A Little About the Greenland Dogsleds
The
sleds are a master piece of design for their efficiency and endurance in
that extreme environment. The long runners distribute the weight evenly over
a large area. That makes it possible to travel over quite thin ice. It is
not uncommon for the eager hunter to go out where the ice is too thin and have the sled break through it. The powerful Huskys generally pull the sled to safety, with driver hanging on to the rear and shouting to the dogs to pull! However, drownings of men and dogs do occur periodically.
Before iron strips were available, the hunters used a mixture of mud, moss, and their own pee to make a runner coating that was fast and durable. The runners were made slicker by the hunter peeing on them. Urine freezes harder than water, and as long as it stayed frozen, it provided a hard surface with a very low coefficient of friction.
The sled boards are lashed together with strips of skin. This makes the sled very flexible and provides a much more comfortable ride. I noticed right away how the sleds I rode on gave a surprisingly comfortable ride as they flexed over the rough ice.
Once some Americans at Thule AB designed their 'improved' sled, complete with brass screws. On the trail the screws worked out of the wood because of the constant flexing on the rough ice and the sled fell apart. It is hard to improve on a design that has been tested over 4000 years.
-- Smilla's Sense of Snow
-- The Frozen Echo: Greenland and the Exploration of North America.
-- Greenland's Icy Fury.
-- Greenlanders, Whales, and Whaling:
-- Lonely Planet Iceland, Greenland & the Faroe Islands.
-- An African in Greenland.
-- Arctic Homeland: Kinship, Community and Development in Northwest Greenland.
-- Greenland (World Bibliographical Series)
-- Knud Rasmussen's Posthumous Notes on the Life and Doings of the East Greenlanders
-- North Pole Legacy: Black, White & Eskimo
-- Northwest Greenland: A History
-- The Arctic: Endangered People and Places.
-- Arctic Adventure: Inuit Life in the 1800s
-- Arctic Foxes
-- Ancient People of the Arctic.
-- Arctic Son.
-- Arctic Folktales.
-- Greenland & The Arctic.
-- Seven Seasons in Greenland.
-- Greenland Expedition:
-- Building the Greenland Kayak:
-- The First Crossing of Greenland.
-- Eskimo Poems from Canada and Greenland.
-- Greenland: Island at the Top of the World.
-- The battle for Greenland.
-- Arctic Clothing of North America - Alaska, Canada, Greenland.
-- Leaves from a Greenland diary.
-- Driving to Greenland.
-- The Greenland Seal Hunter.
-- The Greenland Ice Cap.
-- The Flora of Greenland.
-- The Arctic Promise:
-- Greenland and Iceland.
-- Greenland: Past and Present.
-- Greenland Ventures.
-- Arctic Homeland:
-- Greenland Saga:
-- New Greenland.
-- Greenland Lies North
-- The ice-capped island: Greenland
-- Coast Guard to Greenland.
-- Greenland's 25 years of indigenous self-rule.
-- FROM GREENLAND'S ICY MOUNTAINS
-- The Greenland Mummies
-- Danish Greenland
-- Northwest Greenland: A History
-- Living With the Eskimos In Greenland
-- Those Greenland days
-- THE PEREGRINE FALCON IN GREENLAND
-- Greenland: a dream at the top of the world.
-- This is Greenland.
-- David Goes to Greenland
-- The Art of Greenland:
-- Hunting the Greenland Narwhal
-- Doctors Wife in Greenland.
-- Greenland in Story and Pictures.
-- THE LAST KINGS OF THULE, A year among the polar Eskimos of Greenland.
© 2007 Larry Rodrigues. All rights reserved.