The Dispatches from the Trail...

Sun 25 April: The team is finally splitting up, heading to their respective homes. The dogs are back in their kennels, taking a well-deserved rest and lots of food. They were driven home from Nordkapp in a giant dog-trailer. Rona, Cathy and Per-Thore took the luxurious way home, sailing along the Norwegian coast in a cruise-liner.
After two days of sightseeing in Tromso, Rona and Cathy are flying back to the UK this afternoon. All that remains of the expedition is a line of sled tracks stretching across 528 kms of snow, and some 4 million paw prints from the dogs, gradually melting away in the spring sunshine.
Meet the team on the evening of 13 May at the Travellers Club in London to see the pictures and hear the full story.
Goodbye and happy travels from the Nordkapp 2004 team.
 

A beautiful moment sledding up a deserted valley, birch forests in
front of us and mountains beyond them.

 

Per-Thore Hansen, our enigmatic third team member. His favourite instructions were: Rona, push! and Cathy, eat!
 

Rona shares a moment with Shakira, one of the most affectionate of the dogs.

 

Per-Thore planning the route in one of the cabins.

 

Rona making up the daily lunch pack - flat bread with ham and cheese.

 

Per-Thore eating an instant muesli breakfast. Using dogs we could afford to be relatively generous with the catering and we ate a combination of dehydrated meals and more substantial fresh fare.

 

Cathy relaxing in the tent with a cup of coffee. The expedition ran on dog food and coffee - the last coffee granules were shared out on the final morning. We couldn't afford to be out there another day!

 

The long days and tough snow conditions took their toll on the dogs' paws and by the last day most had booties on. The majority hate the booties and the two dogs here, Shara and Zita, Cathy's lead dogs, were expert at removing them by opening the velcro tabs with their front teeth.
 

Tue 20 April: As we approached the coast (which is warmed by the Gulf stream) there was less and less snow, making for interesting navigation through the rocks and grass hummocks.

 

Tue 20 April: Our final campsite. Little red tent for the boy, big green tent for the girls, dogs sleep outside.

 

Rona turns her sled away from the ocean that lies beyond Nordkapp. It is time to head for home.

 

Wed 21 April: The three teams arrive at Nordkapp to be greeted by tourist cameras.

 

Champagne all round as the the mushers and their dogs arrive at Nordkapp.

 

Cathy, Per-Thore and Rona, with their teams, race across the last snows before the Nordkapp.

 

Tue 20th: The first expedition blood to be spilt is Rona's. The team was sledding down a slope, moving fast on hard snow. In the middle was one rock, which Rona unerringly hit. She was thrown from the sled, face-planting in the snow, cutting herslef on the bridge of her nose. She picked herself up, got back on her sled and we continued - no other choice really!
 

Tue 20th: Much of the day's sledding has been through beautiful rolling highlands with lakes of blue ice in the hollows. The blue ice is a sign of surface melt in the previous warm days, which has frozen again in the current cold.

 

Tue 20th: Cathy with hood up and goggles on for protection against the bitter cold and biting wind.


 

Tue 20th: Sally and Vinga, Rona's lead dogs, making up time on the hard-packed snow.


 

Rona writes up her daily diary in the tent. She will be writing a book about this expedition that she hopes to have out in time for this Christmas. She makes notes while sledding by using a dictaphone and then writes up the day's account each night. You can pre-order a copy of the book by emailing Rona at rona@ronacant.com 

 

Mon 19 April: Another of the drawbacks of soft snow is how wet we get, not from the snow itself (mostly) but from the pushing and shoving and stomping reqired to shift the sleds. The sweat builds up fast and then stays with us, cold and clammy, for the rest of the day. Here the inners of Cathy's boots dry out over the stove in the tent.
 

Mon 18 April: Having given up on our attempt to traverse out of the valley of death, we did a kamikaze run straight down to the valley flloor. Here Rona charges down the final incline. We had our feet so hard on the foot brake that our feet were nearly half a foot below the sled runners and still we ploughed down through the soft snow. We finally exited the valley via a pass at its head and found hard-packed snowmobile trails that carried us speedily northwards.

