Taking shelter from the wind on Day 6
of Nunavut Quest

Nunavut Quest mushers decided Tuesday they would hunker down at their camp on the Milne Inlet sea ice instead of race.

They made the decision at their daily meeting in the morning. Although it was sunny, they felt the wind was too strong and their whips would just blow away if they tried to push ahead.

Nine dog teams are competing in this year’s roughly 500-kilometre trek from Igloolik to Pond Inlet.

The racers and their support team — roughly 60 people of all ages — arrived at Iluvilik on Milne Inlet Monday after covering 90 kilometres over the course of several hours.

Along the way, the wind started blasting the snowmobile drivers as they reached the sea ice at the mouth of Mary River. The wind blew all night and even knocked over a tent.

Tuesday’s pause gave all the dogs more rest as well, after Monday’s marathon.

The mood around camp was good. Some kept busy getting ice for water and tea, refilling their stoves, chopping up Arctic char and seal for dogs, working on their qamutiit, and making hot water for tea and coffee.

Many also spent the day visiting other tents, having conversations and napping.

There have been several weather delays in this year’s race. The teams were originally scheduled to start April 7 but waited out bad weather and set off April 9 instead.

Day 2 on Friday brought a later start as well because of bad weather.

On Sunday, Day 4 of the race, mushers loaded their dogs into their qamutiit and moved forward by two camps on their snowmobiles instead of racing, again because of blizzard conditions.

With everyone better rested, the race is planned to resume Wednesday.

There are roughly 120 kilometres left to go in this year’s Quest, and one more camp, before everyone arrives in Pond Inlet. That’s expected to happen on Thursday.