The GNWT is laying a 48 strand fibre optic line to connect Inuvik with a hardline to the south. The current microwave linkage is slow due to bandwidth and other issues. The primary incentive appears to be the Inuvik Satellite Station facility as operators needs to move large amounts of data effectively and quickly. Practically it means better internet service for people of Inuvik ( and eventually Tuktoyaktuk) but this really is a tertiary rational for the government.
An oversize ditch-witch excavates a channel for the D6 dozer to follow behind and lay the actual cable. Due to the cold the machines are kept running 24 hours a day, even when not in use. The cable runs over the dozer and through a tensioner before being buried in the trench. The cable is off the tensioner while the machine idles.
Good thing they are using marine cable as the trench obviously will fill with water now that the duff layer and frost layer has been disturbed.
Same day shots out by the Campbell Lake viewpoint. Temps around -38. You can tell which way the wind is blowing in the last three and which way I was walking.
