Ice Fog

This past Tuesday, even by noon, the temperature had reached only -41. This causes ice fog - the weather on my phone made the noise of tinkling ice crystals when I checked to see if had warmed up any - of which I have a marvellous view from my apartment window. Needless to say, indoor recess for the kids across the street pretty well all week!

It can get a little scary if you're driving the ice road in ice fog in the dark, as my sister did to get to work. The road takes a sharp turn when it reaches Dettah - apparently ice roads always begin and end with turns, so that waves generated by entering cars do not run the length of the road - but also continues on 10 kms or so to the fish plant. Not that it wouldn't have been possible to turn around and go back, but the lack of orientation when the whole world is white (and dark at the same time) can be disconcerting. She found the turn safely, I'm glad to say.

REALLY Cold...

Ok, I admit it - today was REALLY cold. I still walked to Javaroma, mind you (well wrapped), and the car started for driving to supper at my sister's, but goodness, was it cold! Trudy and Bill thought today/tonight was the coldest they've experienced in their four years. It's the windchill that meteorologists always talk about so glibly, now experienced first hand. So I checked the weather site - and indeed, it's -32 but feels like -47, with overnight temperatures just a little colder. This weather is supposed to last until the end of the week.

Oh well - dress warm, cover your face, wear the big sheepskin gloves. Walking is still surprisingly pleasant. And today there was a partial sun dog around the sun - not unique to Yellowknife, as I've seen them the odd time in Calgary, too - but very pretty. Apparently Aristotle was the first to have written of sun dogs (see Wikipedia Sun dog) - didn't know it ever got that cold in Greece!

Walk to Tuk'!

 
"I walked to Tuk!" is the slogan of the 2013 Mackenzie River Walking Challenge (slogan from the website pictured on the right). "Form a community, schools and workplaces team," advises the website ( Challenge Homepage), "and together ‘walk the distance’ of the Mackenzie River from Fort Providence to Tuktoyaktuk. Teams have from January 7 – March 4, 2013 to collectively walk a total of 1658 km." The Challenge is organized by NWT Recreation and Parks Association (http://nwtrpa.org/rpa/ ), and sponsored by local businesses, including First Air which has donated a flight to be won by some lucky draw participant.

It's quite a distance, and one a person couldn't do as such, certainly not in winter but not in summer either, although it might be possible to boat it, I suspect (but don't know).

My team - "The Arctic Plodders" - is organized by my sister's friend, librarian Erin. Walking achievement is submitted in time rather than distance. The goal, of course, is health, accepting the premise that activity leads to health and that walking is a great activity. I concur - the walking for my almost daily errands amounts to at least 20-30 minutes, sometimes an hour if I go out several times. I suppose that if one can have something against Yellowknife, it's that everything is so close by it might be difficult to get in the requisite time!

The Challenge seems particularly keen on Nordic walking, and the website shows groups of hardy folk poling steadily on snow-covered paths/roads. I do have some poles (ski poles, but hey), and should dig them out. I've found that walking in the cold - even in the -30s - is really quite pleasant, for the most part, as long as one dresses the part.

Should be fun to track the hours and "walk to Tuk!"

My Mom in Yellowknife

Last fall we (my sister and I) tempted the Canadian winter travel gods by suggesting to my 90-year-old mother she consider spending the Christmas season here rather than in her assisted living apartment in the Niagara Peninsula, her home for the last four years. It took a bit of arranging, but the upshot of it was that she arrived on December 8 and departed on January 6, a period which enabled her to attend my concert, take in a few shows at NACC, "do" Christmas and New Year's with family, and celebrate her 91st birthday on January 4th.

The weather gods smiled benignly (whew!! thank you thank you thank you!!) in Toronto, Calgary, Yellowknife, Edmonton, and Toronto again. It must be said right off that the whole undertaking could not have happened without the wonderful contribution of my son Willem, who ferried his grandmother from her apartment to the airport in December and back again in January, the return trip no small feat since it involved a midnight pickup in Toronto the night before his first class. Thank you Willem!! And the Air Canada staff who saw to my mother's well-being in the various stages of the journey were almost universally uncommonly attentive and kind - thanks to them, as well!

So of course the first thing winter visitors from "the south" almost always require is suitable attire. Note the difference in my mother's outerwear in the first picture (waiting in Calgary airport, where I had gone to meet her), and in the second (Yellowknife, my sister having brought the right clothes to the airport):

The polar bear is iconic and must appear in thousands of photos around the world - not that polar bears are native to Yellowknife, but they are to the arctic parts of the Northwest Territories, and since Yellowknife is the capital, it's legit.

