Module 2 • Geology: Inupiat Ioitqusiat


Rescue on the Trail of Ice by Berda Wilson


Chukchi News and Information Service


As my eldest son mushed his dog team along the trail on the Bering Sea ice, he felt strong and alive as the warm life blood pulsed through his young veins. Feeling invincible, he harbored no thought of the impending danger that lay just ahead on the trail.


Although just 24 years old at the time, this experienced young dog musher had run his own team since he was 15. The weather was cold on this day, 30 below zero, but there was no wind. For mushers raised on the typically windswept coast of northwestern Alaska, it was a fair day for running dogs. Despite years of wilderness travel by dog team, my son did not anticipate the ordeal he was about to encounter.


He had run his dogs over this ice trail many times. The ice, favored by both dog mushers and snow- machiners, always made a nice smooth trail. Cape Nome jutted directly out into the Bering Sea’s Norton Sound in deep water, making it hard to get around the cape without going out onto the ice to avoid the nearly impassable huge granite boulders along shore.


Just the night before, my son had used this same trail to transport his younger brother to their camp at Nuuk some 20 miles east of Nome. He was returning alone the following day for more supplies.


On this early February day, the sun would not be rising until almost 11 a.m. My son peered through the inky blackness, barely able to distinguish the ghostly shapes of the snow-covered ice hummocks in the distance. The dogs knew the trail well, though, and their driver was confident in their ability. No sign of danger offered any reason to fear for their safety this day.


As my son rounded Cape Nome, the horizon expanded, diffused in a reddish, orangey pink glow. The cold winter sun would soon be rising for a brief few hours. The wind freshened. He felt the chill on his exposed face, so he quickly adjusted the wolverine ruff on his parka to curl closer around his face. He called the dogs up to hurry them along.


Every so often my son pushed with his foot to give the dogs a little help. Something didn’t feel quite right, though. His foot felt like it was sinking slightly with each pump. Casually, he glanced back at his trail. With alarm mounting, he could see water welling up from his footprints. He was on thin ice!


“Gee! Gee!” my son yelled at his leaders, commanding a turn to the right toward the solid shore. The dogs did turn sharply, but the runners dug in, and the sled carrying the musher plunged into the icy waters, dragging the back four dogs with it.


My son tried desperately to crawl up onto the thin ice, but it kept breaking under him. Panic hit. He lunged and thrashed with his young dogs in the freezing water, as the other dogs looked on helplessly. Cold and shock numbed his body and slowed his movements. He was becoming increasingly weaker. Despite all his frantic effort, my son managed to calm himself. He tried to think rationally.


“If I can throw myself up on the ice, maybe it won’t break,” he thought.


His strength almost gone, my son heaved himself up on the thin ice and began rolling toward shore. When he thought it was safe, he stood up, only to break through again!


Teacher Notes 2-5a


PolarHusky.com © NOMADS Online Classroom Expeditions


GoNorth! Beringia 2011 Curriculum


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