Iqaluit HTA to build shelters along Pangnirtung trail

CHARLOTTE PETRIE

The 400 kilometre trail from Iqaluit to Pangnirtung will soon to be outfitted with several cabins for stranded snowmobilers.

City council, at its regular meeting Feb. 25, voted to award the Amarok Hunters and Trappers Association $9,000 for the construction of two cabins along the Pangnirtung Trail.

The money is the last of the funds available this year through the Community Initiatives Program, which supports local economic activity.

Council turned down a second proposal for CIP funds put forward by Nunavut Productions.

Nunavut Productions asked for $10,000, to be used as prize money in this year’s Snow Challenge snowmobile race, beginning March 29. It was NP’s second request for money from the city. It has already received $10,000 this year.

Mayor John Matthews explained that council felt the money could benefit the community more if it were in the HTA’s hands.

“It’s felt that the shelter is needed by the residents. Those who get out sometimes find themselves stranded and could benefit by having the shelter. It could conceivably save someone’s life,” Matthews said.

Along with the cash from the city, the Amorok HTA raised enough money through Arctic Circle Construction and the Nunavut Investment Group to build two additional cabins, for a total of four insulated emergency shelters.

“We’re going to pre-fab them here in a week or two, then transport them with the help of several volunteers, people who use the trail quite a bit,” said David Ell, the chair of the Amarok HTA.

The association also got money from the Kakivak Association to hire 10 unemployed Inuit for 22.5 days of work. The group could start work as soon as next week, Ell said.

Weather conditions along the trail often change suddenly, turning an already challenging and isolated route into a life-threatening journey.

“More people are using the trail and caribou are going farther and farther out,” Ell said. “The cabins are good for emergency situations, and for courier services travelling back and forth between Iqaluit and Pang.”

The risk to life and limb on such a journey is a well-known fact to Mike Erving, president of the snowmobile association.

In almost perfect ice conditions, the round trip that Erving made last winter was about 770 kilometres. He says the cabins are “definitely a good thing to have.”

“My experience going between [Iqaluit] and Kimmirut, there’s been a few times when weather has come in and, I’ll tell you, it’s nice to have the shelter,” Erving said.

“On the Pang trail, there’s really only one cabin, aside from an outpost. There is a rock quarry there as well, but they’re all more so on the Pang side of the peninsula.”

The downside, Erving said, is that cabins may encourage inexperienced people to use the trail and end up in real trouble.

“It is something you still have to have skill and knowledge to do,” he warned. “The majority of the youth who just hop up and go are from here and should know better. I find people take offense when they’re told to register and insure their snowmobile and obey the trails.”

But if the cabins are placed at a distance where people who use the land properly can access them, “that’s great,” Erving said.

“I know some of the cabins closer to town have just been literally trashed — full of bullet holes, feces, empty alcohol containers of many sorts.”

The new cabins will be about 12-feet by 12-feet, and Ell hopes to equip them with stoves sometime in the future. He’s also anticipating that the more friendly trail will increase business in and out of Iqaluit.

“Hopefully there will be more people using the trail coming in from Pang and buying more stuff. Besides, we need more roads. There’s never enough roads.”