Monday, April 24, 2006

Camp Bound

This ain't so bad

Time to load up on the sunscreen and the lip goo... A balmy -17 this morning blue sky's and visibility as far as you can see.

I'm going in!

The last graphical forecast I read from Nav Canada had the rarely seen "NSW":

No Signficant Weather.

That is unless one considers highs of -14 in late April to be significant.

Stay tuned...

It could be a while.

Sunday, April 23, 2006

Ugh...ly

Today's Weather

The blue skies returned and the wind has abated somewhat. It was some nasty for most of the day. Word is that there have only been two blizzards this winter and we just experienced the second of the two.

Last nights special on the weather smorgasboard was freezing rain. Imagine that, 30 knot winds temps in the -20 region with the wind chill and we wake up with a serious layer of ice coating all the windows, cars, roads and exposed aircraft. There wasn't to be any flying for some time if at all today not just because of ice on the planes but the entire runway was affected. "100% ice cover" according to one aviation bulletin today.

We did get a bit of good news yesterday, the crew in camp has made significant progress digging the camp out. As of last night there were an additional 5 tents opened. Considerable progress considering that during the previous 3 days they were stuck at the 2 tents that they were living in. The cat that was dragged in on Thursday looks to have been just the ticket to lift spirits as well as move a tremendous amount of snow. Though given how nasty it was last night it wouldn't surprise if it is now seriously drifted in not to mention the thin veneer of ice. This mornings call from camp informed us that everybody was going to be sleeping in and I wouldn't blame them at all.

I think that I am looking forward to getting out of Rankin if for no other reason than in camp there won't be a whole lot of time to sit around drinking beer. This last few days as put a serious dent into my supply and it won't be long before we (read I) are scrambling for a resupply of liquid enlightenment.

Saturday, April 22, 2006

OMFG

Today's Weather


We came we saw...

We left horrified.

Without question this is about as bad as it could of been and the weather gods are conspiring to continue with the mayhem. Fortunately for me there wasn't enough room to house me and I am getting a temporary reprieve.


As for the poor buggers up there, we dragged up a bulldozer and they will get serious mechanical relief to help with the digging and as soon as there are a couple more tents my days in the cozy confines of Rankin are numbered. I am going to enjoy every last second I can here. It's not often I will say that.

Friday, April 21, 2006

YRT and beyond

Well absolutely nothing happened in YK... Tried in vain to get a hold of the big chief only to sit around and wait for a return call...

Nothing!

What a pisser.

Now I find myself in Rankin and about to head North to see the camp. Sounds like hell up there right now. Currently 8 guys up there digging out 14 tents. Have been there for 4 days and their progress is still just 2 tents. Blowing snow has been a real problem as it sounds that when any progress is made emptying a  tent out Mother Nature just fills it back in again. Word is that last night conditions were so bad that it wasn't safe to go outside. We are hoping to fly in this morning to have a look see and if any significant progress can be seen then I will be staying to help with the rest of the digging.

I knew this would happen. In most places spring signals the end of the snow, in the Arctic it just brings in the bulk of it. This could likely be the last post for a few days. As until there are more tents there will be no sat system. A little part of me wants to hear that I get anotherer day in town while the rest says let's just get this nightmare started cuz it will bring the end of it that much sooner.

The bright side of all of this is that the fixed wing supplier has mentioned that they have a crew in Churchill for the next week and that booze is ridiculously cheap. I can see calling in that marker sooner than later.

Until the next time...

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

YZF

So here I am, Yellowknife, currently in my hotel room tapping away on the keyboard in crazed anticipation-read anxiety-of what may or may not occur tomorrow. Will the ride with the big chief actually happen and will I be able to pull off the flight of a life time. Well I am two ales in about to reach for a third and I can only hope for the best.

As for the first part of the days journey... If there is one advantage to flying Air Canada, it's that they can transfer your baggage to a connecting flight of another airline and in some cases issue a boarding pass for the connecting flight as well. The same can not be said for Westjet. Sure they have pleather seats and staff that appear to like their job, but at the cost of having no transfer agreements with any other airline in the aviation world. So...

What would at once seem to be a comfortable 45 minutes between flights on Milton's air-taxi with attitude becomes a harrowing 3/4 of an hour wondering if you can collect all of your baggage, desperately pleaing that it all comes together first in line off the aircraft only to be let down when the last of your three bags is one of the last to make it on the carousel, find an elevator to get you up to the departure level cuz its damn near impossible to carry 2 action-packers and a duffel bag up the escalator, check in and hope that some power hungry minimum wage "security" representative doesn't want to swab said action-packers for explosives like they did just over two hours ago in Vancouver BEFORE one actually went through security where they then neglected to swab my computer, check in to your next airline thankfully not having to deal with an extra baggage charge because there is no time to go through the motions and then go through security once more (where they again won't swab my computer) all the time hoping that whoever has been managing the big baggage X-ray machine they warned me about two hours ago doesn't tear the re-taped action-packers apart because the two flats of ale, 40oz's of gin and a few floater beer bottles look a little suspicious all the while sprinting to make the final boarding call.

Somewhere an English teacher is crying because that last paragraph only has one period. Hemingway however has a big grin.

Fortunatley the planets aligned and everything worked out well. With my future on the line I don't think I want to try that experiment again. Thankfully First Air pours generous portions of complimentary red wine with a smile.

To top all of that bullshit off, Yellowknife's airport is undergoing a few renovations not the least of which is the revolving exit door that keeps the cold air out and the warm air in... The secret to keep the door moving is to stay at least "25 cm" from both the front and back doors as you walk the circle. Unfortunately the automatic door has a extra sensitive sensors that cause the revolving door to stop revolving when the occupants have gotten to close to the door. The end result is a maddening excessively long period trying to get out of the airport made extra long when all of the baggage carts are outside requiring one to make three trips through the "fun house".

Damn! I can see the bottom of my glass and that signals bed time... Let the fun begin.

Or is that continue?