Caribou Stew and an IGLU too !!!

The "TEMPLATE"

After almost two hours standing on the ice, watching the elders start construction of this iglu, my feet were cold...not just cold...ARCTIC COLD. I hated to leave but thoughts of frostbitten toes and their treatment sobered my thinking and I starting off towards town to warm them.

The second row has begun

It was almost 1 p.m. The sun was starting to head down already. It hadn't rose high in the sky maybe 10 degrees today. Although it had provided light with a red orange haze to all it illuminated, it seemed to provide very little heat. I retraced my steps back to the dock, along the bay, up the hill and soon I near the Visitors Centre. I would warm there.

Climbing up the steps, it was dark...again. This was the third trip to it, and yet again it was closed..when I needed it most. I was resigned to head back to the apartment and then I saw lights...in a building I had passed a few times before.

The blur of fast assembly

I had my discount card from the Northern...so maybe I qualified...perhaps this ELDER's CENTRE would allow my feet to return to body temperature. Here, in Nunavut, no one is turned away when cold. There was no sense using the doorbell in this weather, I turned the knob and walked in.

The focus of knowledge, skill and determination of an experienced Elder

The warmth started to frost my SLR slightly (probably the humidity inside as this building). I removed my mitts and the recently acquired seal skin aviator-style helmet, hung my coat on a peg and introduced myself to the lone occupant. She was not an elder, but part of the heritage committee providing support for today's “on ice” seminar. I would only be a few minutes...and she was leaving shortly too.

The third row was just a solid

Some easy conversation as I circled the room, looking at the various photos depicting local history and hanging on the walls. Ancestors, many who no longer walked the earth, were standing in front of buildings dating from the mid-fifties and sixties. Through the expanse of windows, facing south, you could see the bay and the sun, now much lower in the sky despite my elevation. I had only been about an hour since its rise to the iglu site and already it was sinking quickly.

Once out of my boots, my feet warmed quickly (Note to self..three pair of socks next time). Another heritage member arrived, the first left, more conversation and then time to return to the demonstration seminar. This time in style...a truck ride back...combining both warmth and speed. Along the winding road, a turn to the right and a short trip back up another small hill above the iglu.

After the second row the only entrance available

The crowd was still there...and I could see some further progress had been made. A couple of quick photos was followed by the trek down to the shoreline. A couple of more rows of panels had been installed on the iglu during my absence. The sun had left the area now and so had some of the crowd.

The walls are curving inwards

The wind had started to pickup now and one of the organizers asked me if I had eaten my lunch yet. A quick response with a negative reply had me escorted to the flap of the tent. I opened the flap a bit and was hit with steam and warmth. Two ladies were seated....one legs crossed sitting on a slab of wood..the other next to the Coleman stove. Two other “guests” were standing, out of the wind with styrofoam bowls in hand...the contents steaming into the air.

Concentrating on the project

You want stew I was asked....yes please...out came the ladle...the pot got stirred...two scoops from the ladle and the bowl was filled. A plastic spoon, found in the plastic cutlery bag was inserted. With everyone watching to see my reaction and with the temperature outside, this steaming bowl was just what I needed. I stirred it a couple of times in case it was too hot to swallow.

Standing while watching caused my feet to chill
(I'm the brown coat on the right)

An assortment of vegetables...carrots, potatoes, and corn...and the meat within the gravy...TUKTU. A tasty concoction..the tuktu (caribou) a little course but quite enjoyable..had no gamy taste. Pleasantly seasoned, the bowl was soon empty. I started to put the bowl down on the used stack next to the stove when the cook asked...want another bowl?

Decisions...decisions..I said yes...had I made the right choice....two more ladles and the full bowl was passed back to me. It didn't take long and that bowl too was history. I looked at my camera...it had frosted on entry to the tent. The frost was gone....except inside the centre of the lens.

My hostess for the luncheon of TUKTU Stew

Time to head outside...I thanked my hostess near the stove, the other had left during my second bowl...and I told her how good it was. She seemed genuinely pleased. Once outside, now back in the reality of an arctic winter, the wind had further increased. The light was fading more and the iglu was progressing. Volunteers were bringing panels from another “dig” site, from forty feet away.

