On the sled again!!

Monday last week (November 5th) the snow finally came. But still it is not enough to go out whit sleds. It still helps to have some snow. It is better for the paws to run on snow than on gravel. But for me it is the boring task of sitting on the ATV. And when the temperature drops down to -15c it is cold. So when I heard that it was half a meter of snow in Kiruna in Sweden I loaded up the dogs for the four hour drive over to the white stuff. What a joy for man and dogs!!! The first day we took two teams of seven dogs for a 25 kilometer run and the next day we did 50 kilometer. Yesterday I took all 14 dogs in one team and went for another 50 kilometer run. Pure joy. The dogs was happily running, and I could feel the power in the team!
Back home again it is the same conditions than when I left, 10 cm of snow. So I am afraid it is back on the ATV for still some days.
Anyway, I am on schedule, the team is getting stronger, and everything looks fine. I think I am the one who have the biggest need to get going whit the sled, not the dogs.

Although it is little snow Espen is training our 3 half year old together whit one good old leader on the sled, doing 5 kilometer runs. For them it is all about learning the basic.
So for now it is just to hope for snow. I have a hope that it will at least be possible to go up into the mountains in the end of the week to do some sledding. Time will show.

The team

As written before, I have 14 dogs in training for the Finnmarksløpet this season. I can start whit as many as 14 dogs, so I hope that all dogs are fit for fight at March 8. The big question is if I will get Trangia in shape for the race. As you will see in the last post she is doing mummy duty right now. But I am going to start training her soon.
I don't have any good profile pictures of the team right now, but here is the dogs I hope will take me around Finnmark in March:
Gunnar: Leader. Finnmark 500: 2006, 2007
Sting: Leader. Finnmark 500: 2006, 2007, Finnmark 1000: 2005, Femund500: 2005
Skare: Leader. Finnmark 500: 2006, 2007, Finnmark 1000: 2005, Femund500: 2005, Femund400: 2006
Trangia: Leader. Finnmark 500: 2006,2007, Finnmark 1000, 2005, Femund500, 2005
Dønning: Finnmark 500, 2006, 2007. Finnmark 1000, 2005, Femund 500, 2005
Kesam: Finnmark 500, 2006, 2007
Momba: Leader. Finnmark 500, 2007
Kaos: Leader. Finnmark 500, 2007
Elvira: Leader. Finnmark 500, 2007
Vosko: Finnmark 500, 2007
Elton: Finnmark 500, 2007
Sunda: Finnmark 500, 2007
Smirre: In training to be a leader. Rookie
Tutta. Rookie
In 2006 we never reached the finish line, at Femund500km they had to scratch afer 400 kilometer. In 2007 we had two teams on Finnmark 500km. Trangia, Sting, Kesam and Sunda were dropped. Trangia and Sting reached the finish line at Finnmark 1000km in 2005 with Espen. This mean that 10 of my dogs have seen the finish line in Alta, which mean that this is the most experienced team we have ever sent to Finnmarksløpet.

The young ones

On the third of October Trangia gave birth to six puppies. I now I am late whit this update, but it is quite a lot to do for the moment. The training for the upcoming season takes lot of time on top of all the other tings that needs to be done before the winter. And speaking about winter; we almost had it. For almost a week the white stuff was covering the ground. But it was not enough for sledding :-(

Back to the young ones. We are going to keep four of them, and two are going to be sold. Who we are going to keep, we don't know yet, except for Gunn, the only yellow of the bunch. The rest of them are black and white. We have name for two of them, Bård and Kari. Named after some friends of mine. If anyone have a name for the last one you can come with a suggestion. It has to be a human name, since the other three have human names as well as the six month old bunch (Pelle, Herman and Wilma).

News from the dogs

The training for next winter officially started at August 15. By now I am doing 13 kilometer runs, whit two days on, and one day of. The weather has been good for us the last weeks, cold and gray weather. Just how i like it while training. And training we need. I have now officially signed up for the 1000 kilometer long Finnmarksløpet, and its just to hope that we will reach the start, which is the first finishline. I have 14 dogs in training, and need at least 12 to start. But hopefully I will get all 14 to the start.
There is also two new members in the dog family. Pelle, born in June, and Herman, born in May. They spend their days playing in the puppy pen or running around in the woods on small trips. More news will be posted through the season, so stay tuned.

