Goods to start shipping on ice road to Churchill Monday

Goods will start rolling towards Churchill, along a newly constructed ice road Monday, and drivers will put themselves at personal risk to get supplies to the beleaguered town, says the man who built the road.

"The remoteness is something you just can't describe," said Mark Kohaykewych of Polar Industries. "It's not like you can pick up a cell phone and call for help. I mean, even in situations where you would need some type of rescue, you know, rescue doesn't occur in the middle of the night. 

"There's no way to get helicopters and aircraft in an emergency situation, so you have to take calculated risks."

Crews from Polar Industries have been working since mid-November to get the road built, which is essentially an ice road from Gillam to Churchill over frozen muskeg and more than 70 rivers and streams, said Kohaykewych. Thanks to help from experts and guides from Fox Lake First Nation near Gillam, the road was completed Sunday, in time for the first packages and supplies to be hauled before Christmas.

"I can't take credit for that," said Kohaykewych. "The guys have been working up there long, long hours, like 14, 16, 18 hour days some days.

"I just had the last two guys come out of the bush two hours ago."

Kohaykewych said the plan is to see the first crew go at 5 a.m. Monday. The road is not something on which you can drive your sedan, he added, and deliveries will take 30-36 hours per trip.

"It's rough. With our [caterpillar tracked vehicles] we're probably doing about eight, nine kilometres and hour and we're still beating the crap out of our [vehicle] bodies."

To stay safe, the crews will be travelling in groups, said Kohaykewych. "In our convoy, we've got a couple of snowmobiles that are going to be sitting on the back of the sleighs, just to use in the event that somebody's got to run ahead."

The convoy will start by hauling about 20,000 pounds of goods, said Kohaykewych, and as the road becomes more compact, they will hopefully be able to bring up 60,000 per trip in January.

Churchill has been forced to rely on goods delivered via airplane since the tracks washed out in May of this year. The owner of the track, Omnitrax, and the federal government are suing each other over who should pay for repairs. 

The group celebrated the completion of the road Sunday with an opening ceremony at Fox Lake First Nation near Gillam. "It's a very traditional, spiritual event that they're doing here, for safe passage for our workers and crew that are going to be heading up. 

"I didn't realize until after talking to some of the Elders and some of the people here how many of them have ties and roots back to Churchill … Many of them have just been coming up and shaking our hands and saying just 'What an amazing job you're doing' and wishing us well and safe passage. It's a little overwhelming, to tell you the truth."

How often the group delivers to the town will depend on demand, he said. "We've got a lot of interest, but a lot of people right now are waiting to see how this first trip goes."

They hope to make deliveries into April, but Kohaykewych added "we can't control Mother Nature."