Kids played in the snow, as the four elders continued to angle and adjust the walls and tap the blocks into place. Watching and talking to the other spectators, the work progressed...another hour and a half had passed after my “snacks” and my feet started to ache from the cold once again.

The centre is lowered to the level of the entrance to gain height inside

The battery finally failed on the Nikon, my lens having become clear about ten minutes after leaving the steamy canvas shelter. Although the iglu was not complete, my day was done...the cold, all the walking, the whole experience...I had reached my limit....and I still had a mile to home.

The "Youngers" learning from the "Elders"

Back across the ice and snow...back to the dock..over the drift....and up the gangway for the last time today. By now, I had determined the shortest route home...across a few back yards...no one has fences here. Up a few driveways and along some houses had protected me from the winds, but meant I had to climb the drifts at the ends of their driveways. The street lights guided me home..I could see the second story of the Health Centre in the distance.

Another couple of streets, more barking dogs...five more steps up into the building...up the inside stairs...I was out of the wind, into the heat and now home...the outside protection was removed, the boots were pulled off ..and my feet started to warm once again. The two pairs of socks were removed, a pair of fresh socks installed and my new slippers added.

The next day the IGLU site looked like this

I changed all my clothes and put on fresh and dry ones...here you work up a sweat in your winter clothes from the walking,the activity of climbing and the general strain and exertion. You don't realize how many calories you burn up in very short order. I would return tomorrow to see the competed results.

These visitors were sledding nearby

The next day was cloudy, foggy and generally dull. There would be no sunshine this day, but a good nights sleep, a mushroom and cheese omelette, a couple of cups of coffee, some toast and it was almost time to get the most light possible for some final shots of the completed dome. Once dressed for the weather, the route home the night before was retraced.

Before long, I was back at the site of the previous day's construction. The tents were gone. Only the holes where the stakes had been. Tracks were everywhere, human, machine and animal. There would be no sunshine today, the sky was dark grey.

Gaps in the wall would be stuffed with snow from the outside

In the distance, on the far shore, I could see the old stone church, further north the Cairn dedicated to the Maude and then towards me slightly from there, the recovery barge and assorted equipment. Close by though, was the IGLU...totally abandoned.

I walked over to it, took some photos. The dome not complete. They had not completed the monument to the ancestors. I was disappointed but realized that shortly after my departure, time had been called and the event had been concluded. Then,a roar of a snow machine approaching towing a qamitik.

The entrance from the inside

An introduction or two, and I had meet the Mayor of Cambridge Bay. We admired the structure. I was asked by the husband, if I had ever slept in one overnight.. .nothing like it he said. I told him I've never been inside one as he carried a 20 block of clear ice over to the edge of the IGLU. In case someone, wants to make some tea..its from the reservoir he said.

They motored off while another couple arrived with their two kids and snow sleds. They used the hill behind the Iglu and eventually the kids came over...to view the Iglu. A few more trips down the hill and they left as I tried some more shots to best image the dome. The grey of the sky, reflecting on the snow, provided a flat image....post processing might help...but only time would tell.

Time to enter...I got flat on my belly, arms outstretched...feet moving me forward and my camera ahead of me...raised from the snow...I was in! There was no wind inside but being this close allowed a couple of other observations...there were gaps in the walls between the blocks, but they were more visible from the inside.

The inside panorama of an IGLU

Also, the floor had been cleared to the same level as the entrance meaning the inside of the IGLU was lower than the outside gaining a height advantage from within. A few more shots and it was time to continue a cross the ice to the Maude and the old stone church.

This day had no sunrise, no sunset, no reflected glow in the sky..and there wouldn't be for a few more days. During the night, I had feared that someone might destroy the IGLU before I had seen it completed. Thankfully, that had not occurred...but neither had the completion.

Tomorrow, I'm travelling back to the site. This week, I talked to Pam of the Heritage Society at the Library and, despite my hope, she said the Elders are not going to complete the dome. If I want to see a completed IGLU, I'll have to return at a later date...now there's a thought!