News Flash Northern Manitoba – While gale force winds whipped across much of Northern Manitoba, two half crazed bush pilots warded off killer ice flows that threatened the shore-bound infrastructure of the remote world famous fishing lodge at North Knife Lake. More details on our 9 o’clock newscast.

by Doug Webber

Well, Jake and I had a pretty exciting day today. It started off as most days in paradise do, with a gorgeous sunrise, calm winds and just enough temperatures on the plus side to keep the frost off the pickles.

After breakfast and chores were taken care of, I got Jake started on school work and decided to take a leisurely stroll to the dock and check on the ice situation. The ice was crowding the dock to the extent that pressure ridges were showing where the dock was secured to the shore. I walked to the end of the dock and assessed the situation. That took about quarter nanosecond. (Translation? Ask a teenager?)

I quickly picked up a heavy screw anchor that had come loose at the end of the dock and started smashing the ice pressing against the dock. It was badly candled so it gave easily and in 15 minutes I had the dock relaxed and happy. I strolled back up to the lodge and casually asked Jake if he’d like a brief respite from his school work.

By the time we arrived back at the dock the ice had again put a significant amount of tension on the T-section. We both attacked the ice with anchors and soon had it relaxed and happy again. Not for long though, as a slight shift in the south wind to a small easterly component set us hacking again.

The force of the wind had been increasing over the morning and was blowing at about 20 knots by 10 a.m. As it shifted slightly eastward, it picked up more speed and all at once we were in a serious predicament. As more ice pressed in on the dock, it became tougher and tougher to break up. I tried forcing planks under the ice to give it any easy path up over the dock instead of into it. This was partially successful and gave us a little more time to bust ice.

At 11 a.m. I decided to get a boat in the water and try redirecting some of the ice, a trick that has worked for me more than once in the past. As Jake frantically chopped at the ice, I dragged a small 14′ fishing boat into the water and mounted a 15 hp Johnson on the back. A quick jaunt to the garage produced life jackets, paddles and gas tank.

In 10 minutes I had the boat in the water and was locked against an ice flow at full throttle. For a few minutes, we made some headway and then about noon the wind (being’ a south wind, It must have been from Minnesota, eh?) picked up a bit more and slowly started driving the ice flow into the dock again.  This time we couldn’t chop fast enough to relieve the pressure.

Our brand new dock started to buckle near the shore and I thought for sure it would explode. Instead, the T-section at the end of the dock started going under and buckling at the same time. I was still in the boat and Jake was standing precariously on the edge of the dock, which was now about 8 feet in the air. Parts of the walkway near the shore were under water on one side and the twisting, snapping and groaning were unbelievable.

The description of the Endurance‘s death throes in Antarctica almost a century ago immediately came to mind and I thought for sure I was going to see the dock snap into a million pieces. Jake was still frantically hacking away at the ice, running from one side to the other, making his own decisions as to where his chopping would do the most good, and I was rammed up against the ice flow, trying desperately to slow its relentless progress with the little 15 hp going full throttle.  It was not, a good situation.

All of sudden an almost imperceptible shift in wind direction toward the western quadrant eased the pressure on the dock and in five minutes it had settled back into a relaxed and happy configuration. Devine intervention!!!! No other way to describe it. Fifteen minutes later there was no ice around the dock and it looked like we were home free.

The time was now 1:30 p.m. and we were exhausted. I had done only half as much work as Jake but was already done in. We staggered back up to the lodge and I whipped up a batch of Helen’s sour cream pancakes and we wolfed them down in record time. Jake volunteered to do the dishes while I collapsed in a recliner for a much needed nap. I woke up about 40 minutes later and Jake was still scrubbing. I offered to relieve him and he went to haul the laundry in off the line. I barely had the sink empty when I heard Jake’s running footsteps.

"Grampa, Grampa, it’s doing it again!!!!"

We both tore off down the path and sure enough, the wind had shifted again and the dock was buckled in two places. Jake started chopping while I untied the boat and proceeded to try and redirect the flow. Another two hours of frantic chopping and maneuvering of the ice flows brought us relief for the second time. Two thirds of the ice was now north of the dock and the third mass was broken up enough that it wasn’t a threat (as long as the wind didn’t change direction). It was now 6 p.m. and like me, Jake was done in. He wolfed down a couple of pieces of fruit while I finished cleaning up the dishes and hung moose camp laundry.

The dock did not escape completely unscathed. There were a couple of timbers, planks and deck pieces that were snapped into kindling but easily repairable, When the ice had the T-section up at a 60 degree angle, three floatation barrels popped out and two of them slipped under the walkway section to the T.

Just another day in the life of a lodge operator…. I hope this gives you a bit of an idea of the contortions we sometimes go through to make everything work.

While typing this epistle, the wind died down and all became calm, happy and relaxed again at North Knife Lake Lodge.  

I had anticipated a nice leisurely time opening up the lodge this spring with my grandson Jake, a few naps, a little fishing, maybe some flying… all of which we have done… but now…  after just a little extra unanticipated adventure… I’m off to bed as soon as I bring in the last load of laundry.

Have a good night and sleep well. Yours in exhaustion,  

Jake and the old guy