Living in an area where the ground is permanently frozen solid and the average temperature is well below freezing cant be easy, and with conditions in the middle of winter often hitting below −50 °C, its a wonder anyone can survive in these areas.

 

The Inuit and Yupik people of the arctic circle are experts in living in these conditions and have done so for many generations, but why live in such a harsh environment and how do they not freeze to death.

 

The answer has three parts, first of all these people have lived here for a very long time and are more accustomed to dealing with the cold, such as desert tribes can handle the heat much better than someone from a colder country.

 

Secondly they are experts at survival, mostly because they have to be and can recognise incoming storms and have developed a shelter they can build anywhere, the infamous igloo.

 

The third reason is the clothing, with no company on earth being able to match the warmth levels obtained from clothes traditionally worn by the Inuit. The warmest of these clothes are made from caribou skin which is sown 2 layers thick, with the fur facing towards the skin on the inner layer and the fur facing outwards on the exposed layer.

 

 

They typically make this double skin layer type clothing on the boots, trousers, a long sleeve under shirt, an over shirt and anorak, which is a hooded jacket that was actually invented by the Inuit.

 

This clothing is completely wind and water proof, and when wearing both the 2 shirts and jacket its possible to be outside for hours at a time in −50 °C winter conditions. Just for a comparison if you were outside in −50 °C with nothing on but jeans and a t-shirt, you would be dead in less than 2 minutes. Even the modern day winter jackets cant compare to the protection of Inuit clothing, i once watched a program about a group of people trying their luck at reindeer herding for a reality show in northern Siberia. When the mostly American cast turned up with their $1000 plus winter jackets the locals laughed at them and told them they would die if wore those out in the wild.

 

Q and A Time

What are Inuit clothes made of?

The warmest of their clothes are made from Caribou or seal skin, though skins of various grazing animals also work well, such as deer or moose. Polar bear skin also makes for some very warm clothing but is very thick and to heavy to move around in, instead mostly being used for blankets.

 

(Wild Caribou)

 

Why doesn’t an Igloo melt when there’s a fire inside?

Igloos are made of hard compact ice making them much more insulted which keeps the igloo warmer, but as long as the fire looses heat faster than it reaches the walls, they will never melt. Normally fires in igloos are very small and are only lit when people are awake and using them, instead of making larger fires to burn through the night.

 

Typically the fire is quite small and would have people surrounding it, which protects much of the walls from direct heat, and since the air temperature is so cold the heat from the flames cools fast enough to not contain enough heat to melt the walls. Also if any melting should occur the surrounding ice and air temperature would quickly freeze the liquid as soon as it started to run.

 

Are Inuit and Eskimo the same thing?

No, no they aren’t. Eskimo is a term that was created in Alaska to describe the northern native inhabitants, with the term Eskimo meaning eater of raw meat and is generally applied to all Inuit type tribes across the world.

 

Most of the people know as Eskimos are actually made up of two major tribes, which are the Inuit and the Yupik, as well as a number of much smaller isolated tribes which all have their own names. Saying Eskimo to describe these people is the same as calling anyone from Europe a European instead of referring to them as English, German etc.