Saturday 30 April 2011
The End
The final bbq was a really good way to round off the trip. At around 8pm a van arrived with a few crates of beer which were gratefully received. After the first drink it was time to feed the dogs for the last time before we went back to the camp fire to cook hot dogs and share stories from the week. It was also a great chance to find a bit more about our guides who were very inspirational.
After all the alcohol had been finished we headed off to bed for the final night of camping. The final work was to be carried out the next morning when we broke camp for the last time and had to somehow get around 130 husky dogs into the truck for the trip home. It was quite sad to be saying goodbye to our dogs as we had developed a bond over the trip but we were looking forward to hot showers and some creature comforts on return to civilization.
After a couple of hours driving we arrived back in Tromso to a very smart hotel where we were to stay the night before we flew back to the the UK the following day. Around twelve bedraggled forms entered the hotel just after lunch, looking awful and smelling even worse. To add to this we carried a lot of our kit in black plastic bin bags for that extra touch of class. There were quite a few locals having lunch in the hotel restaurant which overlooked the foyer we were standing in and there were a fair few looks of disgust down at us given the state we were in.
Soon enough we were in our rooms for a hot shower which was bliss and a change into clean clothes. There was time for a quick look around Tromso before heading out to dinner at a well known bar and to reflect on the fantastic adventure we had just completed.
After all the alcohol had been finished we headed off to bed for the final night of camping. The final work was to be carried out the next morning when we broke camp for the last time and had to somehow get around 130 husky dogs into the truck for the trip home. It was quite sad to be saying goodbye to our dogs as we had developed a bond over the trip but we were looking forward to hot showers and some creature comforts on return to civilization.
After a couple of hours driving we arrived back in Tromso to a very smart hotel where we were to stay the night before we flew back to the the UK the following day. Around twelve bedraggled forms entered the hotel just after lunch, looking awful and smelling even worse. To add to this we carried a lot of our kit in black plastic bin bags for that extra touch of class. There were quite a few locals having lunch in the hotel restaurant which overlooked the foyer we were standing in and there were a fair few looks of disgust down at us given the state we were in.
Soon enough we were in our rooms for a hot shower which was bliss and a change into clean clothes. There was time for a quick look around Tromso before heading out to dinner at a well known bar and to reflect on the fantastic adventure we had just completed.
Saturday 23 April 2011
Day 5 - Bear Prints and challenging sledding
Today was our last day sledding as we had to combine days 5 and 6 due to the conditions being too dangerous to sled our final route early on in the morning.
We have been unable to unfortunately make the ice hotel as a final destination due to the lakes starting to thaw therefore making it too unsafe to travel in that direction.
This all meant for an early start which meant a 6am rise and very cold weather to start the day. We now have this camping lark down to a tee (well sort of - we nearly burnt the tent down this evening) and have our little systems all in place so that we were ready for the half nine off.
We first tackled a couple of ice lakes which were absolutely massive and took hours to cross. There was a strong biting wind all morning so we all had our serious cold weather gear on.
After completing the frozen lakes we stopped for lunch at a spot where the Swedish, Norwegian and Finnish borders all meet. There is a landmark signifying this point and you can walk round it visiting the separate three countries on your way. I have done three countries in a day before but never in one minute.
We saw bear prints today but no actual bears. Wildlife has been sparse and the highlight other than a very cold South African were four swans conducting a migratory fly past this morning.
After all this we were sledding uphill where we had to help the dogs a lot by pushing the sled whilst running behind. This is bloody hard work especially with all your gear on. The dogs really do appreciate the help and it is satisfying to work as a team like this. Once we had reached the top we travelled across an alpine pass before we got ready for the downhill through the forests to the end.
We were stopped before we started the descent to be briefed on what to do and make sure that we went down nice and slowly. There were some very tricky corners to negotiate with a steep fall if we got it wrong. I was travelling behind Jay and at a particularly difficult corner all the other sleds had stopped. I could not stop my dogs at all and they overtook Jay and her dog team on the outside where there was no room to do so. How I held onto the sled I will never know but we all made it down safely. There were lots of crashes today but poor Kenny seemed to fare the worst. He not only crashed but was then run over by another sled (and dogs) but he is a tough cookie and took it all with a smile.
We then hit the final picturesque run down to the end point of our five day adventure.
We are camping out for the final time tonight before we head back to civilisation and will be having a celebratory bbq which will be interesting given the freezing conditions.
It has been a fantastic adventure for the both of us and despite being well challenged we have enjoyed every minute of it. There will be lots of photos to follow.
Thank you to everyone for donating funds to SCBU. It really is appreciated.
