The other end of the ice road.

Happy July 4^th

Birthday wishes to my good friend Chuck.

We spent the day loading the planes in Yellowknife, and enjoying (sleeping on the 2 hour flight) flying into the Contwoyto Lake Site and unloading the planes. The pilot was unbelievable…the twin on tundra tires landed on a deregulated airstrip (complete with potholes and willows) in approximately 100m and then took off in an even shorter distance.  He said he was out of practice and had not landed on an esker in a few years. By the way the lake is still mostly frozen.

 

Video of Twin Otter taking off. he was airborne in less that 70 yards.

 



 

The first flight brought in the Discovery Mining Services (the suppliers and builders of camps) crew of 2 and our medic/wildlife monitor. By the time we arrived 7 hours late 16:00h there was only the dining/kitchen tent in place and DMS were completing the tent platforms for the remaining tents.

 

The dining /kitchen tent, only thing standing for miles around.

 

The contractor put all hands to work (including yours truly) to get the camp into a state that we had some place to sleep and eat. A quick dinner break at 22:00h, stakes on the BBQ (another thing we had to put together) then back at it until 01:00h the next morning.

 

The basic camp.

Sleeping quarters.

 

The Kitchen.

Our freezers and fridge are powered by a generator, which is turned off at night because of the noise and to save fuel.

 

5 hours of sleep (who could ask for anything more) and we were back at it, this time ½ the crew on the camp the other ½ checking the equipment we needed on site.  Working here offers several unique challenges, first is the rapidly changing weather (one minute you’re in short sleeves the next in sweaters) and second major challenge is the bugs.   The mosquitoes are horrible (as they say “the nippers are maggoty”) and the deerflies or bulldogs as they are referred to up here can chew through leather.

 

Our man from Kugluktuk in bug hood and no the camera lens is not dirty those are the files.

 

This camp is the polar opposite to the winter camp, we have a kitchen but no cook, so it’s every man for himself, or whoever feels like cooking can have at it. The common saying from our medic is “I’ll cook lunch….we will be having sandwiches and everyone makes their own”. The facilities are very basic a camp shower (propane heated water, and battery operated sprayer) and a Reliance Luggable Loo Toilet (see the Canadian Tire website for more information on this fascinating and useful item).

 

Sun set over Contwoyto Lake.

 

Our work on site:

The Contwoyto Lake Weather Station site was originally a small camp built and operated by Pacific Western Airlines (PWA) during the Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line Site construction c. 1956. PWA built the existing buildings which included the Quonset living quarters, power house, beacon building and airstrip and installed the communications equipment that existed at the site. In 1978, Transport Canada acquired the site to establish a telecommunications and navigational aid station. By 1980, Transport Canada was looking into abandoning the site, for the more economical option of establishing a non-directional beacon (NDB) air navigation aid at the nearby Echo Bay Mines – Lupin Site (where we stayed during the winter program). In 1984, the Coppermine Hunters and Trappers Organization (HTO) took over responsibility for the site buildings and established it as an outpost camp.

Our mandate is to remove the buildings, collect all the rubbish and remove and/or treat the contaminated soil. I cannot recall if I have mentioned this in the pervious posts.

 

The work site from the air. Most of the things in this photo are our equipment, the power building (lower left side) and in the lower left corner are the main camp building and the radio sheds.

 

 

The power generator building after cleaning up the debris and removal of all equipment and before the demolition.

 

 

And the fire, did I mention that we get to burn all the buildings!

 

One of the radio sheds on its way to the fire.

 

A few of the items that have been found in or on the buildings. There seem to be a lot of old 22, 223 and 270 around.

 

A bench mark found on the Inuit Lands near to our work site.

 

Propane cylinders removed from the main building.

 

 

Taking down a section of the main camp building. The insulation in the floor was frozen into the ground. There is evidence that this structure was built at different times or at least by different people. The section above was built on a wooden timber frame with an insulated floor, where as the next section we removed was a 2x4 frame on a concrete (one section formed, while the other was poured over cobbles) footing filled with sand.

 

 

More to come….