Off to go sledding in the hills (cliffs) near Napaskiak. Everyone got bundled up for the ride which took about 45 minutes. Sledding simply means jumping off the cliff with your snow clothes and going for a ride.
It was a bit of an adventure coming back. Napaskiak has a nasty slough on its backside. Very strong currents whip around the community through this slough dumping into the Kuskokwim River. It is known to be very dangerous during freeze up and break up, when rivers begin to thaw. When we drove into Bethel the one time we could see the heaving of the ice in the middle due to tidal influence. What happens with this tidal influence are overflows. Water from the river finds its way up to the surface. Usually it occurs on the sides of the river. It looks like open water, but has solid ice underneath.
This is one example of an overflow. Doesn't look very threatening. One can snowmobile over the top of it, no problem.
What can be very frightening is when the water is inches to feet thick and you have to go out first with a stick to make sure the ice is thick. Then, you gun up your snowmobile and blast through at top speed hoping the momentum will carry you through. Problem is, you want to make sure that when you get through you won't end up in a willow bank....
At the slough, Tim did have to check the overflow with a stick and determined it safe. Bruce, pulling a sled with two children (Lily and another) and Gwen as a passenger, had to run through the water. Gwen got off and got a ride on another machine so he didn't have as much weight. When they passed over, she got quite wet, so was pretty chilly when she arrived home. Bruce blasted through and they all lived to tell the tale. He just doesn't want to have to do a repeat performance.
Our middle school and high school students travel to different villages to compete. In the fall, we have cross country. In the winter we have basketball, and in the spring we NYO-Native Youth Olympics.
This is our team against the Akula Foxes in Kasigluk. We snowmobiled over to watch. This time the students all traveled by snowmobiles and sleds. If it is colder that 25 below, they are not allowed to travel. When they fly to farther villages, the weather cannot be colder than 30 below. These include windchill, so this winter we had many games canceled as we couldn't travel.
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| Caribou Gwenny wearing Bruce's latest turning material. |
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| Snowplow for runway. Unfortunately, it doesn't always get used.... |
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| Gwen and new friend. |
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| These kiddos will play ball anywhere, anytime. |
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| Let them freeze, shake them out. |
Snow play, nothing better!
