Oncoming Winter

Having grown up in the lower 48, when I think of life in the Arctic, I wonder whether I could survive and thrive in winter that cold and dark. When I was talking to people in Anaktuvuk Pass, especially the younger people, they feel cooped up in town in the summer. The terrain is too rugged to get way out on a 4 wheeler and live large. It's small and remote and feels isolated in the summer.

But you see their eyes light up when they talk about getting through the summer and looking forward to the oncoming winter. The cold opens up the world to them, and travel is easier on the snow and frozen rivers. Winter is the time when world blossoms here. Time to play and explore and hunt.

Winter is the time when you get to travel and see relatives.

I have read similar accounts of Arctic life. Summer is something you get through. Winter is when you come alive. Unfortunately my contract here ends soon, and I won’t likely be seeing winter here this year. But maybe next year.

I was talking to the students in Anaktuvuk Pass about cold temperature impact on solar panels. Cold, sunny days improve the amount of electricity you generate. I mentioned -20C because it is a common number for manufacturers to use.

Ben, one of the students chimed in, "-20 is nothing here. You bundle up for -40 or -50 though."

Got Skeeters??

At times, the bugs might get to you.

I don't think I've taken a picture where you could see the mosquitoes in such bulk that the camera sees them in the air!

This is Monty in his De-Lux mosquito shirt. Now how much would you pay?

OneRiver OnePeople Tribal Summit Pix

The Yukon River is over 2300 miles long (~3700K) and has many different people and languages. The watershed covers even more area. While this means a huge variety of language, culture, tradition, and life, the people of the Yukon are finding a lot of commonalities while they are doing the grass roots work to clean up the river, live more sustainably, and regain self-sufficiency. Every other year the people who are member nations and tribes of the Yukon River Inter-Tribal Watershed Council have a big summit and I was lucky enough to get invited this year.

To get and keep youth interest there were alot of things to do. We brought some solar toys along, like solar powered boat kits, which were an obvious winner, we also hosted training on basic solar installations for adults. I put together all the parts for a remote battery system for your fish camp and folks were all over it. No more dragging fossil fuels at $8/gallon in remote areas, to burn it up in the pristine woods to run a generator. The people of the Yukon involved in the watershed council are very active in their communities and it's really inspiring to work with them toward the goal of energy self sufficiency.

I may not have caught all the jokes about the down-river people's funny accents, or the jibes about the salmon in the upper river, there was alot of fun to be had at the summit, as well as ceremony at times in the water ceremony, and educating each other. Lucky is the white man invited to share in these events!

OneRiver OnePeople Tribal Summit

Our final night at the One River One People Tribal Summit in Whitehorse. Fish Camp ladies served up moose, beef, ham, hooligans (local sardine-like fish), salmon, and porcupine. Wow.

I was helping out in the camp kitchen and one of the ladies thought it would be funny to have the white man cook the bannock (north country staple food). The elders sitting around the fire pit thought it was hysterical to see the white man cooking the bannock.

One of the cutest little girls ever (but not one of my nieces) came up while I was frying this deliciousness in pork lard and asked in a shy sweet voice if she could have some of my bannock. I said of course she could, and she picked one from the pile. She took a bite and smiled her approval to the watching crowd. I asked if it was ok and she nodded vigorously. A sigh went out among the people. The white man bannock might be edible after all.

As everyone ate, some of the crowd didn’t know it was “white man bannock”. I caught the eye of one of the chiefs who was on his second piece. I asked if the bannock was up to his standards and he raved about how good it was. I explained the bannock story and he smiled and welcomed me. I am now one of the family he said. Score one for the white man.

Final treat post dinner was the moose nose! Wow again. The elders watched us trying to get through it. It was, how to describe it, pretty strong, both strong looking and strong tasting. Did I mention the hairs? It really looks and tastes exactly as you might assume moose nose would be. Laughing as we ate, they told us AFTER you are supposed to peel the hairy outer parts before eating it! Mmmmoose nose...