Shift Rotation and the trip home

Do you know what an ice road is? It is a road made of ice.  Now there are two kinds of ice road.  There is the kind that is actually a river that has had the snow plowed off of it and then a hole is augured through the ice and the path cut by the plows is flooded to give a somewhat smooth, road like surface and then scarified to give better traction.  A road of this type is the only road that currently exists between Inuvk NWT and Tuktoyaktuk NWT. In the summer there isn't a road and all travel must be done by air or boat.  It takes about two hours or more depending on the weather to get from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk on the ice road. That is 2 very grueling hours for a body. It is a constant pounding over cracks and bumps.  This is what it looks like.

That crack you see is actually a crack in the windshield not the ice road. The second type of ice road is over land and water is pumped into tanker trucks from lakes are sprayed over packed snow layer after layer until it is strong enough to carry the traffic.  Both these types of roads are very interesting and practical but very slippery.All driving is very calculated no sudden moves is the key.

 

It is a good feeling to have worked for three weeks 7 days a week 12 hours a day and to be headed home for a solid week off and a big pay check. But the 2 hour ice road ride and 2 days on an airplane take a little of the joy out of it. So when you get to Inuvik life looks a little like normal.  You have your neighborhood dogs roaming the streets.

Looking like wolves. But hey you have to remember where you are.  This is not exactly Chihuahua country.

 

So once you get to the airport in Inuvik you get your ticket you wait for the eternally late aircraft to arrive. My first trip up here so I have to get used to the systems here.  No high security here I noticed no strip search, no scanning of luggage. 



Be resourceful

One thing you have to learn when you are working remotely in the north is to be resourceful.  I have been given the task of setting up a geotechnical lab here just out side of Tuk as it is affectionately known. I have an ability to use things for my purpose that were not originally intended for that purpose and it comes in very handy.  They are a little embarrassing to see sometime but it is all about getting things done.  I will share a few of those as we go along.  To the contractors credit they have done a very commendable job by providing a large trailer with heat lights, running water and all the desks, refrigerator, counters and useful items I will need.  A few  things are lacking but that is just the way things are when you work up North.  For instance potions of a shipment of lab equipment keeps showing up in random places.  Took 2 weeks to get water installed which is a real necessity when trying to run sieves.  When they finally took 3 days of fiddling and fooling around to get my water I didn't want to tell them that the pump will not shut off.  God knows how long it would take, probably without water, to get it fixed.  I just flip the breaker now to shut it down when I do not need it.  Interesting cast of characters here.  As you might well imagine. There are those who would come and enjoy this solitude kind of life style.  There are a lot of people who are here just to make a bit of money and don't really like it but endure it.  The other faction I speak of are fun to watch. As they say it takes all kinds to make the world go around.  Actually, to quote my late grandfather "it takes all kinds and I am glad I am not one of them". When in fact we are one of them.

Here is a crowd of the leaders on the contractor's side that are making this huge project happen.  This project which I already mentioned is going ahead by virtue of Stephen Harper's generous donation.  The total of the project is plus or minus 300 million dollars for 140 km of road.

I was asked several months ago if I would go there to work by my supervisor and because I have had so much idle time over the last few winters I agreed that I would go. Well, here I am in Tuktoyaktuk, NWT "Tuk".  The trip started out at the airport in Halifax, NS at 7 am. I had a 1 hour lay over in Toronto and overnight in Edmonton.  The next day I left early 7 am for Yellow Knife, Norman Wells and the airplane ride finshed in Inuvik at 3:00 pm. Next stop Tuktoyaktuk over the ice road(more onthat later) and the camp called "Artic Star"(more on that later) at 6 pm.  Unlike my other forays into the North this camp has great internet and even cell service.  The food is even bearable.  So, as far as remote locations go this one is ok.

Looking out the window on my third floor room it looks like this.

 

Good night all.

A little job up north

Well, here I sit miles above the Arctic circle on a cold winter day.  I have just recently been assigned a new project that has gotten the attention of almost all the people I know.  Stephen Harper has allocated a sum of money to the North West Territories for an all season road from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk.  We will be building this road in the winter mostly and using frozen soil.  All very interesting stuff and rumour has it that the discovery channel would like to do a program devoted to it.

It took me 2 days to get here from Halifax.  Leaving at 7:00 am in the morning on 13 Feb (the day before Valentines day, believe me the irony was not lost on that little fact) I had to drop off my little dog at the vet for surgery on his bladder.  He has a propensity to developing this little items which cause him great discomfort, can be very dangerous and are  costly to remedy.  So leaving was a terrible case of bad timing.  I am 2 days away from returning on shift change so hopefully all will be forgiven.  Here is what greeted me the first morning on the way to the site.  Sunrise on a Pingo. Alittle more on those later.

 

And then on the way back to camp that night it was that same Pingo in a different light.  That is just one of the things that is very noticable here and that is the light. It is different and beautiful.

 

Good Night from the Arctic.