Finnmarksløpet

As you can imagine the race was a grate experience. The team, specially the youngsters, did a fantastic job and seven of the team finished. Sunda had to be left behind at Levajok due to a sore shoulder but she is back at work now. I will have a more detailed summary of the race when I have the photos and a bit more time. Now it is time for trips to the mountains, we leave for a Dividalen - Kiruna trip on Friday...

Last polish is done, one more trip on Wednesday and then leaving for Alta and the race start on Saturday. Looking forward to get some new answers about the dogs. I have no big expectations with this very young team, but hope we will have a good experience together.
With 3500 km of training it is the best trained team I have started with in the race, so time will show if it makes a difference...
The final team is
Skare: 8 years, leader, two times Finnmarksløpet and one time Femundsløpet finisher.
Momba: 1 1/2 year, rookie, leader.
Kaos: 1 1/2 year, rookie, leader/team dog.
Elton: 1 1/2 year, rookie, leader/team dog.
Elvira: 1 1/2 year, rookie, leader/wheel dog.
Sunda: 2 years, rookie, point dog.
Jota: 5 years, has raced pasvik trail, point dog.
Brutus: 5 years, some distance experience but no finishes, wheel dog.

Strengthening up my team

To make sure my team is strong enough I have got a new member in the dog community...

Moose on the farm

The last days we have got a new animal on the farm. This moose has stayed around the house and dog yard for almost a week now. I went out with the dogs after it got dark this evening and 10 meter out of the dog yard my team turned 90 degree right of the trail. When I lifted my head I saw just into the eyes of the moose. Luckily he did not get angry, but just walked away slowly between me and the rest of the dogs in the yard.

New video

I was looking after Tva this morning and managed to combine it with some more video experiments. The result can be found here... It is from my last trips with the dogs and from our moose.

Cold weather

The sun is back in the valley and in a few days it will come trough our kitchen window, and as usual the cold weather comes with the sun. The plan of the day was to go for a long training with the dogs, but with -30 c I will wait until to morrow.
We had grate trips Saturday and Sunday. Half way up Iselvdalen we found a dead reindeer, recently killed by a wolverine. It was a lot of fresh tracks around it and a King eagle was sitting on it when we passed on the way back.




Monday me and Siv guided a caving/skiing trip for 50 soldiers to Fjellfrøs grotta. It is always fascinating to go from -15 c outside and in to the constant +4 c of the cave.

More Internet mushing

More Internet mushing is coming up. Olav finished on a strong 21 place in Femundløpet, and kept me awake three nights to check race updates at the net. Yukon quest is starting this weekend with ten more days in front of my mac. Here is a link to YQ.