Up until this year it was Greenland law that dog canines were to be filed down or extracted. Maybe so but I’d never done this to any of my dogs. The law is now history.

By the New Year I was running 12 dogs in a team and out on five hour conditioning runs every other day. Twice a week, on the flat, with a sled without payload, runs were made up of short burst and rest interval sessions. Later I lengthened those sessions and shortened the rest times. I encouraged speed on cresting hills and 200 metres from home I’d stop, rest my dogs and give my cue for speed and a last big effort for home. This was crucial training for the likes of Bigness and Yogi. My dogs were getting strong and fit. 

Not exactly Oxford Street January sales but I did notice a couple of rifle bolts and boxes of bullets in the store’s bargain bin here.

I built another sled, again with master sled builder Augo. East Greenlandic dog sleds are like no other. I use nothing else for long-haul journeys. Mine are 4 metres long with a 90 cm by 3 metre packing surface. Runners are shod with high-density plastic. Wind blasts terrain void of snow to expose nothing but sled destructive rock. You have to be good with a block planer to keep runners slick. Chain and anchor rope hoops l lop over runners for downhill river ice or deep snowy mountainsides.