Polar Bear Alley

This is a collection of northern stories - polar bear, arctic and otherwise from Churchill, Manitoba, Canada - the polar
bear capital of the world.

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Archived articles

Polar Bear Blog - Catching Up on the Quest and Everything Else - March 27th, 2007

Spring is anything but easy in Churchill, somehow things all seem to fall apart at the height of 'cabin fever' (an experience shared not only by me but also by a few mushers). Instead of settling in with my coffee to update the site yesterday, I spent most of the morning, trying to fix my internet and then getting stuck trying to rebuild my road; most of yesterday afternoon, at the Seaport Hotel bar - a reflection of my success in road building and internet fixing.

But today is another day, so... back to the race. Three Inuit teams, travelling together, arrived in the early evening - Philip Kigusiutnak, Andy Kowtak and Dominic Pingushat. Ed Obrecht pulled into Churchill yesterday to take seventh place, his dogs looking good and healthy as they crossed.

Churchill mushers George Sinclair and Charlie Lundie were still on the trail along with Arviat's Jimmy Mukpah. George and Jimmy were expected in last night while Charlie was overnighting at North River checkpoint.

Two injured dogs forced Dave Daley to scratch at Hubbard Point (Caribou River) checkpoint. Travelling with Charlie Lundie, they strayed from the race route. Backtracking to the main route effectively put them out of contention with the top runners of the second pack.

The Quest is one of those events that brings a community together. The town siren, usually reserved for 10pm curfew, was sounded each time a musher was sighted. Soon, a mix of trucks, snowmobiles and parkas could be seen heading down to the finish line along the Churchill river. Once the musher is in, the latest Quest gossip, good, bad or ugly, dominates local coffee shops.

So many people in the community are involved in so many different ways - Canadian Rangers, trail crew, race organizers and anyone who happens to be around to lend a hand. Last night, I ended up helping race veterinarian Evan Fisk treat a few injured and dehydrated dogs last night. Set up in a snowmobile repair shop turned makeshift dog clinic, we administered an IV to help one dog that was in pretty rough shape.

As Evan tended to other dogs, I held this one's paw to keep him from moving around as the IV did its work. It was quite a thing to watch this little brown dog come back from the edge, holding his hand as he shivered and blinked his way back to life. A pretty nice end to the Quest for me.

FINAL RESULTS FOR THE HUDSON BAY QUEST HERE

Polar Bear Blog - On the Trail of the Hudson Bay Quest Results - March 26th, 2007

Back from the edge of nowhere, minus one snowmobile but plus some good stories - the snowmobile in the middle of nowhere being one of them. Pictured above are my travelling partners, Moses and Claude. Cannelle, Claude's cockapoo is not pictured - its a long story...

The Hudson Bay Quest is always an adventure and this year was no different. Conditions were great for the race start in Arviat but soon rose to above zero (32F), first smoothing out the race route but soon creating thick, heavy snow conditions that slowed travel and degraded trail conditions.

Travelling the final miles through sun, fog, rain, wind and then snow, Quincy Miller of La Ronge, Saskatchewan arrived in Churchill last night to win the fourth annual (37 hours and 57 minutes). David Oolooyak of Rankin Inlet followed hot on his heels (38 hours 54 minutes) while former race leader and top three contender, Darryl Baker, a young musher from Arviat, Nunavut, was stuck on the trail. He broke through slush created by overflow on Button Bay and had stopped to warm up.

The rest of the group was camped on the trail last night but conditions are clear and cold today and more teams should be arriving this morning. Ed Obrecht of Quebec was leading the second pack. With yesterday's soaring temperatures, most racers are soaking wet for the final stretch from Seal River to Churchill, a combination of sweat and late afternoon rain. With temperatures back to winter normals, the final push is still going to be a test of will.

Race organizers scheduled this year's Quest at the half moon to avoid high tides and overflow on the northern rivers. But, somehow, we ended up with the highest spring tides and the most overflow in the history of the race. Overflow occurs at the mouth of northern rivers. Up here, rivers freeze to the bottom and water pushed in by tides or river currents have nowhere to go but over the ice. Significant overflow on Thursday night meant that much of the trail had to be rerouted just ahead of the mushers.

As for me, snowmobiling from Churchill to Arviat with the trail crew was a pretty incredible experience. Breakdowns, the Nunalla dog camp, thousands of caribou, bootleggers and Bombardiers made it even better. Its around 9am out at Camp Nanuq and I am settling in with my coffee to transcribe some of my journals over the past week so stay tuned...

Polar Bear Blog - Lords of Dog Town - March 25th, 2007

Its 6:30am and dog city is collapsing fast. Last night, twelve mushers arrived at Nunalla checkpoint, the mid-way point of the Hudson Bay Quest. With Canadian Rangers from both Manitoba and Nunavut stationed here, the two old Hudson's Bay Company buildings were already surrounded by canvas tents and snowmobiles. As each team pulled in for their mandatory six hour stop, the tent city grew. By 2am, Nunalla was a mass of mushers, tents, sleds and dogs. Headlamps bobbled through the night, mushers foregoing sleep to feed their dogs and fix their sleds.

But that was then and today, its a whole new race. Despite arriving third, Quincy Miller is the first musher out of the blocks. At 5:30am, his team pulled out of Nunalla to the anxious barking of his competitors' dogs, still tethered to their sleds, jealous of their rivals. This sets of a domino effect, mushers rises from their tents, dogs begin to stir and the fate of dog city is sealed.

