Baker Lake (Mar 22/04) - Each day, Silas Aittauq gets up early and likes to get outside and start working.

He may be 71-years-old now, but you would never know that if you watched him working on his qamutik or building an iglu, said Aittauq's neighbour, Lyall Ford.

Ford recently snapped a couple of photos of Aittauq, a man he strongly admires for being outside every day "from morning until night."

Aittauq's daughter, Eva Noah, said being outside keeps her father happy.

He is especially thrilled now to be planning another trip to Gjoa Haven by snowmobile in April to visit relatives.

It is a route he knows well. Aittauq was the first person to ever make the trip from Baker Lake to Gjoa Haven by snowmobile in 1975.

He has also travelled it by dog team.

"He trekked that distance just to find out what a trip would be like," another one of Aittauq's daughters, Lena Tapatai, explained. "It was 11 days due to a couple of storm days."

Aittauq was born on Feb. 10, 1933 at Adelaide Peninsula on the Arctic coast mainland, southwest of Gjoa Haven.

His mother died while giving birth to him.

Her name was Tiriarnak. His father was Simon Qirniq.

Aittauq has seven younger brothers and two younger sisters who live in Gjoa Haven.

Aittauq grew up as the adopted nephew to the late Michael Titanic. He has two step-brothers, Simon Tookoome and the late Nathaniel Angu'yoak.

He learned all his hunting skills from his older step-brother, and made Baker Lake his permanent home in 1965.

The first time Aittauq ever went on social assistance, Noah explained, it was not clearly explained to him what it was. He kept wondering how he was ever going to pay back all the free food and camping gear.

Aittauq married his wife Peggy on Feb. 11, 1958, and they raised four girls: Lena, Eva, Leah, and Anna.

The couple also has two adopted sons, Jose and Kevin, as well as 12 grandchildren and two great grandchildren.

Holds to tradition

Aittauq had his first dog team when he was 18 years old. He won it during a birthday party.

Today, he carves and sews when he isn't hunting or tending to his dogs.

He has an inviting smile, but as Tapatai wrote in an e-mail, it is a warm smile that doesn't totally show "the hardship of a young man."

"Amazing man, humble," is how she describes her father.

"He has a lot to offer, but says there is a lot he hasn't learned from elders who have passed away," Tapatai said.