Discovery Feast

Last night we were privileged to attend the 'Discovery Feast' at the community centre. This was a gathering sponsored by the Arctic Research Foundation to celebrate the end of a week of ice diving on the Erebus. We'd hoped there might have been some news about an exciting find that we could share, but, we only saw the same film that was streamed live a few days ago showing a kelp-shrouded boat exterior. They are still diving so maybe there'll be some news after they introduce cameras into the inside spaces. One interesting thing we learned was how, instead of the usual chainsaws used for thinner ice, they are using a hot water boiler and steam to cut the two metre thick ice into precision triangles for diving access. They cut the holes, extract the heavy blocks using ice screws and a crane and then erect a tent over top. Next morning, somebody got a big surprise on walking into the tent to see a seal had arrived into a diving hole from somewhere under the ice.

Traditional Dancers

An Elder performing a traditional drum song and dance.

Lighting the Quilliq (traditional stone and seal oil lamp used in igloos for heat, light and cooking)

 We feasted on tasty muskox and Arctic Char, prepared by students in the Camp Cook program at Arctic College and thoroughly enjoyed all the activities, especially meeting people from different walks of life. It was a very mixed group: community elders and families along with members from all branches of the military, in town for the joint task force exercise known as Operation Nunalivut 2015. It's not every day you get to meet a Navy Admiral and a Joint Task Force Commander along with journalists from major magazines and newspapers. Maybe we've been a little too isolated these last few months, but, we found it very exciting and enervating to engage in many lively discussions about the North, its people and its future, the North West Passage and many other Canadian-themed topics. It was a gathering of people from every province and territory and it was interesting to hear experiences and opinions from other parts of the country.

Admiral Newton drum dancing to the amusement of all.

Captivating throat singers.

Two good sports attempting a throat singing duet!

Arctic Games demonstrations

Due to all the visitors, the activity level has ramped up around town. There are many planes and helicopters arriving at odd hours. Dozens of snowmobiles left in a large convoy across the ice from the DEW (distant early warning) station where a large military camp has been set up, heading out for military exercises, each towing a sled with gear.

Along with new faces, there has been a distinct improvement in the weather leading to a renewed sense of optimism. This past week we felt like we were in the coldest place in Canada as we were enviously looking at the temperatures in the rest of the country and desperately trying to remember how spring usually feels: warm sun and breezes, blossoms and scents, rain and green shoots. Although I wouldn't call it 'spring' here now, after all the high temperature today will only be -14C, more like winter in other areas, it's a definite change for the better. We are in for a week of highs in the minus teens and the sun shines brilliantly every day in a cloudless sky (today's sunrise 0449. sunset 2110, there'll be twenty-four hours of daylight in just four weeks). Some brown patches are even starting to appear on the hilltops.

Although life in Cambridge Bay and aboard Tandberg Polar is busy and seems to be ticking along just fine, other than the rotating power blackouts we had earlier in the winter, other communities haven't been so lucky. People put up with a lot of hardship and inconvenience, but, just seem to get on with it. Earlier in the winter, all the sewage trucks broke down in Pond Inlet causing a very unpleasant situation. Rankin Inlet recently had a boil water advisory in place for a few weeks. The power generating station at Pangnirtung burned down on April 3 leaving the entire community without power until April 6 when backup generators could be brought online. To enable a more permanent solution, a Russian Antonov (huge cargo plane) had to be chartered to bring a Sikorsky S-64F Skycrane, a 70 foot long twin engine helicopter, into Iqualit. There the helicopter was assembled to enable flying four replacement generators and a skilled crew into Pangnirtung. The logistics and cost of this operation just boggles the mind, but, is part of the price of keeping a modern-day North populated.