Dog Sledding – Charlie Lundie

Charlie Lundie

Charlie每天會來店裡面喝一壺茶，和朋友聊天。
他養了16隻狗，
曾贏得2011年Hudson Bay Quest的冠軍。
Hudson Bay Quest是從Gillam到Churchill，
距離長達220 miles的Dog Sled Race(狗拉雪橇的競賽)，
那年他花了29個小時又6分鐘完賽。
前幾天他帶我去他養狗的地方，
並讓我體驗狗拉雪橇，跑了30 miles。
後來在網路上發現了他的故事….
「我的叔叔舅舅在30年代曾經是陷阱獵人，
他們在北方與其他人一起狩獵。
那是為什麼我參加Hudson Bay Quest的最大原因。
我想要看看他們是如何在嚴寒的雪地中生活，
以前可沒有那些酷炫的裝備像GPS或衛星電話。
狗拉雪橇是以前Churchill生活中的重心，
在50和60年代，
旅館或商店門口停放著許多狗和雪橇，
人們上街買菜、買酒或是買生活用品，
總是以狗拉雪橇代步出門辦事。」

原文如下，
My uncles were Fred Oman and George Oman, they were trappers across river. My Dad, Dave Lundie, trapped from North River to Arviat in the 30s. He traveled all around up north, other guys like old Eddie Batstone, Cliff Cochrane, Reg Ayotte, there were lots of guys. Mostly trapping arctic fox, staying out there and living off the land.

That was the biggest reason why I went into the Hudson Bay Quest. I wanted to see how those guys made it out there, how they survived. In those days, there was no GPS, no satellite phones, no fancy equipment, who knows what they had, nothing I guess.

Sled dogs used to be a mainstay of Churchill life. “Back in the 50s and 60s, there used to be teams parked in front of the Churchill and Hudson Hotels, in front of the Bay (Hudson’s Bay Company Store). Guys would come in off the trap line to pick up food, get supplies, go for beers. Everybody traveled by dogs in those years.

http://www.polarbearalley.com/blog/index.php/hudson-bay-post/people/charlie-lundie/

Churchill在上個世紀因毛皮貿易而建立的小鎮，
由歐洲人和原住民組成多元的文化。
現在則是Alberta和Saskatchewan貨物出口的港口，
人口不到800人，
這個以北極熊知名的小鎮，除了北極熊以外，
似乎還有許多有趣的故事。

狗的家，附近沒有任何屏障，相較之下人類好脆弱，穿了好幾層衣服還是無法在戶外生存。

Charlie and his dogs.

第一次搭狗拉雪橇，跑了30mile，在戶外待了兩個半小時，windchill低於-35，回到室內腳已失去知覺。

這是狗的leader，看著主人的眼神，期待著出行。