llama66 llama66:
-50c was cool enough for me, thank you.
if your dressed for that temp then -80 wont feel any different,and if your out in that shite then you have to be crazy or your stoves diesel supply is freezing.
when you walk on the snow at that temp the sound is absolutley deafening,each footstep produces a loud squeaky echo that can be heard for a thousand meters.My first trip up was a learning experience,the snow is so crystalline that it gets into everything,a pinhole in the wooden floor of your tent will have a drift on it by morning.Heavy equipment has to have a sheet of cheesecloth over the air cleaner or it's hooped in 2 hours and you have to chisel the ice out of the filter assembly.any equipment parked into the wind will have a cab full of snow by morning.
The one reason I cant see a road ever getting built is the hostile environment.The discovery camps shut down in september and dont come back untill march or april and thats pushing it.
The reason is the constant blizzards,you cant do anything in the winter.Last year my boss in Kamloops who has never been out of that area had a brainstorm to send me up in february and take the new crew with me.
Big freaking mistake! after 7 weeks I was ready to take the sno-cat to town as we had accomplished nothing.
I was so frustrated that even at -80 windchill me and the other 2 guys kept going out and trying to get something running,after 5 weeks we got a loader into the coverall and had it running,come out in the morning and it had 2 huge holes in each side of the block. That's a heartbreaker man! I think the young mechanic apprentice actually cried. Once again the snow plugged off the breather and all the motor oil puked out.
I hate the cold but I love the arctic,like going back 100 years,no cel phones,the people are great and allways smiling,life is simple,they have 3 months of summer to get out and do whatever and the winter months are spent visiting folks and relatives from other communities once the lakes freeze as most dont own vehicles,just honda's and ski-doo's.Every quad is a honda,even if its a yamaha,it's called a Honda.
So I'm kind of up on this because in less then 24 hours I will be in Rankin inlet waiting for a chopper to take me to camp and its sunlight all the time so hope he likes fishing and knows some good holes.
Having my last beer or 2 right now.No beer in Nunavut unless you want to pay a bootlegger $250.00/case