Northern Alaska Part One - Ice Cellars, Whale Meat, and Life in Wainwright

As part of my work with Tribes on the health impacts of climate change, I recently visited two Iñupiat villages in Northern Alaska. The people in the area practice subsistence hunting, and recently have been facing issues with unseasonable ice conditions that impact travel and can lead to injury. Our project involves the use of GPS-enabled communication devices to help search and rescue missions and save money on non-emergency events. For example, if someone runs out of gas in their snow machine and just needs someone to bring them some gas, they can communicate this and avoid the need for a full search and rescue mission with a helicopter. On the other hand, if someone falls through thin ice, the device can send out an emergency message with exact GPS coordinates.

I've been to Alaska once before, back in 2009, but only made it as far north as Coldfoot. That's really far north (above the Arctic Circle) but Barrow is a further 300 miles to the northwest. If that sounds remote, it is. Getting to rural villages in Northern Alaska takes a lot of planning, and this trip involved 10 flights.

My route.Too much time on planes!

Flying over green mountains in British Columbia.

A Glacier sighting! This was flying over Southern Alaska.

Made it to Anchorage for one night before flying out early in the morning.

We met up with some colleagues for a quick dinner and beer at 49th State Brewing.

Early the next morning we flew from Anchorage to Wainwright, with connecting flights in Deadhorse (Prudhoe Bay) and Barrow (officially named Utqiaġvik). The flight to Barrow was a 737, because they ship a lot of cargo by air and there are a lot of oil workers in the region. Unfortunately there was full cloud cover for the entire flight, which was dissapointing because the route passes over the tallest mountain in North America (Denali) and the spectacular Brooks Range. I did see the pipeline as we were descending in to Prudhoe Bay, and had some views of the Arctic Ocean heading in to Barrow.

Flying over the pipeline near Prudhoe Bay.

Deadhorse and Prudhoe Bay. 

Flying over the Arctic Ocean on the way to Barrow.

The walk from Alaska airlines to Ravn Air in Barrow.

It started snowing while we were transferring in Barrow.

The last leg was on a tiny 9-seater Cessna. Quite a shift from the huge Alaska Air 737! It was a short flight to Wainwright, the first village we worked in.

Heading to the tiny Ravn Air plane.

Ready to board!

The smallest commercial flight I've ever been on.

These distinctive geometric patterns occur across the Arctic.

In Wainwright, we landed on a gravel runway and were greeted by Gary, who manages the "man camp" we'd be staying at. Wainwright does have a tiny hotel, but it was closed for renovations, so our lodging was in modular housing built by Shell Oil. Wainwright is small, with 550 people, mostly Alaskan Native (Iñupiat). 

After the plane lands, cars drive right up to it. This is on the runway.

The main building of the "man camp."

This is the building I stayed in. It was actually pretty comfortable. We had wifi and even satellite TV.

Going for a walk through the village.

Wainwright is on the Arctic Ocean.

A traditional boat. This will be covered will seal skin.

A typical house in Wainwright. Most people have a dog.

Alana's dog, Trooper. 

View down toward the Ocean from the village.

ATL United scarf on the Arctic Ocean! And yes, it was cold - the low to mid 30s even in August.

Overview of Wainwright.

Wainwright has two stores, and the prices for some of the goods are astronomical. It makes sense, because everything has to be either flown in or brought by barge. Most people really do rely on hunting and fishing for most of their food. There's also not a lot of fresh produce brought in. We saw some potatoes, tomatoes, apples, and lettuce. Most of it is shipped up from Washington or California.

$7.55 for a box of spaghetti.

I wouldn't enjoy paying $22 for dish washing liquid!

A flier for the project we're working on!

Wainwright also has an issue with coastal erosion because it's right on the coast. They've had to move several houses already, and also brought in boulders to protect the coast.

This rock wall protects about 25% of the town. These all had to be brought in by barge.

Another view of the ocean on a cold and cloudy day. That's coal on the beach, from local deposits.

Coastal erosion threatening a house.

This traditional ice cellar was destroyed by erosion.

A small bowhead whale skull.

Kids playing on the playground by the school.

When cars die, they just get left around because it's too expensive to ship them out.

The dumpsters around town are decorated and painted. This one is apparently a sneaky or dangerous dumpster!

The dogs like to climb on top of their houses for a better view.

A caribou skin drying.

Seal skins stretched out and dried.

Snow machines are a popular way to get around in winter. There are no roads leading away from the village.

This house has shifted so much from melting permafrost that it is condemned and will fall over soon.

Whale hunting is another key part of life in Wainwright. While commercial whale hunting has been outlawed for 35 years, native populations around the globe are still permitted to hunt whales under a highly regulated system. In the village of Wainwright, they are allowed seven harpoon strikes on Bowhead whales per year. So if they hit a whale with a harpoon and it escapes, that counts as one of their strikes. This year they caught five whales with their seven strikes. While whale hunting is certainly controversial, it has been practiced by the Iñupiat for millennia and constitutes part of their cultural identity. Whale meat provides a lot of the calories, protein, and vitamins they need to survive in the Arctic, especially considering the lack of produce and the high price of food shipped in by plane and barge.

We met up with Chester, a whaling captain who is also a volunteer search and rescue team member working on our project. He gave us a tour around town, brought some whale meat to sample, and took us down into his ice cellar.

Beluga whale, Bowhead whale, and Bowhead meat.

We all tried on Chester's coat. His wife did the embroidery at the bottom, and that's wolverine fur on the hood.

Opening up the ice cellar. It hadn't been opened for a few months, so we had to let it air out for a few hours before venturing down.

We chipped away some of the excess ice and put the ladder in to come back later.

Chester drove us out along the beach away from town. And the sun came out!

The beach serves as a road.

Permafrost along the eroding beach.

Me standing by the erosion.

George tried his hand at fishing, with no luck.

The tundra is oddly beautiful.

After allowing the ice cellar to air out for a few hours, we returned and climbed down. Of course I went down first! The cellar is basically an underground chamber dug 20 feet down into the permafrost, used to store whale meat. Going into the cellar was one of the coolest and most unique things I've ever done.

Frozen meat at the bottom of the cellar.

There's not a lot of space down there.

An axe to chip away ice.

They pulled the ladder out when I was in the cellar. This is looking back up.

George coming out of the cellar.

A polar bear skull that was found on the beach.

Carved walrus tusks.

Our first full day on the North Slope of Alaska was an adventure, and an introduction to a unique but shifting way of life that is threatened by climate change and coastal erosion. After some more time in Wainwright, we ventured on to Nuiqsut, an inland village along the Nechelik Channel. More to come in the next post!