Collecting ice from an iceberg on Day 2 of Nunavut Quest
Clear, sunny skies and hard-packed snow make for good racing conditions
Jinneal Nanuraq Uttak and his dog team are greeted by his support team and family members Wednesday at a checkpoint during Day 2 of Nunavut Quest. (Photo by Shanshan Tian, special to Nunatsiaq News)
The second day of Nunavut Quest was beautiful with clear, sunny skies.
The mushers, officials and support teams started the day Wednesday at 9 a.m. for the daily meeting in the middle of the camp setup at Tuqqajaat.
Elder Niaqutiaq Irngaut, father of racer No. 5 Isaac Irngaut from Igloolik, opened the meeting with prayers.
The mushers unanimously agreed to depart at 1 p.m., which meant the support teams would leave an hour before that, at 12 p.m.. Based on the order of arrival at the checkpoint on the previous day, the dog teams would be released one minute apart starting with the first finisher.
The plan was to travel nearly 80 kilometres, a longer leg than the previous day. This longer day and intended checkpoint were chosen to avoid camping at Baffinland’s Milne Port and along the mine’s tote road.
One of the mushers explained that the dogs eat the snow as they run on the trail and where they rest at camp for the night. Areas of higher mine activity contaminate the snow with a layer of orange dust visible to the human eye.
The mushers would rather have longer days in order to avoid camping in these areas.
The support team along the way made a few stops. At the first stop, elder Quvaqtaa Charlie Inuarak told stories about his namesake, sharing his knowledge of the waters, land, people, wildlife and development.
The waters in the area are important calving grounds for narwhal. Quvaqtaa described his observations over his lifetime for the younger generations, providing words of advice.
Children play at the base of the iceberg Wednesday along the Day 2 route for Nunavut Quest. (Photo by Shanshan Tian, special to Nunatsiaq News)
The second stop was in front of an iceberg, to allow the support teams to gather ice. This would be important to keep for the next two campsites. The contaminants in the snow can be harmful for the dog teams or human consumption.
The checkpoint clocked in at 76 kilometres for the second day of racing. Camp is set approximately seven kilometres from Baffinland’s Milne Port. The trail was smooth with hard-packed snow and some areas of very little snow accumulated — great conditions for a long and fast run.
The first musher to arrive at the checkpoint was Jinneal Nanuraq Uttak, No. 1, from Igloolik. Meanwhile, Tom Naqitarvik, No. 2, from Arctic Bay, made the jump from seventh place to fifth place.
There were a few minor changes in the order of arrival compared to Day 1, as expected, although it is still early in the race to tell what might happen in the coming days.
The race from Pond Inlet to Igloolik opened Tuesday and is expected to take about a week to complete.
Order of arrival:
- Jinneal Nanuraq Uttak (#1)
- Lee Inuarak (#6)
- Joshua Qiliqti Ivalu (#7)
- Donovan Qaunaq (#4)
- Tom Naqitarvik (#2)
- Isaac Irngaut (#5)
- Daniel Inuarak (#3)
- Aidan Qaunaq (#8)
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