November 30 and Dec 1

The cross country ski track is finally being groomed, due to a paucity of snow, not maleficence. The grooming equipment consists of 2 large frames which are pulled behind a skidoo, a traditional drag. It works well but a roller would be better this time of year, though I’m sure the drag is the tool of choice later on when heavy drifting occurs on the track. Regardless, the skating is quite nice as the snow has decent humidity in it and the glide has been quite good, snow isn’t too squeaky yet as it hasn’t been cold enough. The track is even lit; well part way it is, the upper loop seems to have an open circuit somewhere so half the track is headlamp only territory. Was out Friday after work and Saturday morning.

After skiing I took the sled and went out on the unofficial ice road (ie on the river) over to Aklavik, overcast skies made things a bit gloomy scenery wise. I went as far as the main channel (passing a nice cabin en route) where I met a vehicle coming over from Aklavik and heading to Inuvik. They said that the road on their side was in much better shape and was quite drivable. The side channel that leads over to East Three is frankly suspect, with deep snow and the beginnings of overflow. Regardless, people are driving it. There was even a traffic jam at the western mouth of the side channel as one vehicle heading to Aklavik met the one leaving. Ha ha.

I sledded around the channel, then headed up a short way towards Tuktoyaktuk on an unplowed channel but turned around as sunset i.e. 3PM was approaching and there was a fair amount of overflow – water laying on the surface of the ice but under the snow.

I headed back to town, stopping by one of the larger barges tied up for the winter, and did a little exploring of the sled paths leading over the Big Lake then decided to do a tour of Boot Lake just to make sure the machine was running Ok; it kind of coughed a few times trying to turn around over by Big Lake. So…sledding on Boot over exactly where I skied and snowmobiled just 8 days ago, had massive overflow and I almost sank the machine, major throttle prevented this sorry event from happening, just barely mind you, lol. Interesting end to the day’s sledding.