From the date of January 2 1997 to April 30 1997 I was stationed with Indian and Northern Affairs (A Canadian Federal Government department) way up in Yellowknife. This was my first work term, and also my first extended time away from home. To keep myself going in the consistent -35 degree Celsius heat, I did several things. This included snowmobiling, skiing, and walking around town.

As an interesting note, batteries do not work too well when it's -30! I had to heat up my camera multiple times in order to get many of these pictures off.

So, without further ado, here's my Yellowknife picture album. (Click on the thumb-nails to view a larger picture)

--  T H E   T  U  R  R  A  H  A  N    P  L  A  C  E   --
[60tonne.jpg:20.45 Kb:450 x 294] Yellowknife is, of course, in Canada's arctic area. Because of the persistent cold weather, the lakes don't have much chance of thawing. This picture shows the weight limit on the ice road from Old Town to Detta, across Great Slave Lake.	[60tonne2.jpg:14.33 Kb:378 x 264] This is a zoom in of the picture to the left. The weight limit here is 60 metric tonnes! (Yes, that is A LOT!) Basically you could drive anything short of a semi loaded with lead across the lake.	[bbq.jpg:17.45 Kb:450 x 300] All males love to Bar-B-Que. When a BBQ is not available, you make other arangements to get that BBQ taste. Here, John Jordan (my roommate) shows how this was done.
[bbqsteak.jpg:8.00 Kb:274 x 160] This is a zoom in of the steak being BBQed. Makes you hungry - doesn't it!	[bear.jpg:16.69 Kb:450 x 302] This is the only polar bear I ever saw in Yellowknife. Apparently, polar bears have been seen around the Yellowknife area, but this picture was taken in the Yellowknife museum.	[bearo.jpg:68.01 Kb:628 x 384] This picture can be copied and pasted into another picture. Imagine a polar bear demolishing your house!
[camp.jpg:12.98 Kb:450 x 298] my first snowmobile trip, my first night sleeping in -30 degree centegrade heat. This is the campsite that we made to make this all happen. The person in the picture is John Jordan. I have a story of this camping trip (Entitled "Night of the Frozen Pinkie") and can be sent to you on request.	[carlake.jpg:15.41 Kb:418 x 314] This is a car driving across the ice road to Detta. With the weight limit being 60 metric tonnes, this car has NO chance of falling through :)	[coke.jpg:22.02 Kb:299 x 450] After a good day of cross-country skiing, there's nothing like a great "Naturally chilled" 2-litre bottle of Coca-Cola Classic. One note (if you ever plan on going to Yellowknife): Coke is REALLY expensive! (around $3 for one litre!). My house was 623- #1423 Gitzel Street - it's federal government subsidised housing right by Frame Lake.
[dmpstr.jpg:15.96 Kb:387 x 259] This wasn't meant to be a picture of dumpsters, but rather of the ravens sitting on top of them. The ravens are massive up there and could probably kill a kid if they really wanted to. This picture was taken on the way down to old town on one of my Saturday hikes.	[dogsled.jpg:13.84 Kb:450 x 302] The great mass-start of the dog-sled race for Caribou Carnival. I thought that Caribou Carnival would have been bigger and with more people, but Yellowknife isn't that big. As for dog sledding, I was able to do it myself - it was quite the experience!	[easter.jpg:15.88 Kb:450 x 299] A picture out the back window of my town-house. We put in a thermometer so that we could see just how cold it was :) This picture was taken on the Easter long-weekend, and it was a balmy -25!
[fishing.jpg:18.13 Kb:450 x 301] Ice fishing on Oro Lake. Rather than staying around Yellowknife for Caribou Carnival, I headed out north-west of Yellowknife (past the airport) with Tom Giroire and John Jordan (and Tom's son and friend) to Oro Lake. There's an old miners cabin (built around 1930) that housed us for the weekend. I went ice fishing during the day, and this picture was taken of the poles sticking into the snow. In the background is Oro Lake Hilton.	[hilton.jpg:17.08 Kb:353 x 238] A picture of the Oro Lake Hilton sign. Compared to my first arctic camping trip, this was a true Hilton.	[house.jpg:13.58 Kb:362 x 263] A picture of 623-1423 Gitzel Street. These are mostly government owned townhouses and are pretty drafty. 1423 is the middle townhouse.