Chris and jay x
We have been unable to unfortunately make the ice hotel as a final destination due to the lakes starting to thaw therefore making it too unsafe to travel in that direction.
This all meant for an early start which meant a 6am rise and very cold weather to start the day. We now have this camping lark down to a tee (well sort of - we nearly burnt the tent down this evening) and have our little systems all in place so that we were ready for the half nine off.
We first tackled a couple of ice lakes which were absolutely massive and took hours to cross. There was a strong biting wind all morning so we all had our serious cold weather gear on.
After completing the frozen lakes we stopped for lunch at a spot where the Swedish, Norwegian and Finnish borders all meet. There is a landmark signifying this point and you can walk round it visiting the separate three countries on your way. I have done three countries in a day before but never in one minute.
We saw bear prints today but no actual bears. Wildlife has been sparse and the highlight other than a very cold South African were four swans conducting a migratory fly past this morning.
After all this we were sledding uphill where we had to help the dogs a lot by pushing the sled whilst running behind. This is bloody hard work especially with all your gear on. The dogs really do appreciate the help and it is satisfying to work as a team like this. Once we had reached the top we travelled across an alpine pass before we got ready for the downhill through the forests to the end.
We were stopped before we started the descent to be briefed on what to do and make sure that we went down nice and slowly. There were some very tricky corners to negotiate with a steep fall if we got it wrong. I was travelling behind Jay and at a particularly difficult corner all the other sleds had stopped. I could not stop my dogs at all and they overtook Jay and her dog team on the outside where there was no room to do so. How I held onto the sled I will never know but we all made it down safely. There were lots of crashes today but poor Kenny seemed to fare the worst. He not only crashed but was then run over by another sled (and dogs) but he is a tough cookie and took it all with a smile.
We then hit the final picturesque run down to the end point of our five day adventure.
We are camping out for the final time tonight before we head back to civilisation and will be having a celebratory bbq which will be interesting given the freezing conditions.
It has been a fantastic adventure for the both of us and despite being well challenged we have enjoyed every minute of it. There will be lots of photos to follow.
Thank you to everyone for donating funds to SCBU. It really is appreciated.
Chris and jay x
Thursday 21 April 2011
Day 4 - Frozen Rivers and J saves the Day
Started the day at midnight hoping to see the Northern Lights. It was bitterly cold and forcing myself out of the sleeping bag and into the arctic chill was not easy. There were no Northern Lights but there was a definite faint glow in the sky. It was quickly back to bed to get into the cosy sleeping bag to warm up again.
After taking down camp and sorting the dogs we were on our way again for day 4. We would be starting up along the top of the mountains and heading down into the forests where we were told there would be some 'technical' sections.
The start of the descent was signified when when we hit particularly bad terrain just over the top of one of the mountains. The snow had been swept off the top of the mountain and we were sledding on dirt and rocks. This was not fun and very difficult to control the sled. Numerous people fell and lost control of their sleds. Jay saved the day by grabbing the dogs of a runaway sled despite the fact that it had crashed into her back! Jay was singled out for her bravery in the team meeting at the end of the day.
After this followed another treacherous section which involved sledding over a narrow ledge with an icy river to fall into if we got it wrong. Numerous people slipped off the ledge and were dragged along on their side narrowly avoiding the river. This included me and we got split from the rest of the group on different sides of the river after we had found an alternative crossing point. Tove one of the leaders thought that it was too treacherous and wanted to turn back so now we were three groups. One on each side of the river and one that was turning back. The groups each side of the river converged after another bridge and Tore the other guide went back to convince the remaining group to join us. Eventually we were all together again.
The second part of the day was less technical but very enjoyable. We made a swooping right turn downhill and suddenly we were travelling up a frozen river which was totally exhilarating and looked like we were gliding across glass. I was last in the line and hoping that the ice would hold as in some places it did not look very thick. This was especially so as the brakes on our sled basically are a spike going into the ground. Not exactly what you want on a frozen river.
The day was much longer today than we have previously experienced and arriving at camp this evening there were many tired and aching bodies. We spent over six hours covering around 45km on the sleds with another gruelling day ahead of us tomorrow.
As I write this we are camping on a frozen lake and have taken a picture of the view from our tent.
Love Chris and Jay x
After taking down camp and sorting the dogs we were on our way again for day 4. We would be starting up along the top of the mountains and heading down into the forests where we were told there would be some 'technical' sections.
The start of the descent was signified when when we hit particularly bad terrain just over the top of one of the mountains. The snow had been swept off the top of the mountain and we were sledding on dirt and rocks. This was not fun and very difficult to control the sled. Numerous people fell and lost control of their sleds. Jay saved the day by grabbing the dogs of a runaway sled despite the fact that it had crashed into her back! Jay was singled out for her bravery in the team meeting at the end of the day.
