This is re-posted from my original site. My trip to Yellowknife in March 2002.

 

Yellowknife was a real experience for me!!! On the plane going from Heathrow to Toronto, I spoke with a few people who really made me feel like I was so unprepared going to somewhere like Yellowknife. They were saying things like “you know when it’s really cold when you spit and you hear it crackle as it hits the ground!” and “be careful not to get frostbite when you’re waiting for a taxi at the airport!”. As I was going through immigration, a guy from Nashville said he was sitting next to somebody who had gone to Yellowknife the previous year and that it was super-cold there. Well, can you imagine me! I really started to get a bit worried on my way to Edmonton. I didn’t really have any protective gear thinking that I’ll buy it when I get there. By the way these guys were talking; I wouldn’t even make it to the hotel… I figured that I would have been able to get a taxi to the hotel and then the next day get a taxi to an outdoor shop.

 

As I got on to the plane (a jet plane) to Yellowknife, it had a musty/engine/oil sort of smell. I really started to get the picture I was going to somewhere where not many people/tourists go to! I got to my seat at the back of the plane and the hand baggage compartment said “DO NOT USE! - Survival Kits”. What words of encouragement I thought! The guy sitting next to me said that he worked with the Department of National Defense and that the coldest he’d been in Yellowknife was -49 (not including wind chill). He had some scary stories as well. Well we landed at Yellowknife and I was to be the first person out of the plane! It was -23 (not including wind chill). It was about 50-60 meters to the terminal building across the tarmac. By the time I got in the terminal building, I could feel the muscle’s in my hand twitching… going from +21 degrees to -23. Anyway, it wasn’t that bad and I got to the hotel very tired. 16 hours flying time.

 

The next day (Saturday) I spent £215 getting the appropriate gear. It was about -25 with wind chill taking that down to about -32. Whilst at breakfast, I met a guy called Alan who was a pilot. He was interesting to speak to and he was going camping that night! Yes! Camping!!! I couldn’t believe it.

 

Going to the Caribou carnival was quite an experience. All the lakes in the region were totally frozen (about 4-7 feet thick). The whole carnival was on the frozen lake. There was a curling patch (or whatever you call it). I guess they skimmed the snow off the ice and poured water over it to make a smooth surface. An ice hockey ring where they just skimmed the snow off and some roads and a car park. While I was there, some guys carved away some snow to make a snow boarding ramp for the snow boarding competition. There were a few tents were you could keep warm and buy stuff. In one of the tents, they chopped snow up finely and laid it out on a table; they then poured a small amount of chocolate/cameral sauce on the table and gave you an ice-lolly stick. You then twisted and turned the ice-lolly stick in the snow until you got a nice ice-lolly. Whilst walking over the ice, in some parts the snow had gone and you could see right through the ice seeing the occasional fracture. After a few hours on the ice, my feet got really cold to the point I couldn’t really feel them. Time to go to the hotel and jump in the shower to warm up.

 

Whilst watching the snow boarding competition, I spoke with another pilot who co-owned a plane. He was there to watch his son snow board. He said that just a few miles outside (about 20-30 miles I think) you could see the herds of Caribou deer migrating across the land. Herds the size of about 10,000 or so…. Ice carving at the carinval Well, I didn’t know that Caribou was a type of deer and earlier had a Caribou burger thinking it was like the difference between a quarter pounder and an Hawaiian burger. Anyway, the burger was very nice. In the evening, I saw the fireworks which was great! As the lake was largely flat and all covered with snow, the fireworks really had an interesting visual effect against the white ground and white hills around. Very colourful. And to really make the difference, about 15 minutes before the fireworks, the northern lights started to appear. Amazing! I was starting to get really tired! But being that it was a Saturday and the carnival was on, I felt really inspired to go out. After having a meal at the Monkey Tree restaurant (which is next to the Monkey Tree bar), I was so tired I had to go to bed. That night was really cold!! It was becoming hard to be outside. After half an hour, I was starting to get really cold even wearing the protective gear. I later discovered that the taxi drivers have a system of monitoring the weather almost on a minute-by-minute basis. While I was in the taxi going back to the hotel, it was -27 with a wind chill of -39. However, I did manage to stay awake to watch the northern lights. It was amazing! It’s like candy dancing in the sky. It’s hard to describe, but great to watch.

