John Curran
Northern News Services
Published Monday, January 21, 2008

SAHTU - Even though heavy commercial vehicles aren't yet able to enter or leave the Sahtu as the N'dulee ice crossing is currently only accepting light traffic, there's no shortage of heavy equipment already on the road from within the region.

Last week Arctic Circle Enterprises moved a sleigh camp almost all of the way to Colville Lake - and then took a sharp right onto an old cut line on the way to the Northern shore of Great Bear Lake in support of a new ExplorData seismic project.

"They'll be going right through until March or April anyway," said Jason Purdy, who drove a bulldozer that pulled part of the camp. "After then, they'll probably switch to heli-portable equipment."

The Fort Good Hope resident and Arctic Circle employee said he loves working and living in the region.

"I moved up seven years ago from Alberta and it's been great," he said. "It's mainly the amazing people you get to work with who make the difference."

While the winter road is nothing new for Purdy, Hay River's Dennis Boyer is getting his first taste of the region's seasonal road this year.

"I'm a greenhorn," he proudly exclaimed.

Also working for Arctic Circle, he flew into Fort Good Hope last week to pick up a water truck that needed to be relocated to another project closer to Deline.

With -40 C weather gripping the region, the truck froze up and he got to spend an extra night in the community, but said he's still very happy with his decision to work in the Sahtu this winter.

"It's something different," he said. "I really like driving the water truck - if I can keep doing that next year I think I'll probably be back."

While such commercial activity can chew up the often fragile driving surface of any ice road, the route through the Sahtu is in prime condition thanks to the army of skilled heavy equipment operators and contractors constantly evening out the ruts, bumps and potholes.

Between Fort Good Hope and Colville Lake that task falls to Northridge Contracting, which is based in Norman Wells.

Owner Pascal Audet was at its Northern-most end supervising the five employees he has working on the project.

"We've done it for two years now," he said, adding all together his company employs 20 workers. "The weather is extremely cold right now so that slows everything down a little."

Especially with the sleigh camp and the heavy rigs that first piggybacked it and the other exploration equipment into position sliding through his area, Audet's team has faced some large challenges.

"It was in pretty rough shape with all of that activity," he said. "Now they've moved on so we can get it back in shape."

Less than 24 hours later, the road showed almost no scars from the exploration convoy and was again in pristine condition, ready for Colville Lake's impending winter re-supply.

"We drag standard loader tires up and down the road to fill in the holes, level off the bumps and clear the loose snow," he said.