Ice Roads Ease Isolation in Canada’s North, but They’re Melting Too Soon<br />Alvin Fiddler said that These roads are the only way our people can survive,<br />" he said, "and when he came back in the morning, his truck was gone." About 30 miles ahead, deep in the forest, white ptarmigan birds watched as a crew<br />built up the winter road over spongy permafrost for a path toward Whati, an indigenous community of 500 people. that A guy parked on the ice overnight,<br />Mr. Schumann said climate change was also to blame for the troubles with the ice roads, which are built anew each year by hardy crews using heavy-duty plows, radar and water sprays to add layers of smooth ice<br />that can support even the weight of a tractor-trailer full of mining equipment.<br />By DAN LEVINAPRIL 19, 2017<br />ON THE TLICHO WINTER ROAD, Northwest Territories — In Canada’s northern latitudes, the frigid winter means freedom.<br />But that still leaves 10 of the territory’s remote communities dependent on winter roads<br />and ice bridges across lakes, rivers and permafrost, delicate ground that has been frozen for thousands of years.<br />But Canada’s ice roads — more than 3,300 miles of them — have been freezing later and melting earlier, drastically reducing the precious window of time<br />that isolated residents rely on to restock a year’s worth of vital supplies, or to simply take a road trip.
