High in the Arctic . . Eskimo !

Hello, My name is David, I live in a tiny whaling village 200 miles above the Arctic circle in a village of only 750 Inupiaq Eskimos. Point Hope Alaska.
The oldest continually inhabited settlement or village in all of North America.
Life can accurately be traced back some 3,000 years, to this one spot of land.

I am originally from Boston Mass. I moved to Alaska to work on the Trans - Alaska Pipeline in 1977. I fell in love with the Arctic and Alaska needless to say, when I had to return to Boston, I cried, I didn't want to leave, In 1981 I returned to Alaska. I was working in Anchorage as an electrican in the I.B.E.W , I was sent to this village for just three weeks, when the job finished, I quit the company and stayed, that was 27 years ago. I am still here.

Come learn from the comfort of your home or office the Eskimo way of living, High in the Arctic, Eskimo!





Aaka & Aapa - Grandmother & Grandfather - Lilly & Donald Oktollik

Donald was a Whaling Captain and an Episcopal minister, in his day.

Lets go out to the ocean ice, Currently at this very moment over 600 people are camped 7 miles out on the Chukchi Sea in the Bering Strait of upper Alaska.
Hundreds of people are involved blazing a traill with pick's axe's all types of tools to manually smoooth out a way to transport all the equipment and supplies out to the edge of the ice where the lead opens for the animals to migrate.



This seven mile journey will take many hours, it is a very rough ride, and I was convinced beyond all shadow of doubt that all the lenses would be cracked from the constant falling and bashing of the sled against the ocean ice when we went over little hills. the snow mobile would go over smoothly but the sled would rise as high as four feet in the air at times and come crashing down.

This is a typical whaling camp 7 miles out it is mid may and this is midnight. By the end of June, 12 noon is the same as 12 midnight! It will not get dark again till the end of August.



This is home, for the next two months, We hunt, sleep , eat, right here, 24/7 no matter what the weather, except if the wind shifts, which it often does, but generally we have a very strong wind needed to crack that ice open for the animals to pass through, we are here before they arrive and we wait, sometimes weeks, we are ready. We sleep outside by the edge of the ice, no tents, 30 - 60 below zero with vicious winds non -stop.

Due to the 24 hour constant sunlight and the incredibly bright reflections all around, we become solar powered and can easily stay awake and alert for 3 days or longer. When your tired, just sit down on that sled that is covered with caribou skins and lean back, close your eyes and rest, in just a few hours time, you will be all charged up again for another 3 days or longer.

this is the most exciting time of the year. The suspense is all over the place and everyone is acting like it is The night before Christmas !




This is how we go food shopping! Each whaling crew has 8 hunters, one boyer, and 3-5 women in the back. 1/2 3/4 a mile back from the lead opening on much safer ice. The women do all the cooking in the tents. they have a boyer to help them with other chores. He stays in the tent area and works most of the day.
At night when the women go to sleep, He is alone, all night long, by himself, keeping the home made wood stove fired up just right, He has to chop wood, keep that fire going all night long, hand him your lighter, or matches, he will need them, He must use "sicpan" to help wet wood burn, this is extremely flammable seal oil, his other duties include melting snow for cleaning cups, thermoses and melting ice for delicous fresh drinking water to make coffee, tea, and hot chocolate and fill those thermoses and bring them down to the lead opening. lHe is armed with many rifles, and must keep a viglant eye on the wind and keep watching and checking for cracks in the ice, Anything can happen out here.
your in good hands, lie down and go to sleep, He will make sure everything is ok.. hand him that lighter and matches and go to sleep This boyer, is only 3 years old !

I am shocked, astonished at what I see happening out here. 3 years old and that kind of responsiblility ? go figure ! I have seen many boyers this young! and it is just the most amazing thing, to see these childlike grownups working !



