| Grise Fiord is the home of Pauloosie Akeeagok, our Inuit representative on the cruise. |
| First of all, it is pronounced: grease. Grise Fiord is a town of 128 people in the southern part of Ellesmere Island. It looks across a body of water called Jones Sound toward Devon Island. It is so small, your map or atlas may not show Grise Fiord. |
Paul Akeeagok, on the deck of The Healy. Photo by Scott McAuliffe. |
| Second, there are no igloos and the people of Grise do not get around on dog sled! |
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Grise Fiord from the air. Photo courtesy of Ed Hudson. |
| The homes are made of wood, but they are built on platforms. The ground is frozen most of the year, but it does soften in summer. The freezing and thawing would ruin a house foundation if it were built directly on the ground. |
| Diesel fuel heaters keep the homes warm. There is no central plumbing throughout the town. Fresh water is stored in 3 huge water tanks, and each home has its own storage tank, filled by a city worker. Sewage is pumped out of each home’s septic tank and sent to a lagoon. The water tank and septic tank must be inside the heated home so they do not freeze during the cold months. |
| The most common way to get around in winter is a Skidoo (snowmobile). In summer, they use motorcycles and ATVs. A few people own trucks. Kids ride bikes. Most everyone has a boat of some kind to navigate the waters of the fiord. To visit or leave Grise, you must take one of the two airplane flights per week. |
| Besides homes, there is a school (K-12), a gymnasium, a store with a few hotel rooms, and buildings for the city services. |
A winter shot of Grise Fiord. Photo courtesy of Ed Hudson. |
| The folks in Grise work at the store, run the school, maintain the airport, provide the city services, and guide tourists. Tourists “from the south” come to Grise to hunt polar bear. They must hunt in a traditional way, so someone like Paul’s dad will take them out on dog sled (yes, they still have them!). Other tourist attractions are the sledding and riding snowmobiles into the countryside. In summer, people come to hike the mountains. |
| The people of Grise eat a mix of modern and traditional food. The modern food can be bought at normal prices and sent to Grise in a once-a year shipment. If you need something, the store carries food, too, but costs are pretty high. The people still hunt and eat seal, walrus, bear, and caribou. Wild berries ripen in late summer. Special events always have one of these traditional delicacies. |
| What do you do for fun in this Arctic homeland? Kids ride bikes, they play hockey and basketball, and try to beat the Nintendo games. Everyone goes for skidoo or motorcycle rides, many go camping in the backcountry. Adults like to watch movies, go hunting, and of course, sit around and talk. That sounds like your home town, doesn’t it? |