We did many things, considering that the first few weeks were indeed very very cold. One day, after we had spent the previous one only indoors, I suggested a walk, if only a short one, on the flat and relatively sheltered path around Niven Lake. Dressing my mom in windpants, parka, hat, mitts, boots, had us both laughing at the Charlie Brown image it invoked, of his falling down in his winter attire and having to be pushed around by Snoopy. That was certainly what it felt like! but such wear does have the advantage of warmth, which is the ultimate goal. So mom at Niven:

We attended a few events at NACC - Timothy Chooi on the violin, the Bella Dance Academy's delightful performance of the Nutcracker - and of course there was loyal support for my choir concert at St Patrick's Catholic church. Here my sister, my mom, and I after that concert:

Other events were more mundane - comparing grocery prices, for example, which to my mom's chagrin turned out to be cheaper here than where she lives:

But the most important part of the visit - besides giving her an impression of where two of her daughters are living - was family. My niece Laura was up from San Francisco - in the first picture she and mom are at Trudy and Bill's enjoying a bit of advocaat (potent Dutch vodka-laced "pudding"), in the second she is relaxing with Bou, in the third about to open her stocking at our family Christmas "do":

 It was a good visit, all told - and we all agree we'd better not tempt those weather gods again!

Ice Road to Dettah

The ice road to Dettah, as mentioned in my last post, shrinks the distance between Yellowknife and Dettah by some 21 kilometers, from 27 to 6. It starts about a 5 minute walk from my house (all of the following images were taken at about 10:00 a.m., with the sun a ball of fire just above the horizon):

The sign tells you: cars only, no trucks! and limits the weight of vehicles allowed. Ice roads are fascinating structures, and even a quick search on the web will provide information on building them (Popular Mechanics at Building Canada's Epic Ice Road; good old Wikipedia at Ice Roads (of the world)). There is danger inherent in driving over ice: at higher speeds, or heavier loads, and especially heavy loads going too fast, the weight generates waves under the surface which can damage the road in various ways. One of the bigger ice roads to the mine does not allow two-way traffic, as the road to Dettah does, but is a loop, because heavy trucks meeting each other generate waves in opposite directions - not a good thing. In addition, global warming is having an effect: the mild winter last year, as I understand it, greatly reduced the time the ice road was in operation and the number of truckloads able to use it. This winter does look better, at least so far.

On the Dettah road the speed limit is a clearly posted 40, and fines for speeding on ice roads are much heavier than on regular roads. For example, on a Yellowknife street going up to10 kms over the limit will draw a $58 fine, while 10 kms over on an ice road will bring a $230 penalty.

 Here are two shots of the first bit of the ice road as it leads to Dettah:

And here are two shots looking back at Yellowknife - the second shows my apartment building:

And, finally - cracks! I was startled to see a very clear, although relatively hairline crack across the road - perhaps a few mm in diameter. Of course ice inevitably cracks, I remember that well from my pond-skating childhood, but to see a crack in a road on which I was walking and had driven was a little disconcerting. Still, I trust the ice road builders, they've done this before and must know what they're doing.

Winter Solstice (and: "The Cold")

Yesterday was Winter Solstice, December 21, the shortest day and longest night of the year. A number of you have been asking about the state of daylight in winter, here, as well as how things are with the cold. Well - read on.

According to the web (information helpfully supplied by my Grande Prairie librarian friend Ann - thank you Ann!), on Winter Solstice the sun rose officially at 10:07 and set officially at 15:05. There is light before and after that, of course, perhaps a scant hour or so. So no, Yellowknife is not far enough north to have days consisting only of dawn/dusk, and we do have daylight. It must be said, however, that the sun sets not far from where it rises and doesn't get very far above the horizon even in mid-day.

On a typical day in winter the view from my balcony looks like this (please ignore the flash reflection in the window - the sun is actually behind my building):

As to the cold - well yes, it's cold. But interestingly enough cold, like heat, is relative. Just as 20+ (we're talking Celcius here) is much more comfortable than 30+, so -20 is much more comfortable than -30, and -15 is considered balmy. My sister had told me this before I moved here, but you do have to experience it to really understand it. A few weeks ago, after a spell of -30 and colder, the temperature rose to -15, and I immediately took the opportunity to walk (15 minutes) to choir practice, rather than car pool, since it was so lovely. But even -30 is walkable - it's all in how you dress. So I'm learning which set of layers will do for which temperature: wool long johns, jeans (I've ordered a pair of flannel lined ones from LLBean), and windpants when it's really cold; skip the long johns when it's not, or when I'm going to be indoors a lot; forget the windpants but keep the long johns when there's not much wind. Ditto on scarves and toques: a scarf to cover the face when it's colder than -25, or when I'm doing a long walk at -20, but at -15, when I'm only doing errands, I don't bother with a toque and sometimes don't even put up my hood when going to the car.

