Strong winds have hit Ittoqqortoormiit today and a piteraq warning has been issued in the area of Ammassalik (about 850 km south of us, our nearest neighbours). A piteraq strikes within minutes and with devastating violence.
Piteraq is a Greenlandic word. The nearest translation is ambush. It is a phenomenon caused by falling cold air hurtling off the ice cap.
One piteraq that comes to mind was that of February 6, 1970. The last wind-speed and temperature reading for that piteraq was 90 metres per second and minus 20 ยบ C before the weather instruments were blown out to sea; 90 metres per second equals 324 km per hour or 201 mph (treble hurricane force).
One hunter survived by huddling up close to the dead polar bear he had shot.
Storm damage was so great that Tasiilaq was all but dismantled. After, there was talk of whether houses could ever be built to withstand such terrible winds. School children were flown to Denmark because their school was destroyed.
Tonight the piteraq warning lamp flashes and a siren sounds from the mast beside the church in Tasiilaq.
Spare a thought for the people of Ammassalik.
For more information about Gary and his dogs go to www.garyrolfe.com
10 January 2012
2 January 2012
The Trick Is...
I was exhausted over New Year.
My dogs are fit. They have rest between conditioning runs. But I paid the price for long hours of burning candles at both ends preparing for a mid-February journey departure date. Plus I was pole-axed when I broke a rib on a Boxing Day run by falling on top of a sled upright. My body hurts. The trick is not minding that it hurts.
My main lead dog, Loads, is lame (fighting). Twins Shocker and Treatment have been alternating with Cracker as leaders. More heavy snowfall has meant I have been breaking trail in front of my dogs but there is plenty to smile about. Youngsters Blimey and Max are running hard as a pair. I have tonnes of food for my dogs. Right now whale blubber and a ringed seal are thawing on my kitchen floor. The seal is frozen solid and will take three days before I can skin and butcher it. Gear from my last dog run dries in the net loft, and new traces I have weaved (using polyethylene hollow-braided rope from Snowpaw) hang ready for action.
The wooden gate has been left there from when Girly was last in heat; she was an angel to have indoors. I have left the gate in anticipation for young Stunner who I am sure will do everything possible to have me eating my fists.
New Year's Eve was stormy here but as I played Lemmy's version of Run Run Rudolph I wasn't too tired to let off out-of-date flares to see in the New Year with a bang and a smile.
For more about Gary and his dogs go to www.garyrolfe.com
My dogs are fit. They have rest between conditioning runs. But I paid the price for long hours of burning candles at both ends preparing for a mid-February journey departure date. Plus I was pole-axed when I broke a rib on a Boxing Day run by falling on top of a sled upright. My body hurts. The trick is not minding that it hurts.
My main lead dog, Loads, is lame (fighting). Twins Shocker and Treatment have been alternating with Cracker as leaders. More heavy snowfall has meant I have been breaking trail in front of my dogs but there is plenty to smile about. Youngsters Blimey and Max are running hard as a pair. I have tonnes of food for my dogs. Right now whale blubber and a ringed seal are thawing on my kitchen floor. The seal is frozen solid and will take three days before I can skin and butcher it. Gear from my last dog run dries in the net loft, and new traces I have weaved (using polyethylene hollow-braided rope from Snowpaw) hang ready for action.
The wooden gate has been left there from when Girly was last in heat; she was an angel to have indoors. I have left the gate in anticipation for young Stunner who I am sure will do everything possible to have me eating my fists.
New Year's Eve was stormy here but as I played Lemmy's version of Run Run Rudolph I wasn't too tired to let off out-of-date flares to see in the New Year with a bang and a smile.
For more about Gary and his dogs go to www.garyrolfe.com
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