Old thread revival!
I did the same tripp in the summer of 1999. My brother in law was in charge of Air inuit (the air carrier owned by the inuit) at the airport of radisson. So we had a nice place to stay for our week there.
No doubt, this is far, i mean far, really really far. I did it one drive from Montreal to Radisson. I mean far, when the sunset is around 10:30 pm....mid july. Is that far enough north for you?
Like mentionned the size of the La grande project is mind blowing. but at first you don't see anything big, since it is underground. when you arrive near the evacuator you see on one side the reservoir and the other....well mountains...where the ******k is the river? pull your binaculor out because it is like 1-2 miles west..lol. The main damn is not concrete, no, no, it is a huge, very long pill up of rock between two montain to close the valley. and then there is like 30 other dams to prevent the water from flowing out of the reservoir like up to 30 km away. Took 10,000 workers, 10 years.
The tour by hydro quebec is a must. Luckly for me i was able to take pictures inside. The overhard crane is soooooo big that there is a second crane on the main crane just to be able to lift the 12" diamter steel cable and 1T shackle onto the main overhead crane.:yikes:
When i visited the place the workers were on strike and no one,i say no one was there to operate it. Everything is fiberwired to montreal and monitor there. The control room, Similar to a nuclear power plant, was without anyone.
One thing i remember was the control station at the entrance of the road in matagami. There was a couple with a old westfalia, license in Florida, about 60-70 years old, arguing over the counter if they'd go all the way up there. The lady didn't thought it was a good idea, but the poor man really wanted to go, it was funny and sad....
I had the opportunity to be there with someone who new the place, we went at the garbage dump watch all those bears. We went fishing and caught many of them.
Being there i couldn't think of not taking the time to go see the baie james, i mean i wanted to see the sea. So we took off and drove to chisasibi. There we crossed the LG1 damn, nothing compared to LG2 but a respectable concrete damn. You will see a picture on my site during the construction (picture of a picture). The hydro building was not locked and empty, so we toured around. (the security is very tight now i heard).
Then on the road before chisasibi there is a control point, the locals in the village are not allowed to bring alcool in town. But the guy was nice and realized we weren't local. At least not in my Audi A4.
Once in the village roads signs are in Cri, looks like chinese writing...So after a quick tour of the village, in my quest to reach the sea we continu west. Took a few tighter roads and we were finally there!!!! Ouha it was windy.
Other then the hungry big flies it was a memorable tripp and would do it again. This time i would go east to the other LG3, LG4 damns.
Oh, when we arrived there the next morning there was a couple from Radisson getting married, and guess where? in the evacuator, you know the steps. About 30 folks with the priest all air lifted by the SQ (local police) chopper on to one of the steps. All the rest stayed on the deck where tourist can go to see the evacuator.
Sorry for the thread hi jack, i though i'd share on the same subject. And of the small pictures, back in 99 the only thing i had was a Sony mavica 640x480.
After a week there we drove down to niagara and back to montreal. My lady was newly pregnant, now 9 years later and with 3 daughters i'm anxious to see them old enough so we can take off and do this again.
Link to the album
http://www.ericleblanc.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=4718
