The Trip
Feb 25 2006
Temp: -32°C
The day started out at 7AM – breakfast at the Eskimo Inn. We got rolling at about 8AM. It was fairly chilly, okay, quite chilly. The first part was quick - real quick. We blistered along the ice road at about 100 kilometres per hour for about 15 minutes. It was cold and I could tell. Within only a few minutes I could feel a burning sensation on my cheeks. I had my full face helmet on so I figured it couldn’t be that bad. Pretty soon the pain went away and I kept going.
Following the ice road we turned towards the woods that would take us off the delta and up to the tundra. We weren’t traveling too long before we encountered a group of Canadian Army soldiers who were doing some Arctic training. We stopped to talk to them, and I noticed one guy in particular staring at me. I was about ready to ask what his problem was when he proclaimed that I “had serious frostbite”. I went to one of the snow machines that had a rearview mirror to take a look. Sure enough I had two enormous white patches – one on each cheek. There was a grey patch in the middle of each white patch. The reason the pain had gone away earlier was because the nerves were dead. Luckily, these army guys were in the middle of a briefing on how to deal with medical issues while in cold weather, so they told me how to “fix it”. Once I was taken care of, my traveling companion - Julian - handed me a spare face cover that I put on under the helmet, and I was good to go.
What followed was one of the roughest snowmobile rides that I have ever experienced. The trail was hard, rutty, and uncomfortable. It was a bone jarring ride. After three and a half hours we finally reached the cabin we were going to stay at that night. This was John’s place on Husky Lakes. John is an Inuvialuit guy, who invited us to his place for the weekend. More on John’s Cabin later.
But the ride wasn’t over. We had a cup of tea and started out again to Tuktoyaktuk. Another three hours of muscle ripping, bone jarring, snowmobile riding and we made it to Tuk. The scenery was incredible and I rode on the Arctic Ocean for the first time. Don’t worry, there are plenty of pictures. I’ll post them over the next few entries.
Once we were in Tuk we went to John’s Uncle and Aunt’s house, where we were greeted with mild suspicion at first (after all, we were three red faced, frozen guys – two of us white at that), but eventually we were welcomed with open arms. We were given hot tea, coffee, food and great stories. More on those in a future entry.
After a few hours we left to make the trip back to Husky Lakes. Yet another three hours at a blistering pace across the rough tundra. Something told me I was going to pay for this. In fact my body was already talking.
At about 9 PM we arrived back at John’s cabin. We refueled the machines, secured our belongings and set inside to make camp for the night.
Julian and John have done this before, so we were welcomed into the cabin by a nice heat and a hot stove ready to cook on. Being who I am, I had to bring some of my home to this home; and so I made some Moose stew. It was enjoyed by all. Before long we got set to sleep for the night. I was beginning to run a fever, and I was obviously dehydrated, my muscles were beginning to cramp, and I was a little sick to my stomach. Nevertheless, I tried to sleep.
My condition worsened throughout the night and before long I was in serious pain. I had endured almost 300 kilometres in one day on a snowmobile, in brutal conditions - cold, windy, and mostly dark.
Tune in for more, but that’s it for now.
Cheers!
Temp: -32°C
The day started out at 7AM – breakfast at the Eskimo Inn. We got rolling at about 8AM. It was fairly chilly, okay, quite chilly. The first part was quick - real quick. We blistered along the ice road at about 100 kilometres per hour for about 15 minutes. It was cold and I could tell. Within only a few minutes I could feel a burning sensation on my cheeks. I had my full face helmet on so I figured it couldn’t be that bad. Pretty soon the pain went away and I kept going.
Following the ice road we turned towards the woods that would take us off the delta and up to the tundra. We weren’t traveling too long before we encountered a group of Canadian Army soldiers who were doing some Arctic training. We stopped to talk to them, and I noticed one guy in particular staring at me. I was about ready to ask what his problem was when he proclaimed that I “had serious frostbite”. I went to one of the snow machines that had a rearview mirror to take a look. Sure enough I had two enormous white patches – one on each cheek. There was a grey patch in the middle of each white patch. The reason the pain had gone away earlier was because the nerves were dead. Luckily, these army guys were in the middle of a briefing on how to deal with medical issues while in cold weather, so they told me how to “fix it”. Once I was taken care of, my traveling companion - Julian - handed me a spare face cover that I put on under the helmet, and I was good to go.
What followed was one of the roughest snowmobile rides that I have ever experienced. The trail was hard, rutty, and uncomfortable. It was a bone jarring ride. After three and a half hours we finally reached the cabin we were going to stay at that night. This was John’s place on Husky Lakes. John is an Inuvialuit guy, who invited us to his place for the weekend. More on John’s Cabin later.
But the ride wasn’t over. We had a cup of tea and started out again to Tuktoyaktuk. Another three hours of muscle ripping, bone jarring, snowmobile riding and we made it to Tuk. The scenery was incredible and I rode on the Arctic Ocean for the first time. Don’t worry, there are plenty of pictures. I’ll post them over the next few entries.
Once we were in Tuk we went to John’s Uncle and Aunt’s house, where we were greeted with mild suspicion at first (after all, we were three red faced, frozen guys – two of us white at that), but eventually we were welcomed with open arms. We were given hot tea, coffee, food and great stories. More on those in a future entry.
After a few hours we left to make the trip back to Husky Lakes. Yet another three hours at a blistering pace across the rough tundra. Something told me I was going to pay for this. In fact my body was already talking.
At about 9 PM we arrived back at John’s cabin. We refueled the machines, secured our belongings and set inside to make camp for the night.
Julian and John have done this before, so we were welcomed into the cabin by a nice heat and a hot stove ready to cook on. Being who I am, I had to bring some of my home to this home; and so I made some Moose stew. It was enjoyed by all. Before long we got set to sleep for the night. I was beginning to run a fever, and I was obviously dehydrated, my muscles were beginning to cramp, and I was a little sick to my stomach. Nevertheless, I tried to sleep.
My condition worsened throughout the night and before long I was in serious pain. I had endured almost 300 kilometres in one day on a snowmobile, in brutal conditions - cold, windy, and mostly dark.
Tune in for more, but that’s it for now.
Cheers!
posted by Lorne at
11:11 PM
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