Kamiks

This morning I had a phone call from the team at 9:50. Their position was 82 degrees 54 minutes North and 70 degrees 54 minutes West. They moved 3.5km. Although the temperature was very low (-40°C), the weather was fine and there was no wind. The team was supposed to progress south through a fiord. However the route was too steep to move on any more. So they are now thinking to go back to Arctic Ocean again and find another route.

Today I will introduce traditional Inuit boots (Kamiks) and gloves.

Laymeekee from Grise Fiord Canada's northernmost village.

Resolute Bay is the second northernmost settlement in Canada next to Grise Fiord.

The pattern on the boots does not have any special meaning.

This boot consists of 4 parts.

They are worn in this order: Aliksik (bottom left), Piniqgaq (upper left and right), and Kamik (bottom right). All together it is called "Kamiks".

In English this is called duffel sock. In Japan it may be called felt?

Seen from above

This (Piniqgaq) is made of ring seal skin.

Seen from above

This one (Piniqgaq) also is made of ring seal skin.

Seen from above You can see the seam line inside.

It looks like this after putting on the three layers.

The last one

It looks slippery on hard snow. On the other hand it must be fun to walk on fresh snow. In old times it was women's work to soften the sole by chewing the skin.

When I walk on fresh snow around this region, it makes an echoing sound as if I were walking on the snow fell on drumskin. Because of low humidity and cold temperature, the snow is very fine and dry.

The fur and yellow skin are of ring seals. Sole part is made of bearded seal skins.

In Japan seals have an image of lovableness, as in a case of a spotted seal called "Goma-chan". However in the arctic region, seals are valuable sources of food or clothing, such as hats, gloves, upper and lower wears, and boots. Once I also witnessed a frozen seal being dragged by a snowmobile.

Kamiks seen from above

The next is mittens made of sealskin.

Mittens are warmer than other gloves that have separate parts for each finger because the heat of each fingers are contained in one place.

The fur of seal feels hard and prickly. Actually the hair of seal has a hollow structure where the body temperature is being kept. The pink one in the above picture is a double-layered fleece. Some mittens have polar bear skins sewn around wrist and others have a length that covers the forearms.