 

Mon 19 April: After our breakfast break we innocently sledded straight into the valley of death. Deep snow got deeper, soft snow got softer, and we began to climb the valley side in search of harder, shallower snow. That proved a fatal mistake. Traversing steep slopes in deep snow was asking for the sleds to tip over time and again. And when they went, they tipped well past the horizontal, leaving us pushing desperately upwards while mired in thigh-deep snow. Here Per-Thore rescues Rona's sled.


 

After our early start (not one of the strengths of this expedition) we felt we deserved a break for a breakfast snack and a cup of coffee. This trip runs on coffee and it is a source of much concern that we are very close to running out. However, our attempts at rationing have not met with success.
During our break, Rona entertained the Oxford commuter traffic on BBC Radio Oxford.

 

Mon 19 April: After slow and rough progress over the highlands, we picked up speed as we followed the Bastinjåkka river. It provided a fast and level highway north for several hours, paved in pale-green ice, although with some alarming cracks and holes. Finally it veered away from north, and we headed back into the hills, heading in all innocence into the valley of death.
 

Mon 19 April: We did actually manage an early start this morning, up at 4.45, gone by 6.45, and the effort paid off with firmer snow and faster going. However, day after day of tough going is taking a toll on our equipment . Here the three teams pile up as Rona's gangline breaks.

 

This is the hole into which Cathy's sled fell on Thur 15th. The teams were crossing from the riverbank campsite onto the ice of the river, and Cathy's team took the turn too tightly.
 

We have encountered various over travellers on our trip, most commonly on snowmobiles, but also travelling on ski. Some skiers are carrying backpacks, some are pulling pulkas (small sleds), others are accompanied by a dog pulling the pulka.
But yesterday (Fri 16th) was the first time we have met other dog teams.
 

Per-Thore and his team take a lunchtime nap on the Kautokeino river.

 

Early in the morning soon after leaving the Reina cabin on Wednesday 14th. One of the joys of this trip is the wide variety of scenery that we have passed through.

 

Sally, one of Rona's lead dogs, settled in for a good night's sleep. The dogs sleep unprotected on the snow, curled up tightly to protect their faces and stomachs.

 

Click for audio dispatch

Things are getting tougher out here. Rona tore something in her left shoulder yesterday, she came down a hill round a corner (probably too fast) and the sled swung out into a tree stump, and then jammed round the stump in deep snow. The arm is severely compromised and she is running on painkillers this morning. We don't yet know how she will hold out.

First thing yesterday, crossing a snow bridge from our camp on the bank onto the frozen river we were to follow, my sled swung right and broke through the edge of the bridge, with 2/3 of the sled sinking. We finally pulled it out but my still and video camera are ruined. I am still trying to resuscitate the website comms. Everything in the sled was soaked. Rona went into the river with both feet trying to pull it out. And after all that we still had to sled for 70 km to reach our next stop-point.

We are about to leave for another 50 km today, and then tomorrow is a blessed rest day! It won't come a minute too soon.
 

Per-Thore feeding Shara breakfast.
 

Listen to voice dispatch

69° 12' N, 21° 00' E Cathy: It is the end of day 2 and it has been a long tiring haul, covering 41 km. We are tucked up warmly inside a cabin next to the Finnish border, at Loassomuvra. From 500 m we pushed up over 800m, dropped down to cross the great lake of Gálggojávri at 500 m and climbed back up to 800 m. The ascents are hard work, mushing or running by the sleds. And the descents demand constant concentration and braking to stop the sleds running over the dogs.

Always the challenge is the weight of the sleds. As Per-Thore says, they are shit-heavy (this being a technical mushing term, of course). Worst are traverse descents with the sleds tipping over precariously to one side. I went over 3 times in just 50 metres. The 3rd time a cliff above was echoing the barking of my team and they were jumping about frantically in search of the ghost dogs, starting to run each time I levered the sled a few inches above the ground. At which point I would drop the sled and do a superman-style dive for the sled bar andbthe snow anchor. Hopefully, better luck tomorrow.

Except that tomorrow we lose the convenience of snowmobile trails and spend 2 days trail-breaking through soft snow. The challenge continues...