When the cooks wake up in the moring, he has coffee, tea, all ready for them! all dishes are cleaned and ready to go for aonther busy day, He is now allowed to go to sleep in the tent, iagainst the back wall in the left corner. lhe will be allowed to sleep about 4-5 hours then he is up again helping the women ..

How do you suppose we get delicious fresh drinking water way out here in the middle of frozen no where, full of salt water and frozen ocean ice.? We melt snow for washing dishes and such. but for cooking and drinking we want / need delicious fresh drinking water.

We use Eskimo Technology to get the salt out of the frozen ice. how ? any ideas ?

I will be back for more, soon after "dinner" burp !

http://majikimaje.com/dinner123.jpg

Very nice photos and the explanations are great. Thanks for sharing. Looking forward to seeing what else you've done.

Wow - love the photos and the descriptions you gave. It's amazing that you can go for three days with only a few hours sleep. The little boyer is a far cry from our children here.

This is a different planet we live on! the ICE is our home. whaling is what we live for. It takes a whole year to prepare for this event. New skins have to be put on some of the umiaqs, Six bearded seal skins that are tough, hand sewn with a zig zag type water tight stitch using dental floss. Mint or Regular.



Even the children mimick their parents when playing out, notice that the "boat' they are using is mounted on a sled, just like their parents do!



The Bravest Man I have ever met was Wally Tingook.



When the sky is over cast, cloudy and such, it is very difficult to see changes in the ocean ice as your cruising along.l such was the case one day when Wally went looking to hunt for Seal. He didn't see the wall of ice and slammed into it at a very high rate of speed. The windshield severed his entire nose. The machine is a mess, He is bleeding, nose lying on the ground, he pickes it up and places it inside snow/ ice make a snowball to carry it in. Somehow someway he got that machine worling again and hobbled back to the village. when he entered the small clinic here in town, the two eskimo health aides started to scream and run in circles in total chaos trying to figure out what to do, as Wally was coered in blood with snowball packed nose in his hand. As the women continued to scream in horror at his appearance. Wally yelled.. HOLD THE MIRROR!.. and with needle and dental floss he sewd it on right there, by himself with no medicaton.



There are many strange and brave tales up here, Just recently two weeks ago

We had to leave and evacuate the ocean ice due to the wind shift to strong south wind, From here in the village we can tell, when the lead is open again, just by looking at the sky. The ice always makes the bottom of the clouds.. white. when there is open water 7 miles out, you can easily see it by looking at the clouds, they will show you exactlly where the lead is open and where, the clouds are dark at the bottom because there is no reflection from the ice.

It was such a day when Robert Kingik was taking Luke's new snowmachie back down to the camp site 7 miles out, he had a sled with Erin Tyler riding on it, Erin is 11 years old, Robert is 25.

Over cast day and new snow on the trail. makes it very difficult to see 'changes" in the ice, the ocean was slush, Robert never saw that he was near the edge, he drove right into the ocean, as the snowmoble sunk into the slush ice water, the passenger on the sled, Erin Tyler age 11, he quicklyl rolled off the sled, onto safe ice, and he saw Robert in the ocean going down, struggling, "I know I am going to die today he yelled to Erin, (with all these clothes on, you sink fast) Robert went down and struggled to get back up to grab the ice, but he couldn't get up high enough, he started to go down again and screamed at Erin... see you in heaven ... or in hell, and he went down. LIttle Erin reached into the slush and grabbed Robert by the hair and somehw got him back up onto the ocean ice.

NOW time is very precious, there is only one thing to do and it has to be done quickly, and with sharp knives.. Cut every sticth of clothing off Robert, leaving him stark naked standing there..

Now Erin takes off his hat and wipes Robert down removing all heavy water and slush that is on him.
Once he is wiped down, the "beaver" hat is shaken and all water comes off that hat and it is dry, Robert now puts Erins hat on, Now Erin can take off his parky and put that and skipants on Robert and run.. or get a vehicle but they are all alone, so they have to run for a couple of miles to the nearest camp site. robert missed a turn in the trail due to new snow.!

