Image info	Full size 2048 x 1536 340.5 Kb Half size 1024 x 768 100.9 Kb Quarter size 512 x 384 32.3 Kb Original 854.3 Kb maximum quality image.	The following morning it was -32C and the car had been sitting unused for about 16 hours (we arrived fairly early the following day and then walked arround for the rest of the day without using the car). It therefore refused to start. The problem wasn't so much the engine as the battery which just wasn't delivering enough power to crank the engine. This is the original battery from Hawaii (where we bought the car) so it is now over 4 years old and was no longer very happy about the cold. There was someone else in the hotel lobby who had a few minutes to spare to help jump start it. He had a rented 'Yukon' which despite the huge size of the engine compartment has a (typical Detroit) design whereby the positive battery terminal is located about 1cm away from the edge of the engine compartment. Thus it is extremely difficult to get the jump lead to clip on as you are constantly in danger of shorting the battery to ground. Anyway, we eventually got it attached well enough to deliver the current to the Jetta and the engine then started up almost immediately (with another cloud of black smoke :-) This was the first time in 4 years (and 2 Alberta winters) that the car had failed to start for me.
Image info	Full size 3504 x 2336 756.3 Kb Half size 1752 x 1168 235.3 Kb Quarter size 876 x 584 75.9 Kb Original 3245.0 Kb maximum quality image.	With that out of the way we went and topped the diesel up and then headed out onto the Mackenzie river and the ice road. Here the frozen in Coast guard ship is at the edge of river and we are in the middle of the river.
Image info	Full size 3504 x 2336 686.1 Kb Half size 1752 x 1168 211.4 Kb Quarter size 876 x 584 69.1 Kb Original 3093.8 Kb maximum quality image.
Image info	Full size 3504 x 2336 437.2 Kb Half size 1752 x 1168 157.3 Kb Quarter size 876 x 584 58.5 Kb Original 2320.8 Kb maximum quality image.	After the first 1km or so the snow is removed from the road and you are driving directly on the ice.
Image info	Full size 3504 x 2336 329.4 Kb Half size 1752 x 1168 121.7 Kb Quarter size 876 x 584 48.3 Kb Original 2017.1 Kb maximum quality image.
Image info	Full size 3504 x 2336 606.5 Kb Half size 1752 x 1168 208.4 Kb Quarter size 876 x 584 74.0 Kb Original 2753.8 Kb maximum quality image.	There is a small amount of other traffic (maybe 1 truck every 10 mins or so). Most of the time you are by yourself.
Image info	Full size 3504 x 2336 390.2 Kb Half size 1752 x 1168 143.2 Kb Quarter size 876 x 584 55.8 Kb Original 2156.6 Kb maximum quality image.	These are the so called 'drunken trees' - heaved into tilted angles by the freezing and thawing of the permafrost.
Image info	Full size 3504 x 2336 461.1 Kb Half size 1752 x 1168 173.0 Kb Quarter size 876 x 584 66.9 Kb Original 2374.6 Kb maximum quality image.	We never did figure out what these are.
Image info	Full size 3504 x 2336 341.6 Kb Half size 1752 x 1168 123.5 Kb Quarter size 876 x 584 47.4 Kb Original 2044.3 Kb maximum quality image.	The turn to Aklavik - which, like Tuk, only has road access during the winter.
Image info	Full size 3504 x 2336 408.0 Kb Half size 1752 x 1168 147.1 Kb Quarter size 876 x 584 55.8 Kb Original 2213.8 Kb maximum quality image.
Image info	Full size 3504 x 2336 1074.4 Kb Half size 1752 x 1168 324.5 Kb Quarter size 876 x 584 102.0 Kb Original 4284.8 Kb maximum quality image.	The ice may look uniform in the other pictures, but looking straight down, it is full of deep cracks. This apparently doesn't affect the strength.