Speaking of the car: there's where -20 and -30 make quite a difference. I keep it plugged in - through the good offices of my brother-in-law Bill I have a working block heater AND a battery blanket. Each (outdoor) parking stall comes equipped with plug-in capacity:

The Subaru starts well in the cold, despite its advanced age (12 years), but the shifting is very sluggish when it's so very cold. Still, I generally don't idle it for very long but start driving as soon as the gear stick will let me, being an adherent to the philosophy that cars warm up better when being driven (slowly) than when merely idling. "Suby", as the next picture shows, is holding its own in winter (thank you thank you thank you!). And I had to include a picture of another vehicle in my building's parking lot - Yellowknifers do have a sense of humor!

Another positive feature of the cold is that the ice roads materialize, and last night - to celebrate Winter Solstice - we made our first drive out on Yellowknife Bay on the ice road to Dettah, a neighbouring Yellowknives First Nation community (read about it at http://dettahandndilo.lgant.ca/). As the community describes itself: "Dettah is located on the east side of Yellowknife Bay on Great Slave Lake, about 27km by highway or 6km by water or ice away from Yellowknife." My sister teaches there, and can testify to the material difference between 27 km and 6 km as a daily commute; she was saying that the kids in school are always excited when "the ice road is in! the ice road is in!"

We went out on the ice road in part for the sheer adventure - driving on water!! - , in part to see if there were any Aurora Borealis to be seen (unfortunately not), and in part to see if the houseboaters had started their bonfire Winter Solstice party. Yellowknifers consider winter as such a time for partying IN the cold - and some of the houseboaters, a particularly hardy and inventive lot, were going to have a bonfire out on the bay where their dwellings are moored.

Yes, the house boats are moored IN the ice - winter is actually a good time for houseboaters since they now have readier access between their homes and Yellowknife. In summer they must canoe (or some such), and in the tricky spring melt/fall freezeup do some amazing treks hauling canoes over what ice is there, putting the canoe into water when the ice gives out. Apparently this fall the freeze up was more problematic than usual: we heard via a friend that because there was a lot of wind on a very cold day, water was blown onto the deck of one of the boats, froze, and of course weighted the structure in that direction, i.e. into the water. So the young woman had to spend several days chipping ice off the deck, and carefully monitoring the situation. As I said - Yellowknife houseboaters are indeed hardy and certainly resourceful!

Oh, and speaking of hardy: the kids. In the Northwest Territories kids get "indoor recess" when it's colder than -30, though in Nunavut, I've heard, "indoor recess" kicks in only when it's colder than -40. So I can often see them from my balcony, running about in the school yard with their bright snowsuits. Well - running is perhaps a slight misnomer, winter wear brings a new meaning to the word "trudging" here. Still, the kids seem to have a ball - if you go back to the second picture in this blog, you'll see a kind of horseshoe-shaped pile of snow in the near side of the Weledeh school playground. The other day the kindergartners were out in full force, running to the top, sliding and rolling down, just having a ball. It looked like such fun!

Carolling and Concerts

Every December the Rotarians in town sponsor a "soup and buns with carolling" lunch for all downtowners - it's held outside, on the main corner (the Post Office, Canada Trust, License Bureau, A&W on all four corners respectively), and welcomes all comers. This year it was on Friday December 14, and as a member of the choir I received the call for "carollers needed!". So of course I went.

The streetscape is definitely wintery - the right setting for carolling - as the lit sign on the YK Centre Building testifies.

- 24: actually not so bad, although when you stand around in it for an hour or so without quite the right boots you do get cold. To help the carollers stay warm a heater was set up:

The heater works on propane, as you can see from the tank, and had issues staying lit - at one point it was carried INside the Canada Post building for maintenance (NO, I was protesting silently - no propane INdoors! but it all worked out, obviously Yellowknifers know their way around propane tanks).

The soup, made and donated by the ever-generous Chef Pierre, steamed its aroma into the air and attracted lots of customers:

And of course we valiant choristers filled the air with our carols - great fun. That's my sister Trudy third from left - she's wearing one of the traditional northern parkas, as is Mari on the far left.

In addition, my choir - Aurora Chorealis - put on two performances of its annual Christmas concert, at St. Patrick's Catholic Church. A beautiful program around the theme "Magnificat" - the magnum mysterium that is at the heart of the Christian Christmas story. The poster:



We did credit to some challenging music: among the pieces were Christine Donkin's "music of the spheres" Magnificat, Lauridsen's O Magnun Mysterium, Don MacDonald's beautiful Tabula Rasa. We ended with a rousing rendition of Rachmaninov's Bogoroditse Devo, in which the basses outdid themselves in an excellent approximation of the rich male Russian voice (there are renditions by others of all of these on YouTube, if you're interested).

Unfortunately, I can't show any pictures of the choir itself - copyright issues or privacy issues or something of that nature, but I will put in a picture of me with my music folder. Credit for the sparkly top goes to my sister, from whom I borrowed it! Looking at my fellow singers during that performance, I was astonished at how fond I have grown of so many of them in the short three months I've been a choir member. Yellowknife is a magical place in that regard, at least for me.