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Has anyone lived in or visited Yellowknife?
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I currently live in Yellowknife and have been up here for 2 and 1/2 years, as well as spending a year in Hay River, NWT prior to that.
Work brought me up here, and I would say that if you are a newly minted college graduate then Yellowknife is a great place to get some experience in your field. Turnover is fairly high so there are always lots of job opportunities, and the the lack of skilled labour means you will likely land a much more interesting position than you would down South as a new labour market entrant.
However, if you are looking to liquidate some cash by selling your house in Calgary, and moving up here, I would say don't bother. Housing prices up here are sky high as well - the economy up here is booming and in order to build a house the contractors have to blast through Canadian Shield. In addition, rent for a one bedroom place will run you about $1,000 to $1,200 per month.
According to StatsCan's cost of living index, living in Yellowknife is about 18% more expensive then living in Edmonton. Most of that is comprised of high transportation costs ($900 plane ticket to Edmonton); high cost of accomodations; high cost of heating your home (lots of people supplement their boilers with a wood burning stove to offset this; high cost of liquer/eating out. Surprisingly, groceries are not too bad, except sometimes in fall and spring when the ferry or ice bridge across the Mackenzie at Fort Providence are not open.
If you like outdoor activity such as hunting, fishing, canoing, cross country sking etc, you will love it here on the shore of the Great Slave Lake.
Yes, mosquitoes are quite bad for a brief period in spring, and black flies later on in the summer, outside of city limits. In the city intself you really don't notice them too much.
Summers are awesome with more or less endlesss sunshine - I've been water sking at 3:00 in the morning, no problem. Winters are dark and long.
Most of the ammenities you would expect down south are here, including WalMart, Canadian Tire, MacDonalds, ExtraFoods etc. There a few really good resteraunts including a shushi place, a thai place etc, and a few good pubs/night clubs.
Airline service is actually excellent ... numerous flights from here to Edmonton/Calgary...but it is pricey. I honestly think the airport is busier here than in Edmonton.
Quite an active arts scene, actually much more so than you would imagine given the small population base. For example, The Montreal Symphony Orchestra is playing here in April.
And, lots and lots of hockey - recreational leagues from D division up to A, as well as lots of softball in the summer.
Finally, Yellowknife's skyline, according to the website below, ranks just below Edmonton's:
http://www.citynoise.org/article/4942
Although I happen to think if you count geography in the mix - Edmonton's gorgeous river valley not withstanding - Yellowknife's skyline is nice than Edmonton, but than I am biased.
The one major drawback, up until 2004 anyway, was that you could not find a Flames fan anywhere, and the vast majority of people up here cheer for the dreaded Oil Drips.
. The only drawback is the wind...
