Pre-heating with a herman Nelson 1 hr before start. there are 3 ducts, all three are in the exhaust now and when the pilot comes out I'll put one in the front cockpit and one in the back. when he is ready to start, I remove the one in the exhaust and put it in the front also until he is ready to take off.


Early morning take off, (10:00AM) taking supplies to the drill, some places we were at the was only 4 hours of light that we could fly. you know it's cold when you can see the 2 contrails coming from each of the exhaust tubes.



Mid to late June, the snow is disappearing, the bugs will be out soon.


Supplies getting unloaded into the kitchen


warmed up to -20*C so we are having a BBQ


One of the Camps from the air. I think this one may be the start of what became the "Diavik Diamond Mine"


Another camp shot from the air, and nothing around for hundreds of miles.


Doing a 600 hour inspection at -50*C


We didn't think we were getting home for Xmas so we ordered some lights, and the company sent them so we put them on our tent.


We where in a big storm that lasted about three weeks, running out of food it was below -40*C so the helicopters couldn't fly, and the visibility was almost 0 because of the wind and blowing snow. this is a sequence of pics of the first supply plane in, the weather still wasn't all that good. we could thank the GPS for it getting in. (Twin Otter on wheels) First AIr







Stop in Cambridge Bay for fuel and we were stuck there for a week for weather.



Another shot of Cambridge Bay as we head north ah maybe south ah..... turn on the GPS he compass didn't work up there we were still heading True North.





Quite far from Cambridge Bay running low on fuel, and the twin Otter that is passing us is setting up a fuel cache about 1/2 hour a head.



The Old camp when we arrived about the end of June



The camp after it was repaired and livable.



It wasn't all bad, three of the geologists that we worked with up there.



A few summer shots



Moving a drill



I think this is the Bathurst Falls, close to Bathurst Inlet.




Home Sweet Home, and I didn't have to go far to work.

Great pictures Cal. I really enjoyed those. Forgive me though, if I don't plan a vacation up there soon!

Awesome!!! Much appreciated!!

Why on earth is that chopper sitting on the falls?!?!

This certainly explains why you find those reality shows so *boring* Cal. Great shots!

Gary

Cal,

Thank you for presenting a genuine version of ICE PILOTS and Wild Alaska Flying!!!!! And thank you for following my suggestion to post pics!

GREAT EDUCATIONAL pictures to let all of people know what it is like to fly plane or helicopter in freezing weather!!!!

Much appreciated!!! And thanks a zillion!!!

First Air landing is very interesting!!1 Too bad no jets!!!:):)):

3 women there for you????

Aharon

Hey Cal!

Those are some AWESOME PICS!!!! Reminds me a little of that movie 8 Below where they are doing the fly in to the camps in the Antarctic! That shot of the First Air Twin Otter landing in the deep snow is wicked!

Thanks for sharing some interesting real life shots - makes the rest of our lives look boring compared to what you do!

Cheers!

It was just for the picture, and cause he can.

I have been doing this for about 25 years now, and I still enjoy getting up and going to work. you never know where you will be. I have worked the east coast, west coast, as far south as Houston Texas and as far north as....... well..... everything is to the south. The Canadian Arctic is very cold in the winter and full of bugs in the summer. We use Bug jackets to keep them off they are so bad. I now work on Bell 204s 205s and 212s and haven't been up there for about 2 years now.

Cal,

How can bugs survive in Arctic in summers??



Yo Darryl,

You need to recheck your math:):):) Cal had 3 women in Arctic. You have 30 women in your swimming team:):) I am sure Cal would love to trade his job for your job. LOL

Aharon

I would say 3 in the Arctic is better than 30 in a pool, the 3 in the arctic aren't going anywhere.

That was rare though, usually if they didn't look like a muskox, they smelled like one.

I knew/know some women geologists, including students. They were real roughnecks, no matter how they looked. They had to be tough to do the daily field work.

Are you kidding. You're a very good sim pilot, but you have to get out more. You're a city boy, aren't you? Flies rule the north country. In fact, they rule the south country. Visit me in June or July at my cottage near Ottawa and I'll introduce you to about a million of them.

I had camped out for 2 months in wilderness about 2 hours northwest of Ottawa many moon years ago and I had not seen any bugs or flies. Mosquitoes were no problem as I used spray on my body to keep them off.

The only problem was chipmunks trying to steal my food while I was sleeping during nights. Few chipmunks even climbed on my sleeping bag and watched me sleeping!! And they ate half of my chocolate bars.

Few years ago, I was in Lake Louise Lake and also up in snowy mountains during one summer. I did not even see any bugs or flies. I only had one problem. A bear walked into a bakery where I was supposed to have breakfast!!

Aharon

Awesome pictures, Cal.

Two months in the wilderness near my cottage and no flies. I have only one word for that...




Actually, I went camping on Lake Superior once for a week and was not bitten once, even without bug spray. That was a special trip - I don't know where the bugs went. And it was July too. Very hot and dry (1998) but still very bizarre. We even went swimming in the lake regularly, which normally is not doable because of the cold water.

I think the fact for unusual increasing population of bugs is due to decision by Canada and America to ban DDT products.

Aharon