This is life in the Arctic. anything can happen, at any time, Everyone has a "snowmachie" story to tell, bizarre things that have happened, These, people put 60,000 miles on one of these machines in less than a year easily !

Everyone agrees, I have, hands down, the best snowmachine story ever told, with 5 witness'.
YOU WILL never, ever believe this story, (later).

Back out on the ocean ice.

Two teenage girlfriends pose for me wearing traditional dress @ 50 below. Do they look cold ? No, Eskimo clothing is very warm, light. and quite colorful.




In 1982 I was at the airport runway and saw this child of 3, Daisy Della Fay WowoW.

She is standing beside a 3 wheel ATV honda, and her grandfathers huge mitten is on her other side, The horizon line was removed as well as the other distracting elements to create this image.



Out on the ocean ice, some familes stay together, but 18 whaling captains are spread out 1/2 - 3/4 a mile apart.



We wait, watch, listen. We are here, long before the animals start to migrate, this is the eskimo way.. .. wait !

http://majikimaje.com/600/JOHNNYKa.jpg

Whales are coming !

And I want to know, .. .. whose idea was this?! That is my first question. My second question is, who laughed, .. the hardest and loudest! I do not believe in coincidences one bit, nope, especially this true story.

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Floyd Oktollik is looking back at me and smiling, I know what he is thinking. what ? is this dumb city boy from Boston going to do next!

Whales are coming and everyone is outa here. This is the last crew to leave. WowoW, I am out here, all alone, everyhone is gone, wow ! Look at all of this, here I am alone here! WowoW ! See that calm black area beside the umiaq, that is where I had walked over to, looking at the last umiaq's to disappear to the south, past the horizon. I know that the women are 1/2 mile behind me, w/ children and the boyers, so I don't feel so abandoned. I move over to the edge of that ice, looking at how calm the ocean is, just like black glass, so still, so perfect, I placed my hands, arms behiind my back, arched my back, stuck the tips of my boots over the edge about 2 inches or so, and stood tall and proud. The camera strap is around my neck, camera out in front of me. Standing tall, looking at the beauty and magnificence of the Arctic evening it is past midnight but you would think it was 2 in the afternoon.
That water never moved, not one ripple, not the slightest, I am watching it closely amazed at how STILL and perfectly like glass it appeard, then suddenly, with absolute no warning what so ever, there appeared a huge hole in the black glass stillness. it was so close, I could have easily stuck my entire leg down that hole. or a huge bowling ball, A WHALE !!! whooooooooooossssssssshhhhhhhhhh!! Holy Jet Spray ! [b]STOP

Ya know how in sports, they will pick up the gator aide and dump it over the coach ?

A huge facking whale just jet sprayed about 500 gallons up in the air and it is raining all over me as I am running, OMG,... what an absolute STENCH. and it is all over me, I am soaking wet from head to toe. DRIPPING soaking wet and I am running for my dear life, I know what is about to happen,, I am cracking, I got ice hanging all over me, as I approached the nearest camp, them women looked up and turned aruond and fell over with uncontrollable hysterical laughter, I have a habit of doing this constantly with these people, that is why Floyd was smiling so big.
They knew instantly what had happened.. ha ha ha ha.!
I have iceicles hanging all over me, my face is ice, all of me is ice, cracked and wonderful to behold, I tried to hand my camera to one of the women, she was laughing too hard and kept saying ,, keep away,, akaa.. (you stink)

The stench was the most unbelieveable stench I have ever experienced. YUK to the ninth power and larger!

From outside I could hear the continued high pitch laughter that lasted a long long time. I wans't laughing, then
Get out of here.. they threw towels at me and would not let me into the tent.

I was cold, I got the worst unbelieveable stink/stench all over imbedded into me OMG.

Jonah had his encounter with a massive animal from the ocean, and it is written in a book called the bible.

I have had my experience with a Bowhead whale and it is written here on this forum!