Image info	Full size 3504 x 2336 490.2 Kb Half size 1752 x 1168 156.7 Kb Quarter size 876 x 584 55.7 Kb Original 2468.4 Kb maximum quality image.	Driving on this was, err, interesting... Only extremely gentle use of the accelerator pedal gets you anywhere. Anything more than very slow accelertion simply spins the wheels and you go nowhere. Stopping involves gently pressing the brake pedal and having the ABS come on immediately with a series of slow pulses. If you want to stop quickly you drive to one side and get on the snow, then you can stop fairly rapidly as normal.
Image info	Full size 3504 x 2336 349.1 Kb Half size 1752 x 1168 126.5 Kb Quarter size 876 x 584 49.7 Kb Original 2045.8 Kb maximum quality image.	Most of the trucks coming past us were carrying unidentifiable loads from the oil rigs.
Image info	Full size 3504 x 2336 338.4 Kb Half size 1752 x 1168 119.6 Kb Quarter size 876 x 584 46.4 Kb Original 2048.4 Kb maximum quality image.	Anything more than the slightest bend caused the car to start a nice four wheel drift until two wheels got onto the snow - normally there is a strip of snow in the middle of the road so you don't drift onto the other lane (this corner was OK for driving round, but there were a few steeper ones that would catch us out). Our speed was generally in the 60-80km/h range, just ticking along in 5th gear. With the temperature fairly constant at -28C this is not enough for the engine to get up to temperature. The water temperature needle sits one marker below the normal position - but there is still plenty of heat for the cabin so that wasn't a problem.
Image info	Full size 3504 x 2336 266.3 Kb Half size 1752 x 1168 100.5 Kb Quarter size 876 x 584 42.1 Kb Original 1832.0 Kb maximum quality image.
Image info	Full size 3504 x 2336 343.5 Kb Half size 1752 x 1168 109.9 Kb Quarter size 876 x 584 41.6 Kb Original 2113.8 Kb maximum quality image.
Image info	Full size 3504 x 2336 393.0 Kb Half size 1752 x 1168 133.4 Kb Quarter size 876 x 584 50.6 Kb Original 2228.3 Kb maximum quality image.
Image info	Full size 3504 x 2336 394.5 Kb Half size 1752 x 1168 133.2 Kb Quarter size 876 x 584 50.4 Kb Original 2294.6 Kb maximum quality image.
Image info	Full size 3504 x 2336 483.9 Kb Half size 1752 x 1168 159.0 Kb Quarter size 876 x 584 59.2 Kb Original 2499.5 Kb maximum quality image.	Here we have driven out of the mouth of the Mackenzie delta and are out on the Beaufort Sea - ie. on the Arctic Ocean!
Image info	Full size 3504 x 2336 563.1 Kb Half size 1752 x 1168 181.4 Kb Quarter size 876 x 584 62.7 Kb Original 2641.8 Kb maximum quality image.
Image info	Full size 2272 x 1704 298.6 Kb Half size 1136 x 852 101.0 Kb Quarter size 568 x 426 54.9 Kb Original 800.9 Kb maximum quality image.
Image info	Full size 2272 x 1704 400.0 Kb Half size 1136 x 852 146.0 Kb Quarter size 568 x 426 65.5 Kb Original 815.8 Kb maximum quality image.	This gives an idea of how slippery the surface was you have to be really careful walking on it. That is the northern Canadian coast line in the background - again, this emphasises we are driving on the Arctic Ocean, north of Canada.
Image info	Full size 2272 x 1704 359.4 Kb Half size 1136 x 852 127.2 Kb Quarter size 568 x 426 61.5 Kb Original 807.3 Kb maximum quality image.	Stopping the car engine for the 5-10 minute breaks we were having was enough to cool the engine temperature straight back off the bottom of the scale. You can also just about make out in this picture how the ventillation system can't keep the side windows clear when 4 people are breathing out inside (ie. the air temperature may be warm in the car but the inside of the glass remains below freezing). The temperature control remains in the fully on position! Although we get lower temperatures than this in Alberta during the winter that is generally just in the morning - this was midday at -28C. The engine does manage to heat up all the other components in the engine compartment at these temperatures though so the gearbox stops feeling like glue after a while and the power steering doesn't make any funny noises.