Saturday Skidoo Ride

Saturday, February 16, 2008
Today I went out for a skidoo ride with Dave (one of our relief RCMP members), Monty, Petra and Nick southward down the bay towards the sun. When we left Arctic Bay it was a nice outside (only -33!) with no wind ....... then we went past the point ... and it got cold as the wind picked up. Not being discouraged as we all did wear several layers of thermal gear we kept going.

On our way we passed several dog sled teams out on the ice, can't wait until I get to go for a dog sled ride! .. (next weekend I think), although I"m not too sure about sitting on a qamutiq (might have to bring a blanket to sit on).






We kept going out for another 30 minutes or so (and I think 50 km) to see what else was out there, and decided to head back into town as it was getting cold out there as the wind was picking up ... but first we had to find Nick to let him know we were heading back as he skidooed off ahead to see if there were any other icebergs. So this was prime time to try to nab a couple of other quick photos (and I mean quick as your fingers froze up pretty quickly out there).



While we were waiting to see if we could at see Nick in the distance, a lone sled dog, that some of us (I'm not going to name names, but it wasn't I or Dave) thought was a polar bear, came on up for a quick visit and a rub.

Dave and the sled dog




Once we were all together again, we started our trek back to Arctic Bay ..... but this time is was cold out there as we were skidooing into the wind (now, it's -36 outside, we are going at least 60km/h, and the wind is blowing at maybe 30 km/h ... which puts the temperature from what we could guess around -55 - yes, that is pretty [insert your own word of choice] cold).

Heading back into town we wound up having to cross some tricky snowdrifts and little "icebergs" jutting up. For the most part we made it through them nicely without incident .... until we had to cross a thicker patch of looser snow. Yes, readers, Dave and I managed to tip our skidoo. Now, don't you worry, I remembered John's words of wisdom to me the first time we went out for a trip together: "If we tip, you just remember to let go and push off, then tuck and roll .... cause if we both get stuck under the skidoo we are screwed". Well those words of wisdom partially worked. I pushed off just a little bit too late from the skidoo and wound up landing on one of those jutting pieces of ice and getting my right foot (more my boot than anything) stuck under the side of the skidoo. Don't worry mom, I'm fine, I got checked out. Just a little bruised and sore that's all. Luckily, we were not going very fast, heck I don't even think we were moving when we tipped ... We just got up, brushed ourselves off, made sure we were both ok, checked the skidoo and started off again. The ride back was pretty uneventful after that, other than quick stops every 10 minutes to defrost goggles / eyes. All I can say is that I am glad I had my last pack of those instant heat hand warmer pouches in my parka (so Mom, if you are reading this .... I need some replacement hand warmer pouches ...).

The Point


Although it was fricken cold out there (this was one of our many words of choice to describe how cold it was while we warmed up at Darcy's upon our return while we waited for the RCMP truck to warm up), it was still a fun time, and it was also nice to just get out on the ice and go for a ride for a while.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds like fun - except for falling off the skidoo. And I can understand why some might have thought a "polar bear" was approaching! It has 4 legs and is white! I'll send hand warmers.
(down south)

Anonymous said...

Most people will have either a sleeping bag or some foam to sit on. I took one ride a when I was in Qikiqtarjuaq where I was just sitting on the bare wood, old-school style, and it was painful on the posterior and also the arms because I constantly had to brace myself against the side of the box.

Unknown said...

lol I love snowmobiling! But I have to admit I would totally be the one freaking out about the "polar bear" aka sled dog.

Anonymous said...

That was me ^ btw. lol