I never ever, went near the edge of the ice again in the remaining 4 whale hunts I attended and photographed.[/b]

Let me pause here, briefly,

DANGER: Polar bear - Nanuq (Nanook of the north) Nanuq is pronouned just like that old "fake" movie Nanook of the north made decades ago.. what is so ironic is that the persons name was not really Nanook and that in real life he died by being eaten by a polar bear!

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Sob.. I had a very close friend in Point Lay (100 miles+ north here) Charles Stalker Jr. III He was my electrical apprentice in that village. Dec 1990 Sob.. .. A polar bear was going after his pregnant girlfriend. Chalres was only armed with a knife when he distracted that bear away from his girlfriend. He never had a chance, one swipe of the LEFT paw, literally cut him into two pieces and he was eaten. The bear was killed and his girl-friend survived that attack because of the heroism that Charles displayed.

Allan Rock was out on the ocean ice and was attacked by a polar bear. Armed with only a large knife. That bear died!

ALL bearsare left handed, they will always swing with the left paw first.

Billy weber was out on the ocean ice and a polar bear was coming after him. armed with only a .22 rifle and only one bullet left. Billly weber ran, His friends could see the predicament he was in but were too far away to help. There is only one place to shoot a polar bear, and that is in the ear. Shoot for the skull and it will bounce off his skull and the bear will get you!
Billy was running for his life, and that bear was gaining on him, while running he merely pointed that rifle back and took his last shot, Billy lived to tell about it.. that bear was that close, that Billy got him right in the ear.


These are all very true stories that anyone in Point Hope will verify.

Last week, ha ha ha... Gus Kowanna (17) bought himself a rifle that was way too powerful for him or anyone else for that matter, he was warned, don't do that Gus, and don't put a scope on it, he didn't listen. .303 weatherbee bolt action. Gus proudly went out to the ice with his new weapon, He was warned, Gus is out on the ice and went up to the tent for something, when he came out of the tent, there was a polar bear, looking at him from about 30 or 40 yards away or slightly further. Gus picked up his rifle and took careful aim and pulled the trigger, That scope punched him right in the eye and now the polar bear is coming after him, Gus loaded another bullet and took aimi and held on for dear life to that rifle.. BLAM.. that scope punched him square in the eye and he is hurting so bad, getting socked like that, he can't think of the pain he doesn't have much time left at all, carefully he loads another round and held it as tight as could be and pulled that trigger.. that bear went down and Gus got rid of that rifle. I wish I could have reached Gus to get a pic of his face. it was sure swollen. black eye real bad.. he learned his lesson, the hard way. but at least he alive.
http://majikimaje.com/TRACKS.jpg
Even after that polar bear is dead, stone cold dead, that bear can still kill that hunter or who ever opens that bear up for gutting or skinning or whatever it is called. The liver must be destroyed by fire, so that other animals will not eat it. the tubes must be carefully tied and you better know what your doing, if you get any of that juice on your skin, your dead, there is just too much vitamin A inside that bear.

In Barrow Alaska 1940's A very famous Inupiaq hunter was cleaning a polar bear and he was all but finished and his hands were cold and he cupped his hands to blow into them, he got the tinest bit of that juice on his lip.
He lived for many years and everyone in those parts is aware of him, he passed on in the late 80's I think. His skin was bleached pure white and his hair was as white as snow, he lived, and everyone is witness to this bizarre event.

Scientists are concerned about global warming and the recent amount of polar bears that show up in the water drown, dead. They figure it is because of the extended long swims from the ice pack to the next ice pack.
That is not the reason ! There seems to be a shortage of seals further north, and a polar bear will attack anything he can eat. and the biggest mistake a bear can make is to attack a sleeping walrus. A walrus likes to sleep on its back, neck up head back exposing his vital neck region, the walrus is stretched out, asleep and along comes a polar bear, hungry, he pounces on that walrus who merely lowers his tusks around the bears head and rolls over into the water and drowns the bear! The walrus always wins.

