Winter Diary Extract 2004 - 2005

Rest day while I helped Olav fit an oil burner into my place to replace less efficient wood stove.

Back to days at forty below. No land speed records. Blitz or Spoons left a massive dog turd to freeze solid behind their pen gate. It took me a while to chisel it free for me to get in.

Ran adults for two hours with 400lb of chicken meat acting as payload. It was a good session, everyone pulled hard, really hard. Their power is almost intimidating now. Last week’s community fireworks to celebrate the return of the sun were cancelled because of the storm. They were let off tonight without a hitch. There were some good ones.

Two and a half hour run pulling yesterday’s payload. Box loaded with caffeinated energy bars, Performance Sport Drink powder and Protein Plus came from PowerBar today. The Protein Plus bars contain 30% high quality protein for retaining and building muscle power, quicker recovery rate. I nibble on the caffeinated energy bars throughout my day. All these products are easy to digest during intense exercise and support my immune system because they’re packed with vitamins, amino acids and trace elements, vital during prolonged exercise.

Rest day for adults. They deserve it. Made a start packing food. A month’s preparation takes a full day. I do this alone, always. A pen shuffle. Neutered Bomber now with Spoons. Thule is alone. Blitz is out on the stakeout. Blitz and Spoons have outgrown their puppy collars.

Continue preparations and another rest day for my dogs, though I still run morning and night on the river. Use chain saw file to serrate 20” machete blade for new ice knife. The serrated edge cuts snow blocks straight. If for whatever reason I’m without my tent I can cut and shape a ‘coffin’ shelter. I made mainline traces for the dogs with aircraft cable running through the middle of hollow polypropylene rope. Ice might fray the rope but it won’t break the metal cable. The rope floats if my sled falls through. In the situation from hell I may have to cut the trace from my dogs. I clothe tape around each aluminium fuel bottle to protect my gloved hands from stinging conducting cold from metal. I count out matches and always allow ten per day. All to the accompaniment of playing Motorhead CD’s on my laptop.

I wormed Marshall, Piston and Cream with broad-spectrum tablets of Drontal Plus. I asked if they’d been wormed was emailed a message saying, “Not for a year”. More preparations. Tiny detail. Stove parts, spare dog hardware, ski kit and specific tools bagged and tagged. Ran team with 500lb payload, for an hour. Had Spoons and Blitz harnessed to back of my sled. We’re getting four hours sunlight now, increasing five minutes per day. Started feeding pure fat into everyone’s feed.

There are some bargains to be had in the community especially with food reaching it’s sell by date. 10lb of cheese would normally fleece me of $80. This bargain hunter paid $35. But it means I’ll have cut it up and leave it outside to freeze before it turns into a mouldy science project. Three hour run pulling 500lb.

Strawed down doghouses with a bale that broke open smelling of a dusty summer’s day; I’m glad for the cold. Rest day for dogs. I ran morning and night. Practice making snow trenches with new fierce looking serrated ice knife. Block up wind end, head end uphill. Cuts well and straight. Constructed snow cave in snow bank too. Three layers. Lower tier to catch cold air, next up I’d sleep on and above that I’d have a candle. Surprising what heat this will generate. If the flame gets long and higher I know ventilation is becoming poor.

Used my Lowe alpine Alpine Attack 40 backpack. Ever wondered how materials perform in the cold? These packs’ zips don’t crumble. Nor does the material crack in the cold.