[jasons.jpg:22.93 Kb:218 x 522] A picture of my Christmas gifts before heading up to Yellowknife. I was able to use absolutely all of these items! (the balaclava was great for snowmobiling, and the gloves were a life saver. The skiis made my weekends go that much faster.	[john.jpg:18.11 Kb:332 x 450] A picture of John Jordan after coming across Frame Lake from Extra Foods or Walmart. This is proof that John breathes way too much!	[jsrink.jpg:10.90 Kb:379 x 247] An outdoor skating rink on Frame Lake, as viewed from Yellowknife city hall. The building in the back is the museum. Following trails to the right (across the highway), I would eventually get to Great Slave Lake (my regular ski-way).
[jswork.jpg:33.54 Kb:461 x 699] The building where I worked in Yellowknife - the Bellanca Building. I worked on the 7th floor, and my window was on this side, roughly 3/4 along the building. I had a great view of old town Yellowknife as well as Great Slave Lake.	[kitchen.jpg:14.58 Kb:369 x 264] A picture of the kitchen in the townhouse. This was on a good day (notice how little dishes are in the sink!). Two days after taking this picture there wasn't any clean dishes left and the dishes were overflowing onto the counter tops.	[liam.jpg:14.92 Kb:332 x 292] Liam Cameron, and Mom-Kristen. (Don, the father isn't in this picture). The Camerons were excellent to me - feeding me basically every Friday evening before Youth Group. Kristen worked two cubicles from me. Liam was roughly 10 months old when this picture was taken. I was fortunate to baby-sit Liam several times, and he was one great kid.
[liamface.jpg:7.80 Kb:202 x 190] Liam Cameron - in living colour. What a darn cute kid!	[livroom.jpg:16.30 Kb:380 x 262] The living room of the townhouse I lived in. The television in the picture provided many hours of entertainment on the huge 10 inch screen. The door in the picture leads to a back porch, which we were unable to use due to the snow-drift on the porch.	[meski1.jpg:11.16 Kb:250 x 431] A blow-up of me standing on Long Lake (by the airport).This was taken in April and thus not as much protection is needed.
[orocabin.jpg:24.68 Kb:450 x 298] The inside of Oro Lake Hilton. This miners cabin contained a wood-stove made in Victoria, BC in 1898. There were also several cans of un-opened spam which were thawed and frozen every time the cabin was used. Truly a great place to spend an arctic weekend.	[orosign.jpg:4719 bytes:266 x 98] A zoom in of the Oro Lake Hilton sign.	[panorama.jpg:31.00 Kb:728 x 276] Two pictures put together of Yellowknife, taken across Frame Lake. Downtown is evident in the left-hand picture. My house is pretty close to the center of the right hand picture. On the distant right is the hospital and Walmart. On the close left is the Yellowknife museum.
[ski1.jpg:13.78 Kb:450 x 297] My chosen form of outdoor entertainment was cross-country skiing. With a vast network of frozen lakes to ski on, there was always some where to go. This picture was taken on Long Lake, near the Yellowknife Airport.	[ski2.jpg:10.32 Kb:450 x 299] Out skiing again (this time more bundled up). This was taken on Back Bay on Great Slave Lake. The weather on this February day wasn't too bad - around -30 with a little breeze. The face protection is extremely important to remember.	[skipath.jpg:32.83 Kb:305 x 450] One of the multiple ski-doo trails leading out of Yellowknife. This particular trail leads between Frame Lake and Long Lake (looking towards Long Lake area). The trees here are the biggest I saw, and thus needed to take a picture! I used these trails as ski trails.
[sunset.jpg:28.20 Kb:683 x 366] Sunset, Yellowknife style. This is taken between city hall and the museum, looking over Frame Lake.When I was there, this didn't look all that impressive - but on film - it's great!	[thermo.jpg:4842 bytes:158 x 138] A thermometer reading on Easter long weekend. Yes, that says -25. That's cold.	[trail.jpg:13.36 Kb:382 x 264] The trail along Frame Lake. This trail leads all around Frame Lake, but is only up-kept between the museum and McDonalds. I would take this trail between home and the pool.
[tundra.jpg:17.12 Kb:450 x 303] One of my favorite pictures. In the origional you can actually see that it's me there, not just a black blob. This was taken on Oro Lake, roughly 2 hours by snowmobile north west of Yellowknife. The camera was propped up on the back-seat of the snow-mobile, and an automatic timer was used.	[yksign.jpg:19.49 Kb:450 x 294] The Yellowknife sign in front of City Hall. I would estimate that there was around 2 feet of snow at that time (knee height).