What to wear (NU outdoor style tips)

This is me dressed for a skidoo ride in -26C (-42C/F with windchill).

Feet: Ski socks, duffel socks, Sorel Glacier boots

Legs: Track pants & snowboard pants

Body: Vest, long sleeve snowboard base layer, t-shirt, long sleeve running top, bench fleece, Canada Goose Parka

Head: Balaclava (tucked under fleece top), Arctic Cat skidoo face mask, Canada Goose hat, goggles

Hands: Fleece mittens & Sealskin mittens with fox trim (and heated grips)

Sunday Blizzard

 

Today there is a blizzard warning in effect. Looking out the kitchen window the sky doesn't look the least bit threatening but I am inclined to play safe believe environment Canada on these things. Last Sunday there was a blizzard warning and you could barely see 10 foot at times. Annoyingly, as with last weekend, the blizzard is set to clear overnight so it is unlikely that we will get a day off tomorrow.  The city closes during severe blizzards because it is just not safe to have everyone on the roads. Indeed if the Government of Nunavut declares a "blizzard day" your car insurance is invalid during that time so you can't go anywhere.

 

Yesterday we went out for an awesome skidoo ride to some friends' cabin up the river. It was much more tiring than I expected. It isn't safe to travel along the river, the ice isn't strong enough and there are lots of rocks, so we had to follow the path of the river along it's uneven rocky banks. My back, shoulders, arms and legs are all aching today. The ride to the cabin was tricky because there was this really flat light so you couldn't see the contours of the land very well. Literally on the doorstep of the cabin I flipped my skidoo because I hadn't been able to make out a snow drift.

Blaine and I had been invited to stay the night but we declined as we already had arranged to go out with a friend, the dogs couldn't come to the cabin, and we were both recovering from a cold so didn't want to make the others sick. As we were getting ready to leave around 2pm a group of rangers came by, they were heading to their camp down the river so we got an escort part way home. The light was totally different and the trail was easy to see, but I kept getting distracted by the beautiful setting sun. I thought about taking photos but was unwilling to get my hand cold so I have no image to share, but believe me it was wonderful.

More photos of the water main break

crews worked all night building snow berms along the creek at the end of our road

work continued a block away at the beach

thousands of gallons of fresh water poured into the frozen bay

at the peak of the event this house was surrounded by water

you can see the overnight level marked by the ice between the rocks

We are closed

Last night there was a massive water main burst in the middle of downtown. Nunatsiaq News reports that 20 million litres of water were lost from the city’s reservoir in about 20 minutes. All water is off in the city until further notice and crews are working 24/7 to fix the burst main and carrying out flood mitigation work between public health and the breakwater. Being non essential services I have the day off whereas Blaine has been working since 1am.

I am making good use of my time walking the dogs and enjoying the sunshine, low winds and mild temperature (-25). As a matter of fact I think I will take a stroll down to the beach to take some more photos.

Sunday Drive

On Thursday morning we stepped outside the house to find one of our skidoos and both covers missing. Blaine phoned the RCMP while I posted on Facebook and printed posters. A number of people reported seeing the machine racing around through the night and early on Thursday morning so Blaine drove around putting up posters and looking for his machine. At about 11am he spotted it outside a residence so called the RCMP to come do their thing and called me to bring the keys over. Presumably in an attempt to disguise the machine the hood had been removed along with a wooden box that was mounted on the back. None of the missing stuff was inside the residence so we posted a reward for the return of the remaining items. By noon on Saturday we had everything back and Blaine spent the evening with some wire, super glue and duct tape doing a MacGyver repair job in the front room.

Sunday morning I took the dogs skiing for an hour to give Blaine the space to finish up the repairs and reassemble his machine. After a breakfast burrito and a nice cup of tea to warm us we began the task of layering our clothing ready for a skidoo ride. Mike and Megan led the way with me in the middle and Blaine bringing up the rear to make sure I didn't fall or whatever. The four of us headed out past Sylvia Grinnell park and "on the land". Each of us had a slightly different opinion as to our direction of travel but as we were following a heavily used trail we weren't concerned. I believe we went South West and since it is my blog I can write what I like! After about an hour we turned for home, and into the wind. Fortunately my confidence was growing so we were able to go much faster on the homeward journey. Some more snow would be nice, the sound of the skis scraping over rocks is not a pleasant one, but it was awesome to get out and I was very happy indeed to have another drive without rolling my sled!

Cross Country Skiing

For a few years now I have been contemplating trying cross country skiing. Just before Christmas there were a few sets of equipment listed for sale on Iqaluit's facebook swap and sell that piqued my interest again. I wasn't able to get anything on facebook so I hit the internet and, for just over $400 plus $25 shipping, I ordered myself the necessary items from Mountain Equipment Co-Op:

• Atomic Skis (waxless)
• Salomon Bindings
• Komperdell Classic Poles
• Salomon X-Adventure Boots

Shortly after placing the order (at about 7am on a Sunday morning I was so excited!) I realised that the boots were unisex, therefore I had ordered the wrong size. MEC is based in Vancouver so their phone line wasn't open until noon. The guy I spoke with was super helpful and said he would make sure I got the right boots. On Tuesday we came home from work to a voicemail saying that instead of being shipped to the main store for the bindings to be mounted to the skis, everything but the boots and been mailed to me. The message went on to say that if I could get the bindings mounted by a qualified ski technician here in Iqaluit, then MEC would refund me that cost. After I finally stopped laughing I called back to explain that wasn't an option. MEC already had a better solution, they were already in the process of mounting bindings on another pair of skis and would send those to me too. After everything had arrived they would send me the paperwork to mail back the unmounted skis and bindings free of charge.

Over the course of two weeks I received the three packages, in the reverse order that they were mailed! By 6:10 on Friday night I had everything I needed to hit the snow. This morning I drove the dogs out to the third car park in Sylvia Grinnell park and clipped in. Blaine joined us on skidoo and acted as coach, cheerleader and photographer. I am a boarder not a skier so it took a bit of getting used to but I had fun and Johnny Cash certainly appreciated running at a slower pace than the skidoo. I went back and forth a couple of times along the skidoo trail next to the road which is a nice flat, groomed trail perfect to get my balance and figure out the rhythm. It more than met my expectations in terms of the exertion required so I am confident that after 6 weeks of cross country skiing and I will be more than fit enough for our two week snowboarding pilgrimage to Tahoe.