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The art of ice

Mother Nature biggest challenge in Kivalliq

Darrell Greer
Northern News Services

Baker Lake (Dec 11/00) - Baker Lake's Daniel Iyago knows natural ice.

He also knows the irony surrounding the difficulties in making natural ice in the coldest climate in Canada.

Iyago has managed the Baker arena for more than 10 of the 15 years he's been on staff.

He says when it comes to making natural ice in the Kivalliq, Mother Nature presents the biggest challenge.

Once the weather does get cold enough, Iyago and his arena staff haul out their pump and start to flood.

"Being so close to the lake, we have an advantage because we don't have to depend on hamlet water trucks to flood," says Iyago.

Solid foundation

He has another advantage over other communities: the hamlet put in a concrete base two years ago.

"Because of the cement, we don't lose our water into the ground when we flood," Iyago explained.

"When you're flooding over ground, the water thaws the ground which then absorbs a lot. With the cement, the water stays where it's been flooded."

The cement base is also level, which prevents further run-off of the water.

In some Kivalliq arenas, uneven ground causes water to pool.

"That's the way it was in Baker before the cement. In some areas we'd have six or seven inches of water and less than an inch in others."

Iyago says constant care and attention is the only way to ensure a good surface all season long.

"Scraping, edging and properly flooding are the keys to keeping the ice in top condition all year."

Rankin Inlet recreation co-ordinator Johnny Tucktoo is learning all about the pitfalls of making ice over Arctic tundra.

He believes changing climate is playing havoc with the natural ice season. His staff began flooding almost three months ago, but couldn't get the arena open until December.

"Trying to freeze the ground was a big problem. We'd have cold weather one day and warm the next," says Tucktoo.

"As soon as we'd get ice formed, the ground would thaw, absorb the water and put us back to square one. This kept on for the first month we were flooding."

Another big problem Rankin staff had to overcome was the ground being uneven where they were trying to flood.

Extra flooding

The arena staff tried to level the surface during the summer, but with little success.

"Once we got started flooding, we spent three or four weeks trying to catch up to the shoulder of the boards.

"The base of the boards being higher than the centre of the ice meant a lot of extra work to get it even.

"That continues all year, especially around the players' benches because that area sees so much action and the far end of the arena where the Zamboni goes on the ice.

"You have to edge a lot during the year and do a lot of extra flooding to try and keep it even."

The community is trying to get an artificial ice plant, but Tucktoo says if that doesn't happen, it's time to look at putting in a cement base.

He says that would allow the arena to open sooner and close later.

"A last resort would be to Tyvek (a paper vapour barrier) the whole surface.

They managed to get the ice in time for Rankin's high school hockey team to practice for the NWT high school hockey championships Dec. 1-3.