After this followed another treacherous section which involved sledding over a narrow ledge with an icy river to fall into if we got it wrong. Numerous people slipped off the ledge and were dragged along on their side narrowly avoiding the river. This included me and we got split from the rest of the group on different sides of the river after we had found an alternative crossing point. Tove one of the leaders thought that it was too treacherous and wanted to turn back so now we were three groups. One on each side of the river and one that was turning back. The groups each side of the river converged after another bridge and Tore the other guide went back to convince the remaining group to join us. Eventually we were all together again.
The second part of the day was less technical but very enjoyable. We made a swooping right turn downhill and suddenly we were travelling up a frozen river which was totally exhilarating and looked like we were gliding across glass. I was last in the line and hoping that the ice would hold as in some places it did not look very thick. This was especially so as the brakes on our sled basically are a spike going into the ground. Not exactly what you want on a frozen river.
The day was much longer today than we have previously experienced and arriving at camp this evening there were many tired and aching bodies. We spent over six hours covering around 45km on the sleds with another gruelling day ahead of us tomorrow.
As I write this we are camping on a frozen lake and have taken a picture of the view from our tent.
Love Chris and Jay x
Day 3 - Northern Lights and a Snow Table
We made it through another fairly cold night which started with an overcast morning.
After getting up at eight and sorting out ourselves and the dogs we were ready to set off at around noon.
We were still sledding today along the top of the mountain range with more stunning scenery. We continued to span the border between Norway and Sweden and were hoping to see bears along the mountain range but we were not lucky today.
The sledding went relatively smoothly and we are now much more experienced mushers and can sort most problems ourselves.
One thing that I neglected to mention is that Jay crashed her sled into a tree right at the beginning of the day yesterday. It was only a small tree but it really did tangle her dogs up.
We set up camp tonight at a place called Fish Camp after travelling over frozen glacial lakes. The weather this afternoon improved and we arrived with clear skies and warm temperatures.
Kenny (a fellow musher from Liverpool) came up with the idea to build a table out of the snow and we sat around it having dinner with one of the best views watching the sun set.
It is a totally clear night tonight so the chances of seeing the Northern Lights are good. I will be getting up at midnight for the best chance.
It is fiercely cold tonight so much so that our drinks were freezing whilst we were drinking them. Our gloves are frozen stiff and just trying to melt snow for drinking water takes a lot of time.
This is definitely a difficult challenge but we are really enjoying the experience.
Love C and J
Ps. I hope that these emails are coming through. I am sending them to my sister who is kindly updating facebook and the blog. I seem to get a bit of coverage at some point in the day to send.
After getting up at eight and sorting out ourselves and the dogs we were ready to set off at around noon.
We were still sledding today along the top of the mountain range with more stunning scenery. We continued to span the border between Norway and Sweden and were hoping to see bears along the mountain range but we were not lucky today.
The sledding went relatively smoothly and we are now much more experienced mushers and can sort most problems ourselves.
One thing that I neglected to mention is that Jay crashed her sled into a tree right at the beginning of the day yesterday. It was only a small tree but it really did tangle her dogs up.
We set up camp tonight at a place called Fish Camp after travelling over frozen glacial lakes. The weather this afternoon improved and we arrived with clear skies and warm temperatures.
Kenny (a fellow musher from Liverpool) came up with the idea to build a table out of the snow and we sat around it having dinner with one of the best views watching the sun set.
It is a totally clear night tonight so the chances of seeing the Northern Lights are good. I will be getting up at midnight for the best chance.
It is fiercely cold tonight so much so that our drinks were freezing whilst we were drinking them. Our gloves are frozen stiff and just trying to melt snow for drinking water takes a lot of time.
This is definitely a difficult challenge but we are really enjoying the experience.
Love C and J
Ps. I hope that these emails are coming through. I am sending them to my sister who is kindly updating facebook and the blog. I seem to get a bit of coverage at some point in the day to send.
Wednesday 20 April 2011
Day 2 - frozen bread and rescuing runaway dogs.
We made it through a very windy and cold first night. It is difficult to tell but our guides estimate that the temperature got down to minus 15. Talk about culture shock!
The sleeping bags held up and an improvised hot water bottle helped keep some very cold feet warm.
We got up at around seven to sunshine no wind and a view to die for. We were right near the top of the mountains and had awesome views of a number of different peaks.
After breakfast (sandwiches on frozen bread and coffee from the stove) it was time to feed the dogs and then chain them up to the sleds. This process takes a long time and it was around a couple of hours before we were ready to go. Just before this our guide, Mike, from Global Challenges fell down a snow hole that had opened up which was around 6 foot deep. Unfortunately Mike's knee was too badly injured to continue and he was taken down the mountain by skidoo whilst his kit and dogs were shared out.