 

The next day (Sunday), I took it easy, went back to the carnival to watch the dog sledge racing and other events (like the laughing competition). Again, it was really cold, about -24 with wind chill of -34. Hungry The dog sledge racing competition again and so I had a white-flesh fish burger (in one of the tents). They were great people to talk to at the fish burger place. They were part of something called the “Ecology North”. Apparently, the fish was caught under the ice further down the lake. Very nice. They explained that Yellowknife was right under where the northern lights occur and that’s why it is such a good place to watch the northern lights. There’s a ring around the globe where the northern lights occur, so going further north or south decreases the effect of seeing the northern lights. Still hungry, I went to a get something to eat at a BBQ which was being held on the iced lake. Yes! A BBQ at -30! Watched the dog sledge race finish where the winner won $10,000. They had traveled 150 miles in total. Chilled-out for most of the day and my body clock was starting to adjust to the time zone. I now felt like having a beer! But trying to buy beer on a Sunday is out! So, after a bit of enquiring for somewhere to eat (where you can order a few beers), I went to a restaurant called “Barclays”. I looked at the beer menu and immediately noticed “Sapporo”. A really nice Japanese beer, so I kept ordering it (it was really expensive about $11, not the typical price of other beers). I think the Japanese waiter was really impressed because he said, “You really drink like a fish”. I finished all their available Sapporo. There Fish burger bar was excellent food there!!

 

Easter Monday was such an unbelievable day! Whilst having breakfast, I met up with Alan (the pilot) again. He had some of his friends with him. In particular a guy called Paul. Paul had some connection with the airplane hangers in Yellowknife. Alan told a little about the camping trip which he said was very cold. I remember seeing the weather channel on TV on Sunday where it said the wind chill went to a low of -42. It was probably colder where Alan went because they had to fly there (further north I think). Alan said that a bottle of single malt scotch did the trick! Paul offered to fly me to the camp/lodge and pick me up a day later. Well, I knew I certainly wasn’t ready for such an adventure like that! Going to Yellowknife is a good start though! ;-) I was really flattered by the offer and kindly thanked him, but I would not do that this time round. Paul and Alan then offered to take me down to the hanger and check it out. Alan was clearly an experienced pilot and had traveled to what seemed virtually everywhere in the north of Canada. Listening to Alan’s many stories was quite an experience. Pilots always have a story or two to tell (my farther was a pilot). I very quickly covered a lot of north Canadian aviation history. Alan also took me onto another lake (Great Slave Lake) that had an ice-road. Unbelievable, it’s like a motorway on ice. Apparently, big trucks go on these ice-roads to deliver goods to other communities and mines that don’t have roads on land going to Ice road on frozen lake them. The trucks sometimes travel for 6 or 7 hours…

 

Later, Alan and I went for lunch and in the afternoon, I went dog sledging. I had six dogs and went around another one of Yellowknife’s lakes. It was again quite cold and Alan lent me his super-artic coat. I was dog sledging for about 30-40 minutes. Really cool experience, I’d do it again and again. Mind you, trying to slow the dogs down coming up to corners was interesting! Having had some excellent conversation with Alan, it turned out that he was involved with Diamond exploration in North America. In the evening, we went for a quick meal at Boston Pizza and proceeded to go for a few drinks. Alan bumped into Danielle who had also gone camping on the Saturday. After about half an hour, Alan had to go (he had some work the next day) and Danielle took me to all the local bars. It was a totally excellent wild evening! I was really drunk and we somehow had this Irish fellow called Jason tag along. We got a taxi and we passed by Danielle’s house to get more alcohol and went back to my hotel. Jason was a bit loud and started throwing glasses out the window (I was on the tenth floor). I quickly told him I was not impressed and that he should chill out a bit more. I got Jason a taxi about 5:30am and Danielle had passed out in my room at about 4:30am. I slept on the couch and finally awoke at about 12pm. Had lunch with Danielle and she later went home.

 

The last day
My last full day in Yellowknife (Wednesday) was supposed to be a quite one as I had a long flight back to the U.K. on Thursday morning (early). Danielle and I had earlier agreed to meet for a coffee and so I met her again about 1pm. Danielle worked at one of the Diamond mines and she had to also leave early to make sure she caught her flight on Thursday. Well, we got to a bar and had a beer. That was the end of all the rational plans. That led to another beer and another which ultimately ended in me being absolutely and completely ‘hammered’!!! I got to bed at about 2:30am and I had to be up at 5am to get to the airport for 6am. I didn’t sober up until I got to Toronto. The flight was murder!! Lesson number one, never travel with a bad hangover!!!