Polar bears live on the ice, they follow the ice, sometimes they miss and end up in town, we do our best to get them out of town, but when a bear is going after a child or another person, we have no choice but to take it down quick.

http://majikimaje.com/JJ.JPG
Last month a mother with 3 cubs intered town, the ending was a good one, they were successful in getting that mother out of town and back onto the ocean ice.
The most delicous meat I have ever tasted in all my life has been polar bear meat, It is jet black, grainy like an old piece of garnled wood but it is so sweet and tender, better than the best prime rib I have ever eaten, It was the only time I have ever asked for seconds and everyone all at once said NO!



The hunter takes care of the bear, the women take care of the skin. This skin is worth over 15,000! To properly accomplish a "native" tan, without the use of chemicals, an extremelly sharp Ullu knife is needed, and many women are required to finish this in the course of an entire day.

http://majikimaje.com/nt.jpg

Sally Killigvuk (left) and Elizabeth Oviok - Postmaster (right) are using all they got with much strength to scrape the skin until it is soft and clean. There are about six women working on this and it will take them most of the entire day.

Once it is cleaned then it must be thrown into the ocean tied up of course to something solid, then it is hung up in the Arctic wind for a few months to dry out.

http://majikimaje.com/2BEARS.JPG

Well I hope you found this "bear-y" interesting !
http://majikimaje.com/beardpg.jpg

The best.. ... is yet to come.. ..!

Very cool stuff!

I pity that bear :'(
No just joking

Awesome pictures m8,
this is really cool stuff

keep it comming thats really great stuff i've always wanted to go to alaska

I like these photos. They could make some good wallpapers, have you got higher resoultion images. If there is no problem can you provide a few?

If I type in the word IGLOO I bet you think you know what that is and what that word means.

I bet your wrong.

First of all, in Alaska, above the Arctic circle since eons ago, an Iglu is not built out of snow or ice. that is a myth.

Certain parts of Canada & Greenland use snow/ice for a dwelling place or unit.

There are no O's or E's in the Inupiaq language so the correct spelling is:

Iglu = one dwelling

Iglut = two dwellings

Igluk = three or more.

This broken down collapsed condo once had electricity running to it:)
The service drop is located on the left side stick with the old porcelean still attached.



An Iglu is make out of whale bones and sod, since eons ago, Many of the very old ruins are still visible today, and many more are still being uncovered due to erosion and the fierce weather of the North Slope.



As you can easily see, there is quite a large area here in the dining room of this iglu, some even have side rooms off to the side, An iglu was quite large, often holding as many as ten people or more. that seems to be the norm here in the village, Ten !

The Old Town site is now A Federally protected landmark of historical signifigence. $10,000 fine if anyone is caught digging in this area.



any artifacts that are found here, in the old town site must be turned in to the proper authorities.

Beach combing is a big time business in the Arctic, on any beach, Clyde Harris of Kotzebue (185 miles south of here) was walking along the beach one day on his way to work, he saw something short and stubby sticking out of the mud, he kicked it and almost broke his Toe. Do you have any idea, how difficult it is, to get a tow truck up here in the Arctic ?

Clyde bent over and grabbed that short stump and tried to mive it, the earth moved ten feet away, He jumped up and ran home, (work was cancelled) he dug this monster up, A huge fossilized Mastadon Tusk, thousands of years old
He was immediately offered $15,000 for this, Clyde said No!

Due to the width of some of the images i'm going to have to edit the posts and knock them down so they are sticking with Ozzu rules.

You can read about the inline images in the Ozzu Rules here.

so sorry .. I will adjust the images .. and it won't happen again

It's not a problem. Thank you for the understanding.

Blimey, a definite change from the norm; some amzing photos and info there - thanks for sharing your experiences.

Very nice photos. All this time I always thought Eskimos were of Native American (Indian) descent but now I see they are Asian.