After another couple of hours we were ready to go with one less guide. The weather was bright blue skies and sunshine and thin fleeces were the order of the day. After breaking the ridgeline of the mountains the views only got better and it was around 4 hours of sledding before we arrived at the next camp. We were much more competent today (no falls) with the going a lot quicker. We were now clued up enough to look after the other dogs and one of the highlights of the day was when me and Peter both had to rescue another set of dogs by diving after them when they raced past. All good fun!
Putting up camp in the sunshine was a lot easier (we almost made it look like we knew what we are doing) and dinner is now on the go (boil in the bag bbq chicken followed by a mars bar).
It looks like tonight will be another cold one due to the clear skies but now we know the sleeping bags work!!
Love C and J x
The sleeping bags held up and an improvised hot water bottle helped keep some very cold feet warm.
We got up at around seven to sunshine no wind and a view to die for. We were right near the top of the mountains and had awesome views of a number of different peaks.
After breakfast (sandwiches on frozen bread and coffee from the stove) it was time to feed the dogs and then chain them up to the sleds. This process takes a long time and it was around a couple of hours before we were ready to go. Just before this our guide, Mike, from Global Challenges fell down a snow hole that had opened up which was around 6 foot deep. Unfortunately Mike's knee was too badly injured to continue and he was taken down the mountain by skidoo whilst his kit and dogs were shared out.
After another couple of hours we were ready to go with one less guide. The weather was bright blue skies and sunshine and thin fleeces were the order of the day. After breaking the ridgeline of the mountains the views only got better and it was around 4 hours of sledding before we arrived at the next camp. We were much more competent today (no falls) with the going a lot quicker. We were now clued up enough to look after the other dogs and one of the highlights of the day was when me and Peter both had to rescue another set of dogs by diving after them when they raced past. All good fun!
Putting up camp in the sunshine was a lot easier (we almost made it look like we knew what we are doing) and dinner is now on the go (boil in the bag bbq chicken followed by a mars bar).
It looks like tonight will be another cold one due to the clear skies but now we know the sleeping bags work!!
Love C and J x
Tuesday 19 April 2011
Day 1 - And its a cold one....
After all the waiting the start of the husky sledding expedition finally came around.
There is a lot to do before you set out and it took ages for the sleds to be packed and the dogs to be correctly linked up before we could set off.
We started with a quite technical section going up into the mountains and it was exhilarating to be off! The dogs have awesome power and it is surprising that they can pull so much.
The weather can only be described as a blizzard and it was challenging and physical work keeping control of the sled. We both fell off at the same place into deep snow so there have been lots of lessons learnt already.
Putting up our two man tent in a snow storm was not easy and seemed to take forever. We were standing two meters away from each other and could barely hear our shouts to one another. We finally got the tent up and we are hoping that the wind dies down.
As I write this we are lying in our tent (that is still up) and having tea and coffee after a boil in the bag dinner. The wind is howling and it is very cold. I have no idea how cold but everything is frozen.
It will be a cold one tonight so let's hope our sleeping bags are to the job!
Love from a very chilly jay and chris. X
There is a lot to do before you set out and it took ages for the sleds to be packed and the dogs to be correctly linked up before we could set off.
We started with a quite technical section going up into the mountains and it was exhilarating to be off! The dogs have awesome power and it is surprising that they can pull so much.
The weather can only be described as a blizzard and it was challenging and physical work keeping control of the sled. We both fell off at the same place into deep snow so there have been lots of lessons learnt already.
Putting up our two man tent in a snow storm was not easy and seemed to take forever. We were standing two meters away from each other and could barely hear our shouts to one another. We finally got the tent up and we are hoping that the wind dies down.
As I write this we are lying in our tent (that is still up) and having tea and coffee after a boil in the bag dinner. The wind is howling and it is very cold. I have no idea how cold but everything is frozen.
It will be a cold one tonight so let's hope our sleeping bags are to the job!
Love from a very chilly jay and chris. X
Sunday 17 April 2011
Saturday 16 April 2011
Getting ready for the off...
As I write this we are all packed and pretty much ready to go. I think we have everything on the kit list and we are both now nervously excited. Flight at 7:20am tomorrow out of Heathrow. Can't wait.
Donations update...
Donations on the Just Giving site are at 135% as £6,752 has been donated. Add the gift aid to this for roughly £1,000 and also the offline donations from the Winter and Ice Event for £1,000 and we have a grand total of around £8,752. Amazing stuff!
Thanks for all the support.
Thanks for all the support.
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