I would love to drop a line all the way up there. Do you get to bring a gas auger with a five foot extension too? I gotta believe the ice gets super thick. The ice on Lake Winnipeg is about 4' thick right now.
Yeah...that's about what it would take. I took a look at average ice conditions in Cambridge Bay (only 100-200km) east of us, and the harbor typically becomes ice free in the middle of JULY !!!!..then freezes up again in October. I have a feeling I won't be fishing the first couple of trips up there.
Well....I made it back. I didn't wind up quite as far north as the original plan, but still got to a mine within a couple of degrees of the arctic circle. Yes, a few nights were bloody cold. LOL. I'm trying to post some pics, but this computer (or the site, but I'm betting computer) is fighting me tooth and nail. I'll hit post on this entry, and then try to link up some other pics. If this one posts, it a pic out of the plane window. There were a few trees, but mostly barren, featureless tundra. The trees that are there are spruce, only grow to be 6 ft tall, and apparently, that takes around 200 years !!! Unfortunately, we aren't allowed to venture off the mine site or I'd have taken some better ones. https://i.imgur.com/vkrFgUu.jpg I'm guessing our altitude was around 1000 ft at this point, coming into the mine. The specs you see are the spruce trees. Look close..there aren't very many of them. https://i.imgur.com/4PuRo48.jpg These are the beasties we were sent up to put together in April. 830 haul trucks. We hadn't put the box on this one yet. I took this picture at midnight on May 19th. No..it's not getting "dark" dark out now. Another one on May 19th at midnight looking dead north. I did say it was cold. LOL. Welcome to April in the Canadian arctic. It his -30C that night. And...lastly. One of the shovels we did some repairs on. Have a close look. I'm standing beside the bucket. One of these is right around 1 million pounds.
The hole where all the over priced rocks (diamonds) come from. The thing that struck me as odd. Other than a few birds flying over on their northern migration, one fox, and one arctic hare, the mine site is completely lifeless. Sterile might be a better word. It's been open for a few years now, and there are zero weeds...no grass....absolutely nothing growing anywhere (not just the pit) no matter where you look.
Great pics from a climate more extreme than I will ever experience (I hope)! Did you manage to pocket a few diamonds for souvenirs? Save those pics for your children and grandchildren, the one with you and the bucket fingers is awesome!
LOL. No...didn't get any diamonds. The mine operator gets a little upset if you start picking stuff up off the ground and put it in your pockets. Honestly, I have no interest in it anyway. I wouldn't know a raw diamond from any other rock. The only elemental interest I have there is iron....big iron. LOL. I'm heading back up in a little less than a week. We do 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off. As far as the camp itself goes...the room is fine. You get your own 7x8 ft space with a chair, bed, small desk, and closet. The food is pretty good, there's no limits on how much, and there's always stuff to eat 24 hrs per day. The only thing you pay for is if you want outright packaged junk food like chocolate bars or soft drinks. I've been looking forward to this set. I've been looking forward to being there for the longest day of the year. Schedules can change though, and we look after a lot of mine sites. Being one of the more qualified (license wise anyway) guys we have, I'm good to go to most sites, and be a part of whatever is going on at the time. Maybe I'll get lucky and I'll get sent up past the arctic circle for a true 24 hours of daylight experience. This mine is still about 3 degrees south of the magic line, so the sun will set for a brief time. I'll take more pictures and post them for you guys. Cheers !
Wow, your adventure. That’s all I can say. Too bad no burning of wood but if you’re only up there a brief time, at least getting back home to burn is a nice reprieve.....
