Dog team versus snowmobile
Glen Vienneau
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Nov 13/00) - There are two ways to traverse the Arctic in winter - dog team or snowmobile.
In addition to the initial purchase price, both run up bills for fuel and maintenance. Is one means of transportation more economical?
Michael Angotittauruq, mayor of Gjoa Haven, argues that the cost of running a team "is almost next to nothing when there is plenty of country food like fish and seal."
Otherwise, a team of six dogs can eat their way through $20 worth of store-bought food in a single day.
Although Angotittauruq likes dog teams for their reliability, today's high Arctic polar bear hunters prefer snowmobiles for their speed and range.
The snowmobiles favoured in the Arctic cost around $8,000. A typical hunting trip of 300 or 400 km consumes as much as 30 gallons of gas.
In Sachs Harbour, the fuel cost for a 12-day trip runs to about $300, said dog team enthusiast Floyd Sydney, member of the Hunters and Trappers Association.
A snowmobile may last only a season, especially if it is driven on the rough sea ice, said Sydney.
"It's not like financing a truck or a car down South where you're driving around on pavement and it lasts you 10 years."
"If you have rough conditions, the snow machines don't last you the season," he explained.
Sydney said seals are in short supply in Sachs Harbour so dogs are fed musk-ox or fish.
Fish must be trapped and there is no pay for the time-consuming task of skinning out a musk-ox.
A full dog team costs about $10,000 a year, he estimates.
The practical advantage of the snowmobile is that it costs nothing to maintain in summer, says Frank Carpenter, a retired RCMP officer living in Inuvik. "You can put it away and you could forget about it."
Some of the few remaining dog teams are used for polar bear hunting.
"A dog team was alright 20 years ago, but in this modern age, people want to move and they want to move fast," said Isaac Gullage, store manager of the Igloolik Co-op Ltd. Dog teams are "more of a novelty and for tourist coming to town."
here are two ways to traverse the Arctic in winter - dog team or snowmobile.
In addition to the initial purchase price, both run up bills for fuel and maintenance. Is one means of transportation more economical?
Michael Angotittauruq, mayor of Gjoa Haven, argues that the cost of running a team "is almost next to nothing when there is plenty of country food like fish and seal."
Otherwise, a team of six dogs can eat their way through $20 worth of store-bought food in a single day.
Although Angotittauruq likes dog teams for their reliability, today's high Arctic polar bear hunters prefer snowmobiles for their speed and range.
The snowmobiles favoured in the Arctic cost around $8,000. A typical hunting trip of 300 or 400 km consumes as much as 30 gallons of gas.
In Sachs Harbour, the fuel cost for a 12-day trip runs to about $300, said dog team enthusiast Floyd Sydney, member of the Hunters and Trappers Association.
A snowmobile may last only a season, especially if it is driven on the rough sea ice, said Sydney.
"It's not like financing a truck or a car down South where you're driving around on pavement and it lasts you 10 years."
"If you have rough conditions, the snow machines don't last you the season," he explained.
Sydney said seals are in short supply in Sachs Harbour so dogs are fed musk-ox or fish.
Fish must be trapped and there is no pay for the time-consuming task of skinning out a musk-ox.
A full dog team costs about $10,000 a year, he estimates.
The practical advantage of the snowmobile is that it costs nothing to maintain in summer, says Frank Carpenter, a retired RCMP officer living in Inuvik. "You can put it away and you could forget about it."
Some of the few remaining dog teams are used for polar bear hunting.
"A dog team was alright 20 years ago, but in this modern age, people want to move and they want to move fast," said Isaac Gullage, store manager of the Igloolik Co-op Ltd. Dog teams are "more of a novelty and for tourist coming to town."
