speck sitting on a white plain (snow/ice).
My skidoo hadn't been tampered. A
part of me was hoping to see a seal sleeping on it but no such luck. We used the tow cable to connect both
skidoos, tying strong knots around the front & rear bumpers. We also removed the spark plugs and the drive
belt. I was told that removing the drive
belt is very important.
John towed my skidoo; I sat on it controlling the
handlebars. It was a slow drive to
Arctic Bay. John kept the speed between
25 - 30mph. We stopped before Victor Bay
to let the borrowed skidoo cool down.
Two Inuk men coming back from the floe edge stopped next to us for a
chat. They told me that I was lucky that
my skidoo broke down only 37km from town.
Many skidoos have broken down much further out on the land, requiring
days to recover. We asked them how were
things at the floe edge and they said it was nice. They saw several seals and narwhals. While we were talking, a student of mine
& his friend drove by on their skidoo towards the floe edge. We assumed they were going seal hunting.
John continued towing my skidoo. We drove off the ice, and up a small hill
before merging with the main road leading to Arctic Bay. There was a moment when my skidoo began to
turn sideways, forcing me to wave to John to stop. He drove slower, descending down the winding
gravel road into the community. He towed
my skidoo to a local mechanic who would look at the engine and clean if it was
just flooded.
In the end, our trip to the floe edge turned into a skidoo
recovery operation/training lesson. We learned
to always bring a tow cable and to make sure the drive belt is removed first. I should consider myself lucky because if I
had been driving alone, I would have had to walk for some time before flagging
down someone. I could have also
activated my SPOT Device for assistance.
This was my skidoo's first breakdown and the machine has been in my possession for a year and a half. I've heard of
skidoos experiencing problems after several months so I think I'm taking good
care of my machine. Unfortunately, no
matter how good you take care of a vehicle, it will always experience problems of
some kind.
The floe edge continues to elude me. Maybe it's sentient and doesn't want me to
visit? Regardless, I will make the trek
to the floe edge, with or without my skidoo.
(I'll borrow someone else's).
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