Gary Rolfe Biography
In our aim to bring up to date news and stories from around the Sled Dog World, we are proud to announce that Gary Rolfe, Arctic Explorer has agreed for us to publish our questions and updates about him on our news page. Snowpaw Store has been sponsoring Gary Rolfe for some time, supplying him with rope for his Arctic Expeditions. We enjoy hearing from him, and we aim to bring you updates from Gary, that we hope you will find interesting and informative too.
If you have a question to ask Gary, please email us and we will be sure to include it when we next email him.
Biography
Gary Rolfe is a professional dog musher. He lives in Greenland’s Ittoqqortoormiit with his 18 dogs: 17 males and one female, Girly. She’s very popular.
He says, “Ittoqqortoormiit is home for 460 people and over 400 working Greenland Dogs, the only breed allowed above Greenland’s Arctic Circle.
There are no roads leading in or out of Ittoqqortoormiit. Outsiders coming to work here have been known to freak out, panic and want out because it’s so isolated. There’s no plumbing. Re-supplies come twice yearly. Storms and cold are brutal and polar bears are always about. It’s a tough place”.“It can snow any month of the year in Ittoqqortoormiit and for 60 winter days the sun never rises.Gravity-sped cold dense air can rush down vertically off cliffs to create colossal coastal 100-knot piteraq winds. Windows pop and houses have been known to explode. Everyone is vigilant for polar bears wandering between houses,bears that fear nothing and have a tendency to eat people. No-body walks far unarmed. Reach twelve and kids can legally carry a firearm”.
The Ittoqqortoormiit sea ice sledding season, from November to July, is probably the longest in the world. About the Greenland Dog breed and his own Gary says,
“Everything about them is vast and strong. They despise physical and mental cowardice and have boundless positive confidence in themselves and everything they do. They are aggressive in their appetite to do what they’ve been bred to do and that’s pull massive payloads in brutal cold. For over two thousand years the selection process remains, if you pull hard, you live. What remains are incredible canine athletes with unique traits; powerful dominant dogs that are incredibly strong-willed. With huge chests and fur over twenty centimetres thick they are the Panzer tanks of the dog world, stop at nothing and I love them dearly”.
Please enjoy this short film of Gary, made by Tom Whitworth in 2009.
Rolfe (2009) from Tom Whitworth on Vimeo.
Gary Rolfe products are now available to buy from our store. All products are made by Gary in his spare time. They include Mouse Mats, Fridge Magnets, and Signed Photographic Greetings Cards, all individually signed by Gary Rolfe.
If you have a question to ask Gary, please email us and we will be sure to include it when we next email him. You can follow Gary's updates in his diary on his website, and also on our news page. You can read his updates and interviews by clicking HERE.
