Received this email from Cameron today (05 feb):
"I'm just about ready to head out, now, just waiting for a satellite phone to come by FedEx; it ought to be here tomorrow (Tuesday). On this morning's test of the sled and tent system (it works beautifully) I was still vigilant for bears, and getting accustomed to looking around, automatically, every half-minute or so. The native folk here are not Eskimo, but Inupiat; fo generations their life has revolved around hunting bowhead whales, paddling their kayaks and umiaqs (the umiaq is a large boat made of walrus hide stretched over a whalebone and driftwood frame) in the Arctic Ocean to harpoon the whales. That's rough demanding and complex work to be sure, and the most prominent families of the community are those who best organize and carry out the whale hunts. For the Inupiat, this isn't 'Barrow' (which is the name of a British explorer Sir John Barrow) it's 'Ukpeagvik', 'The Place Where We Hunt Snowy Owls'. You can learn more about the Inupiat, and thier core values, at this website. I'll have one more update tonight, perhaps, after I meet with Craig George, who's mushed dogs on this landscape for 20 years, and Geoff CarRoll, a local resident who, in 1986, made it to the North Pole in the Famous Steger expedition. I met briefly with both today, and they invited me to Craig's for the evening to go over plans and to let me borrow some gear...for example, giant nails for my tent; I showed them how the frozen tundra completely mangled all four of my tent stakes (tough ones, but still mangled) on the very first test. I also have ice screws, of course, that could be driven into the permafrost, and will be useful on sea ice, but giant nails will be simpler."
Received the following email from Cameron at night (05 feb):
"A Magical Night: Tonight I pulled the sled a couple of miles to Craig George's house a bit South of the BASC facility. I crossed a frozen lagoon, dragging the fully-loaded sled over hummocks and flats of snow that squeaked like styrofoam -- finally it's nearly -10F! Above and a little behind me was an enormous aurora, spanning from horizon to horizon, perfectly aligned East-West; it was a pearly white and gray swath of light, like milk spilled across the night sky, taking the shape of two immense pairs of pincers converging to points on the horizons. The hairs in my nostrils froze solid, and condensation formed small ice globs on my eyeballs, but it was the perfect temperature for pulling the sled; although it follows easily, it's still work to drag it, and the chill kept me from sweating as much as I normally would. My system of wearing a $5.00 Tyvek coverall painter's suit -- breathable, windproof, very durable, lightweight, and cheap -- over my insulating clothing, worked perfectly. Across the lagoon I came to a road with yellow streetlamps and made my way towards Craig's home. Dogs -- thankfully tied to dog-huts -- came out and howled and barked at the strange white, oblong object I was dragging behind. At Craig's garage we rummaged around to find tundra-stakes for my tent, as well as shotgun ammunition (12-gauge slugs and 'cracker' shells for bears, and birdshot for the bear-alarm fence). Later we went upstairs to look at some pictures -- below you see what a polar bear did to a shipping container (photo courtesy of Craig George, BASC Wildlife Officer); no, it wasn't hit by anti-aircraft fire, just a curious polar bear, Ursus maritimus, the 'bear of the Ocean', the polar bear, or, for the Inupiat, 'Nanuq'. All the while Craig's two dogs, the beautiful young sled-dog 'Stripe', and an ancient and happy golden retriever named 'Nick', jockeyed for the best petting position. After talking about cold, and trekking and mushing and climbing, Craig went to the freezer for a bag of 'muktuk', slicing some for me to take on the trek. Muktuk is whale skin and blubber, an excellent source of both protein (from the black, rubbery skin) and fat (from the pink blubber). It's stored as slabs, three or more inches thick and as big as a floor tile; it's third black skin and two thirds blubber. What a night! Back at BASC now, and ready to turn in. All I have to do is get my sat-phone, and I'm off...plans are being modified somewhat due to the ice conditions and other factors, and I'll fill you all in on that tomorrow!"
