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.