Coppermine River 2007

What is there to be said about it. I don't really know. We paddled a river, intersected by some lakes, we got some fish and we saw some wildlife. How some people are able to write books on their trips I don't know, I find it hard to write some lines about it. But I guess I have to try.
On the 7 of July 2007 (07.07.07 a total coincidence) we flew out from Yellowknife whit a charter plane. After about one and a half hour we landed on Lac de Gras in the late hours of the evening (about 670km from Kugluktuk, our final destination). Although its July, the last remains of the arctic winter can be seen. Most of the lake is cowered whit ice. Its only in the outlet there is some open water. And there we landed (Oh, who are we? Its Arild, on his eleventh canoe trip in Canada, Svein on his first, Robert on his second, Lotta on her first and me on my third. OK, then you know who the crew is). The weather was great, no wind and the late evening sun hanging low in the never ending horizon of the tundra. The bugs were out, and the fish were, by some, reason hiding.
Next morning, before the others had got up I went fishing, and on the third throw a nice 2,5 kg Lake Trout was landed for breakfast. At the same time Robert had gone fishing as well, and got a 7 kg Lake Trout on his firs throw. And that was the largest we got this time. After putting together our folding canoes from Pakboat and Ally, we set of for the first rapids. First rapid was short and fun. But one boat got the line a little wrong, and someone had his first flip over in 11 years, and for his paddling partner, a flip over in his first rapid ever. Perfect start. We were ready for 4 weeks of fun.
The first days saw us through a mix of lakes and fun stretches of river between them. Some nice rapids, most of them we paddled, one portage and some short stretches of lining when it was to shallow to paddle. The Lake Trout fishing continued to be good. If we did not get some in three attempts it was a bad spot for fishing.
On day 6 we came to Obstruction Rapid. This is a long and big rapid. We ran the firs part, nice and easy canoeing. The mid section was to wide and shallow to paddle, so we lined/waded it. The third part was BIG fun, and by far some of the biggest water I have done in a canoe.
After the big fun comes the long silence, or something like that. Anyway, Obstruction Rapid was the beginning of Point Lake, a 120km long lake. This is actually a really nice place on earth. Slabs going down into the lake made good campsites, the fishing was good, and the weather warm and sunny. And the bugs did not bother us to much. Our biggest fear on Point Lake was to get a headwind, but we never saw it. So life was good. After Point Lake we entered Redrock Lake.
On a point, overlooking the lake there was a fish camp or something like that. A float plane indicated that it was someone there, so we went to shore. There we met Max Ward and was invited for coffee and lunch. This was not a regular commercial fish camp, but a private lodge for Max and those he invite. It was like walking into a world we had forgot long ago. We were walking on a soft carpet and washing our hands in warm running water. Eating fresh baked cookies from the kitchen, and being served lunch by a waiter! It was almost a relief to hit the lake again, back in the canoe, a world I new. We turned down the offer to spend the night there, and was happily frying fish in our lavvo in the evening.
After Rocknest Lake it is river for the last 400 km down to Kugluktuk. The first part, about 80km, is some fun rapids, fast moving water and some small lakes. Then there is 130 km whit slow moving water down to Big Bend. From there it is fast river and funny rapids.
The first part is some major rapids and some fast moving river in between. One of these rapids had to be portaged, it was to obstructed to paddle. The rest was just plain fun. The long stretch of slow moving river was a dull and slow part. We had headwind, the fishing was bad and it was cold. There were days whit out fish for dinner, but we lived ok on rice and pasta and a large supply of spices.
After Big Bend the river pick up speed, the Arctic char is plentiful and we saw quite some wildlife, including two wolfs, a lot of Rudolf (caribou) and moose. The Arctic Char is a strange friend. When he is there, we normally got enough to over eat for lunch and diner for a couple of days, and then it would be days we did not meet him.
There is some named rapids on this part of the river (Rocky Defile, Muskox, Sandstone and Escape), and we were eager to see what they looked like. But as everything else, what is written is not what you find in reality. We found some really fun rapids, but not nearly as difficult as described. Never trust what an American write, they use the words different from us.
The last rapid, and a mandatory portage, is Bloody Falls. In 1771 Samuel Hearne and his Indian guides came down the Coppermine and at the last rapid they came over a group of Inuits camped there. The Indians and Inuits were historic enemies, and the Indians massacred the Inuits, hence the name of the falls.
Here at Bloody Falls we spent out last night. One should think that this was a night for thinking back on the trip, contemplating the last moth. I don't know what the others did in their head, but for me it was just an other night. I know its not the last time, I will be back soon, so why think too much?
One last thing. After every one of my trips to Canada people ask me if met many bears. I just have one answer to that: Did Santa come to your house last Christmas? I think there is a bigger chance to meet the real Santa than a real bear. What people think to be bears is in fact someone who has dressed up like a bear, just like some like to dress like Santa i December.

Summer Plans

When looking out the window its not looking much like summer. Clouds hanging low, rain and +8c. Perfect for training dogs, but not for summer activities. I am not complaining, we have had two weeks of warm and sunny days and nights. Its just what its like living up here, its part of the charm.
Hey, what am I doing? Talking about the weather?? That is not the objective of this entry. I was just going to drop some lines about my summer plans. In two weeks its back to Canada again for some weeks of wilderness canoeing. This years trip is going to Coppermine River in Northwest and Nunavut Territorie. Over there, waiting for us is good fishing, big lakes and a wild river, running over the tundra and through the arctic forests. Its four weeks out there on our own, in close contact whit the subarctic nature. I will be back here after the trip whit a report and hopefully some good pictures. Until then have a good summer.
Posting some pictures from an earlier trip to Dubawnt River in 2003.

Powder Valley

Hidden behind high mountain and guarded whit bad road conditions is Powder Valley. Here, in this hidden skiing paradise, you can still take your skis on by the road (about 250 m above see level). In a normal year you can ski here from November and at least to the end of May. If I am not much mistaken there will be skiing conditions here well out in June this year. To day there was wet snow for the first 200m, and after that it was hard snow up to 700/800m. From there it was POWDER all the way to the top at about 1400m. What more to ask for? And this is in the middle of May!
The local guru, Aadne Olsrud, was really happy that me and Jørn Henriksen came along and got him out. He really had to do some office work, and did not have time. But when the sun finally pokes out from behind the clouds there is nothing to do but go skiing.
The name of the valley and the mountain? I don't know if I want to tell, its such a good place and hardly any one else in the mountains. This mean that we almost always have the first line in the best snow. Ok. Its Tamokdalen, and to days mountain was Istind, a part of the Rostafjellet massive