David Oolooyak and Darryl Baker, the two former leaders, are still breaking camp. They hurriedly pack their sleds and set out after him. After dominating the race throughout the first day, they have been at Nunalla for seven hours and are now forced to play catch up on what is predicted to be an unseasonably warm day - a bad day not to be in the lead.

Ed Obrecht, running on zero sleep and a newly repaired sled, is next on the trail, soon followed by Dave Daley. It is still dark and both initally lose the trail, Ed Obrecht recovers just on the edge of Nunalla, Dave heads out towards the sea ice before realizing the mistake. He returns to camp and captures the HBQ 'Best Use of Profanity' award before getting back in the race, now behind Andy Kowtak's team as well.

Tents continue to fall, four more mushers follow suit - Charlie Lundie, Philip Kigusiutnak, George Sinclair and Dominic Pingushat. Jimmy Mukpah is the last to leave. For Harry Towtoongie and Gerald Azure, Nunalla is the end of the line, both scratch after a long and frustrating day.

Its 9:30am and as our bombardier track vehicle pulls away, dog city is all but gone. The chaos has dissipated quickly and silence looms, ready to reclaim its rightful place in the north. Canadian Rangers watch the last teams leave before settling in for some much needed army rations, sleep and their last day at Nunalla. What was a bustling tent town only eight hours ago is now little more than sled tracks and dog scat.

Polar Bear Blog - Mushers Burning up The Track, Mother Nature to Follow Suit - March 24th, 2007

Under a pale arctic sunrise, fourteen mushers left Arviat and the fourth annual Hudson Bay Quest was officially underway at 8:30am, March 24th. It is a prime mushing day: -17C with the windchill, no wind to speak of and a crisp, clear cold. Fast, clean starts were the theme of the morning and everyone is expecting 10-12 mph for the first day.

Former Champion and annual contender, David Oolooyak of Rankin Inlet, Nunavut, had a very strong start and will likely pass a few teams early in the race. Another impressive start came from Ed Brecht of Lady-Smith, Quebec. He is a bit of a wildcard this year. His team looks good, a nice mix of speed with a few power dogs to carry him the distance. Still, he has not raced in the north before and, well, there are trees in Quebec. At yesterday's mushers' briefing, you could see a few Inuit eyebrows raise when he asked race marshal, Bruce Andrews to clarify the passing rules for the race - no ''Kabloona'' (white man) from Quebec passes Inuit teams...

Other strong starters included Dave Daley of Churchill, the originator of the Hudson Bay Quest and last year's fourth place finisher, and newcomers Charlie Lundie also from Churchill, Rev. Jimmy Muckpah of Arviat and Rankin Inlet's Harry Towtoongie. Perennial competitors Andrew Panagoniak and Andy Kowtak might have a tough time this year, both sporting the youngest teams in the race.

The Inuit are a people of the land and it is evident by the trail conditions up here. There has been a lot of traffic on the land this winter. No roads mean that snowmobiles, bomobardiers and dogteams are the SUVs of the north. From Arviat to Big River, the trail is about twenty feet wide, smooth and easy, almost an 'arctic autobahn'. Several mushers should be at the halfway point, Nunalla, an old Hudson's Bay Company Post on the border of Manitoba and Nunavut, by sundown.

Today's challenge rests at Big River, an annual focal point of the Hudson Bay Quest. There is significant overflow this year. Our shallow rivers freeze to the bottom leaving nowhere for the water to go but over the ice - not good for dog teams, mushers or anyone else. This year, the slush ice extends inland as well as out onto the sea ice, there is nowhere to go except out on the bay. Last night, Big River flooded again, erasing the marked trail. Rright now, the route is being pushed even further out, probably ending up at least two miles from shore. It should be fun!

After Big River and then Nunalla, the race will change. Churchill has had a cold and snowy winter, seemingly with blizzard after blizzard. Northeast winds from an early winter blizzard pushed ice against the shore and piled snow along the coast. Hudson Bay's tides have turned that ice into jagged mountains, its cold winds have turned the snow into cement. Its a rough ride for the last hundred miles, a lot of side slipping and 90 degree ridges. It will be a workout for teams that have been 'spoiled' by the first half of the race.

Seven teams are running komatiks' with fan-hitches (one line for each dog) while the rest of the mushers, mostly non-Inuit with one exception, are using standard ganglines.' A komatik is a low, wide sled traditionally used by the Inuit to travel the barrenlands. The musher simply packs his gear on the sled and sits on top of it. With jagged ice and rockhard drifts, the wider komatiks will provide a significant advantage in the second half of the race and we can expect an all-Inuit top three.

Of course, all of this could change if the weather forecast holds true. It should be a warm race, an advantage for the short-haired racing dogs and likely a bit worrisome for a few of the Inuit mushers. South winds are predicted to push the temperature up to 10C by Monday. Warm temperatures will smooth out the race trail and put things on a more even keel. Of course, warm, south winds always brings some kind of storm and freezing rain will follow that evening with a blizzard hot on its heels, although there is a pretty good chance the blizzard might get here a bit sooner. After that, its anyone's guess. With the Hudson Bay Quest due for its annual blizzard, we wouldn't expect anything different.

Again, Dave Daley of Churchill and the Hudson Bay Quest race committee have done a spectacular job of organizing the race. Special thanks to Calm Air International for chartering a flight to bring mushers, dogs and equipment up to Arviat and as always, a big vote of thanks go to the Canadian Rangers, both Manitoba and Nunavut. Without their assistance to man checkpoints and provide logistic support this race would not be possible. See you in three days... hopefully!