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Just enough that I can barely move.Taking a leak is a major undertaking.

I know whats warm and what isnt though as everyone has different clothes.Helly Hanson coveralls and mitts are very warm,so are US army extreme weather mitts.Those furry rabbit fur hats with the earflaps are much better then a touqe.My oakley gogggles are the only ones that stay pretty well fog free.The sears parka is also very warm for the price. Ive seen boots rated for -60 to - 100 and every one that has reflective material on the back has cracked where the reflective stuff is.

   

Hey Zigg, you try this in those extreme temps.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fi633CtO ... ed&search=

   

Think thats not the real deal. More like he had a cup of snow because at -80 windchill we couldnt replicate that and there is a good article in the mag "up here" about cold myths,one being your spit will freeze before it hits the ground and it doesnt. So it looks cool but i'll call bullshit on that one.

   

What the hell you say, next your going to tell me there isn't yellow icicles growing UP out of the snow on the down wind side of your tents

   

Too windy for icicles plus the cariboo lick it for the salt. When they piss though it freezes and the snow around it erodes or blows away and those look like popsicles sticking out of the ground.Dont know what that guy had in his cup but it wasnt water.Plus of it was that cold he would be dressed a tad warmer.

   

Think their sending us home next week.Yesterday we finally got the loader going and dragged it to the coverall,sometime during the night the breather got plugged,it puked all its oil and put a rod through the side of the block,both sides actually,ventilated it real good.They found an engine for $22,000 which is a steal if its not junk and they want about $50,000 to fly it up here.

So my road is done,the esker is ready to be mined,and nothing left running but my lil pussy cat.
I'm still laughing,should have sent an experienced journeyman instead of an apprentice mechanic.
Hair straight back,super wrench toasts another one. When I come back I'll be skidding the diamond drills for 2 weeks till these guys get their act together.

   

Our pilots going to get a kick out of this,especially when he finds out what he was in town for.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-Qkat4AtaU[/youtube]

   

A few hundred miles to the north of camp is the small community of Joehaven,at this time of year some of the residents make the trek to baker lake to the northern store. the trip takes a few days and they usually stop at camp and overnight. No chance of freezing to death in these caribou threads.

   

They told us the other day we were going to be flying home for a bit,untill it warmed up cause its only been warmer then -30 once since we got here 3 weeks ago,mostly been -35 to -43 without the windchill,just fix the backhoe and clean up,well when they heard we were ready to flash up the hoe after changing 4 injectors they said we were staying untill the end of the month,we turned the machine over and promptly bent a push rod so were actually farther behind then when we got here.The people in Vancouver and Quebec sitting in the cafe sipping lattes must think you just turn the key and things start.They allready got a small crew coming to run some of the equipment(all down but my cat)so im kinda chuckling,be lucky if anything is started by the weekend.

One thing thats really starting to piss me off is how the Khablooniks(white folk) treat the natives they hire here. One guy quit a good job,signed a contract in town and came to camp,they then told him they lost it and he signed another,turns out their paying him $10.00/hr which wont even buy a box of corn flakes here.He's pissed off and rightly so but told me "the sun comes up and the sun go's down and untill im where im happy I will make the best of it". So any subsidy he gets from the government is well deserved and I hope they suck some more out of the Canadian govt.

I love the place and I love the people but this kind of bullshit just grates on me.
No wonder most still live off the land,they would starve if they had to rely on handouts or even a job.
Pretty depressing and no wonder Nunavut has the highest suicide rate for youths in the world.
Wish I could do something. There is an agreement between the mine and the Innuit to hire and train locals or lose their permits,I almost hope it comes to that,teach the folks who stand to make millions of these fine people a brutal lesson.

   

Whoo Hoo!!!!
Global warming has finally come to the arctic,with -35 and -40 temps the last 3 weeks we are going to get to go outside without 6 layers of clothes!!!!

Text Forecast from Environment Canada
Baker Lake: Issued 3.00 PM CDT Wednesday 21 March 2007
Tonight Clear. Increasing cloudiness overnight. Wind up to 15 km/h. Low minus 32. Wind chill minus 44 overnight. Thursday Cloudy. 60 percent chance of flurries in the morning. Wind south 20 km/h. High minus 21. Wind chill minus 42. Thursday night Cloudy. Wind south 20 km/h becoming light in the evening. Low minus 23. Wind chill minus 33. Friday Cloudy. High minus 11. Saturday Sunny. Low minus 15. High minus 12. Sunday A mix of sun and cloud with 60 percent chance of flurries. Low minus 15. High minus 3.

   

Here’s my favorite cold equipment starting story. We had got caught by the weather at the end of the season one time, you know when you wake up in the morning and it -30 and + 10 the day before. So we found a farmer that allowed us to leave some equipment there over winter, but first we had to get it there and we were successful except for one packer. All our mechanic had for heat was a tiger torch and a couple tarps. He poured the heat to it for three days, checking every couple hours. So on his way back to our camp he had to grab the propane bottle to refill it in town. When he got back there he found that there had been a fire, the tarps had started on fire, this melted the wiring, there for shorting out the starter, and the packer started all by it’s self.

For all the money they lost in the past 3 weeks, it’s a shame about the $10 guy.

After 22 years in the union in BC mines, I’m sure you could teacher them a thing or two about wobbling a worksite

   

And it's coming fast, 170 kph winds down at the pass tonight.

   

Guess i'll be doing my roof then when I get back as some shingles went flying in the last storm.

I knew they were going to ask us to stay so this morning I told the boss a resounding NO from me as I know how they like to extend your tour to save on airfare. So at coffee he comes back with a $100.00 sub bonus for each day we stay,the others accepted and I declined(noobs,their in for a treat) So now in my tent the east wind is blowing and I can see my breath because the roomy thought he would turn down the heater this morning(noobs)Im in a good mood though because next thursday is my last day and I get my 2 week break.

This morning we managed to put the top end of the 350 hoe back together and it fired,put the primer on the 307 hoe and it fired,tarped and boosted the pickup again and it also fired. My cat went down in the night with a fan bearing but the two Innuit we hired to watch them caught it and shut it off before it went through the rad. by quitting time the 307 had died with air in the fuel line,the herman nelson on the big hoe died along with the hoe,and we have to use a skidoo to get around which also freezes up as we had another blizzard today. And the boss asks us if we could flash up a cat truck by this afternoon. Now these guys are all depressed as they have to stay another week at least,heh heh heh.Bet they wont make that mistake again.

Dont think anything will even be running when I get back. Think this place is situated on an old gravesite or something,seems to be cursed.Not too mention the lucid dreams everyone has,I think its from the northern lights or magnetic field here.


Love the story about the packer,we need some of that luck.

   

Another ground blizzard.

This is our Cat 350 under the parachute,weather like this has meant 5 days to replace a bent push rod.Nothing moves too fast in the Arctic.

   

March22nd ground blizzard,windchill at the normal -59

   

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