by Cheryl Leschasin
Northern News Services

NNSL (Sep 08/97) - In some portions of the NWT, snow falls every month of the year. Luckily, those places are generally uninhabited except for bountiful wildlife.

Of course, there are always exceptions. "I started removing snow on July 26 this year," said Isaac Kalluk, who has done road maintenance in Resolute for the last seven years.

Kalluk said the last of the spring snow is usually cleaned up around the beginning of June and about six weeks are open for the two-person road crew to fix winter damage.

"The road sinks down, we have to put gravel on it," said Kalluk.

Kalluk said parts of Resolute are already under two feet of snow, less in windy areas. "Some parts two feet, some parts one foot, some parts blown clean," said Kalluk.

Snow falling at night isn't what usually keeps the road maintenance crew busy, rather it's snow being blown about. One hamlet employee joked about the windy conditions in Resolute: "We move it during the day and God moves it at night."

As for the working in the dark winter days, Kalluk said it doesn't bother him. "We can see in the dark," he joked and said he doesn't ever bump into things accidentally.

"I know the road pretty good," he said, which is something to boast about, considering there are about 30 kilometres of road for the crew to keep clean.

Actually, the front-end loader and D-6 bulldozer the crew uses comes equipped with plenty of bright lights and, of course, a good heater.

"When it's really cold, it's around minus 45 or minus 50," said Kalluk. When temperatures dip that low, the hydraulics are in danger of freezing, but Kalluk said they are usually able to work at least two hours at a time.