#13 Humility
     No-sweat Igloos

     Several of us took turns to saw out ice blocks for the igloo that we were building. Our class leader, Mike, stressed the importance to pace ourselves and not break a sweat. To sweat is to die. He told us of a time when he first learned to build an igloo with Inupiaq hunters. Mike figured he’d go at a fast pace and get finished before everyone else, while the other hunters were moving slow, taking smoke breaks and handling a few saw strokes at a time.
     “Ha, I’ll show them. They’re so lazy,” he murmured to himself as he wiped the sweat off his brow with his glove. He ran the teeth of the saw faster. Mike was going so fast, he worked up a sweat. The hunters began to laugh at him. It wasn’t until he stopped from exhaustion that he realized his perspiration had made his clothes wet. He began to shiver from the cold. In sub-zero temperatures with wet clothes, his hypothermia could easily become life threatening. He learned the importance of pacing oneself to the environment. We learned from his story and we stayed dry that night in the igloo.

Physical exertion must be paced in extreme climates. Lynn stays dry and takes frequent breaks while hunting in cold weather.

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