by Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services

NNSL (Nov 17/97) - For southerners, there's two kinds of ice -- the kind you put in your drink and the kind you scrape off the windshield of your car in the morning.

For Northerners ice can be many different things -- a conveniently flat and expansively wide road, a source of water, a hunting platform or something to camp on for the night.

Of course, travelling on ice includes coping with an overwhelming danger -- falling through.

Get drenched in frigid waters in freezing temperatures far from home and the focus suddenly shifts from your destination to a desperate bid for survival.

Staying on top requires caution and a knowledge of the characteristics of different kinds of ice.

"Ocean ice is different altogether from lake ice," said Edward Ruben, a Paulatuk elder. "Our old people always used to tell us freshwater ice breaks like glass. When you travel on sea ice, when you hit a thin place, you don't break through right away. It stretches.

"When sea ice is two or three inches thick you can walk on it," said Ruben. "But it's not always the same thickness. Travelling on the ice early in the fall can be very dangerous."

Resolute Bay hunter Elisak Idlout said thin ice can be made deceptively thinner by a covering of snow, which can act as a warming blanket over the ice.

"We normally use a harpoon to check it," she said. "If the harpoon goes through on one stroke it's too thin. But if it takes three or four it's okay for walking."

Of course, travel on ice is not always a traditional affair. Today mines and exploration camps depend on ice roads for supplies during the winter months.

The longest road over freshwater in the North runs 200 kilometres over Great Slave Lake, between Yellowknife and Hay River. It's a stretch of road Marvin Robinson knows well, since his company, RTL Robinson, has built it.

"The strength of ice changes a lot," said Robinson. "What we look for is what we call blue ice. It's well graded and solid all the way down. What we shy away from is white ice, ice that has a lot of snow or air in it."

Getting back to drinks -- when you're thirsty, Ruben said there's nothing you'll appreciate more than lake ice.

"Lake ice -- deep, clear ice -- makes the best water you can have in the North," he said. "River ice is almost the same, but for some reason it has a different taste. I think it's because of the things the current carries, freezes in it."