I am sure a lot of you have seen the History Channel show, Ice Road Truckers. This last winter, I was in Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories, Canada, and I had the chance to drive on one of these ice roads.
Yellowknife
The Tibbitt to Contwoyto Winter Road is open from January to late March for eighteen-wheeler trucks to take supplies from Yellowknife to various mines and communities in the Northwest Territories.
The portion of the road I took is on the Great Slave Lake, near Behchokò It is around 10Km (6 1/2 miles) long and as wide as a California highway. Even though the road is on a think sheet of ice, it is not as slippery as you might think. Of course, you don't want to slam on the breaks... Ok, that's what I did to see how well the ABS was working on my Jeep Compass. The car didn't go on a spin and stopped fairly quickly considering the roads conditions.
I stopped in the middle of the "lake" to look at the road and take a few pictures. By looking at the images, it is hard to appreciate the thickness of the ice. On one of the photographs, you can see the cracks.
