Majik_Imaje
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 p.5 #5 · Arctic Models @ 30 below zero! | |
I have spent 100's of hours, talking with these volunteers, I know them all by name, I see them every day, I have been in all of their homes and they have all been in the many different homes I have lived in, in this village which I call home.
I have been out in whiteouts many times, just trying to attempt something simple like going to a house across the street two houses down, That wind, whipping you around while your trying to walk a simple straight line, is impossible, I often get lost and spun around out there, many times.
How, can you possibly drive hundreds of miles, looking, at what ? that is my first question ? what do you look for, when you can't possibly see anything, (they always laugh), But seriously, how, ?? We have "tricks", is often the answer no matter who I ask. The answers seem more bizarre than the actual task at hand. We find tracks out there, under the new snow, we have to dig for them, and look for tracks hidden under the snow. OK, right ! in an area the size of ?? many square miles !!
http://majikimaje.com/images/lost.jpg
There are only 3 reasons a hunter is not home on time:
His machine is broken down, he is hurt, he is lost.
When that wind is whipping, it is vicous out there with nothing that can be seen, even when you can see, it is just nothing but "white" moving along the ground,
When your lost; one captain told me, just look at the ground ! um ? I can't see my feet, now how do I decipher this simple sentence, I have no idea. He laughs at my stupidity and I wonder at what that meant.. look at the ground.
The strong wind, blowing snow, cuts or carves "ruts" in the hard packed snow all pointing south as the wind is always from the north, Good, that still means notiing to me. It is easy to miss that small piece of village from 50 miles away, to me everything blows into the ocean. that part you can't miss.
I was headed home one day from high in the mountains far up on the Kupak river.
Even though it is well over 100 miles from the village, there are camps up here, small houses, that were transported up here, nail by nail, piece by piece, in small boats. These camps provide shelter for any hunter way out here, as they go hundreds of miles further inland in all directons. More small camps are further out,
these are serious hard core hunters, this is their life.
Coming home on a snowmachine, one of my eyes started to "tear" up and I could not stop it and it froze, I am in trouble, Ice started to build up and up quickly until the eye was iced over and shut and I could not see. I am headed south towards the village and the wind is at my back, full throttle is the only way to travel on this glass smooth ice on the north side of the village. I have one eye left and I am 20 miles from home, I know it is only a matter of time, I haave to get home as fast as possible. I am close to the village when the other eyes starts to tear up, no matter how i wipe it.. I keeps on "tearing" and getting wet. I barely made it home, I was practiclly blind when I came down that final street in the village to get in out of the extremly cold weather, When I came into the kitchen stumbline looking for a chair to sit down on, Irma Oktollik shoulted out.SIT ON YOUR HANDS NOW. sit down, sit on your hands and do not move. She said if you touch that ice. your gonna pull your eye right out. just sit on your hands.
This was easy for me to understand & obey. That was the end of my deep arctic explorations out there @ 50 below or colder.
At least, out on the ocean ice, there was always a big chunk of ice to hide behind when it was time to go. Oh no. !
Absolutly nothing to take photos of out here,in the winter time just white, frozen marshmellow type rolling hills, some high some small some flat areas, Hundreds of miles in every directions equals tens of thousands of square miles. And these people find someone by digging under the snow looking for tracks ?
That statement will never make sense to me.
http://majikimaje.com/images/ice3.jpg
In July of 1990 I took my four sons out of the village to raise them in Anchorage for a good while.
Many times, many of the teachers would come to me and ask me in great concern, How come when we ask your children questions they will not answer us.
This is presenting a problem. I asked the teacher, Are the questions your asking them, are they yes or no type questions ? she thought about it and said , why yes! how come.? I smiled very big and said. they did answer you, you just didn't look and see and understand their answer. They meant no disrespect but up in the village, it doesn't matter which village, The answer is always communicated with out saying anything.
It took me a very long time to understand this and how some things are communicated without saying anything, I would always look at the person, to whom the question was directed at, to see if I could figure out how this is communicted, I could never see or understand how this was done. It drove me nuts, how did she know if he wanted coffee or not ? That person never moved, never looked over at the person, but the answer yes or no was always understood and I could not see or understand how this was accomplished.
Either could the teachers in the civilized world here in Anchorage. I had to tell my sons and teach them the old ways.. ha ha.. open your mouth and speak it !!
In any village, to say yes to a question, just open your eyes just a bit larger.
to say no, just wrinkle your nose.
http://majikimaje.com/July4th/neddeva2.jpg
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! Great photo! Not to make light of the situation for search and rescue. 