Happy Christmas! / God jul / Gledileg jol /Joyeaux Noel

(... and that's me for languages!)

I am in England with family presently - all very nice, and although it is mild and grey here, it beats the yucky rain that I see is forecast back in Troms fylke (county) presently... :-/ (at least over here we expect rain during winter-time, and so are content to have a dry Christmas, let alone a white one!)


Here is our Christmas tree, to get you a little into the festive version of how we spend Christmas here. In tune with most of the Nation, tommorrow will be spent eating and drinking, in front of the open fire. Boxing Day (26th) will be more eating and drinking (!) and then it will start to slow down.... my big sister is away until 28th, and it will all begin again when she visits shortly afterwards (the eating and drinking). HOWEVER, there shall be some excellent family walks and plenty of good times to be had in this prolonged xmas-time festiveness - it isn't all about the eating and drinking ;)

Have a good Christmas, and new year! :)

Skiing With Dogs - earlier lessons

Well, I have tried skiing with dogs a couple of times before - this is Brosmer, my old ski instructor from Vilmarkssenter days.  He tried very hard with me to get me to keep up with him. It was with him that I learned the hard way that you need to sometimes unclip from a dog to descend hills.  Learning from experience with Brosmer - ah, the pain!

Here he is, on a day off from instructing me

Skiing With Dogs

Firstly, you book beautiful weather and location

Looks a doddle, doesn't it?  Just attach yourself to a dog, and, er, SKI!

...not as easy as it first appears! (esp. if the dog turns and trots back towards you on the uphills coz she reckons you are just tooooo slow)

except if you are like Marte (A.K.A 'Amundsen') here!

...so comfortable and relaxed on her skis...see, she doesn't even need her dog!

Nyt hus

Through the last posts you probably guessed I'd moved from Tromsø, and yes, I have: here's a shot of my new base, in Heggelia, Bardufoss, (Malselv), about 200k from Tromso, Southbound and a bit inland.

I've started work these past weeks as a social worker at a refugee transit centre, for refugees seeking asylum. As my shifts are mostly at night this leaves day time free for snow and all else.  It's a busy town, despite it's small size, as there is a military training base here, so plenty of planes, helicopters, tanks.... But it's a great location with mountains surrounding us, and a quick climb up into the woods behind the house leads a pretty nice 'backyard' playground (I guess that's why the military like it too).

I like it here and the work so far, and we shall see where it takes me.  The centre where I work is newly opened so I'm meeting a lot of new faces (staff and refugees are all new).  I have to admit, I feel pretty sorry for people arriving in Norway the first time under very hard circumstances from hot destinations coming straight up North (it was -25C the other day).  No-one seems to quite understand I want to be here because of the snow, but then again, summer will be a tonic for sun-lovers. I hope most of these folks are able to stay and reap the benefits of experiencing the sunnier side of North Norway.  They look incredulous when I say if they stay they will curse the sun later for not being able to sleep! ;)

Birthday Hike

View from the end of the drive, and my porch, practically (er, I am not really using the porch much right now, but the view is great!...)

That's the moon rising, over to the left (at about 3pm).  It suddenly got pretty chilly, but the day had been a good, 6-hour hard snow slog! I was pretty tired :)  Great training for those Approaches (see below!)

Senja sights

Well, there is nothing like a weekend of good ice-approaches to get you warmed up for winter!  I managed to squish into a car of keen climbers ('Approachers') for a weekend away on the Stunningly Scenic Senja island.

But ha! The daylight fades faster than lambs can shake tails.... and so.... we had a good weekend of Some Mighty Approaches To Routes (!).... well, the ice wasn't really in nick anyway, I am unfit, my 'ice-head' needs polishing (a good 'ice-head' gives you power in arms and calves, and a great enthusiasm for ascents in the dark), etc., etc.......

So, here's a Senja Snapshot (I will stop the S thing now)

ps. I am being pointed out 'Ben Nevis' of Senja in the shot above - apparently there a fair few of these (see below)

Hmmm. Looking for routes... (reminds me of scoping for Ice in Iceland with Yvonne - same technique: see ice, stop car, grab binoculars, and not necessarily in that order ;))

See, I told you it was scenic...

Hmmm. More ice?  Maybe??

Ha! Yes!.....but not enough!

Axel and I tried this line, on the left...

See: ice climbing!! (....2 screws used while I took pics and looked at the nice icey views, and then the ice before him turned to snow...)

But hey! There's always the big discussions after the big approaches....

Sun-worshipping

Goodbye sunshine....

On Tuesday the sun officially 'goes' from Tromsø for a couple of months..... 

This was a Goodbye Sun 'topp tur' on Saturday... by climbing high enough we could see the sun - for an hour! 

Sun up, 12:10

Vasstinden topp (880m), 13:34

Sun down, 13:50

Tromsø lights

The Real Deal/Legless on sleds

We went out sledging today.  The Real Deal. No tourists mind you, just us and some very keen canids.  The snow is fresh and deep and quite lumpy bumpy with wet marshy sections.... not easy for a rookie like me (who is trying to take pictures at the same time as steer, brake and remember what this dog-driving on snow is all about since she last tried it in April :)).  Ha ha -and you should have seen me 'take air' quite spectacularly upon departure as the dogs raced over an ominously large hummock of snow and the sledge soared after in a puff of powder leaving - somehow - my legs behind. Mind you, the "6-beer bet that you fall off Helen" didn't transpire... I held onto that sledge for dear life (and because I am skint). 

This sledging has made the training make more sense - at times it was tiring and sometimes tedious to drive the noisy quad bike up and down the road after the dogs... the beating of the dogs when they howled at night or went crazy barking when they were being harnessed, fed, etc., the 'despatching' of new-born pups in the middle of the night coz they were born the wrong time of the year and to the wrong parents, and the constant shouting at dogs... this hasn't been so fun.  But driving the team today was fun, and a good 'send-off' for my imminent departure.  The dogs are overwhelmingly enthusiastic at their job - a good day in the office for them, I think!

Anyhow, the whole mob of dogs have all been out racing in the fresh snow now. The first tourists arrive tomorrow, and maybe they will be less mad to run and easier to stop tomorrow....maybe?? 

Also, the dogs all have houses now.  And I am sort-of living in the dogyard! As you can see, my cabin overlooks the 'dog garden' (as one of my bosses calls it).  It is nice to see them warm and comfy in their houses - less so to hear them singing under my bedroom window!

One nice morning, when the sun was still here!

End of training

Winter has arrived - it is getting dark and has been cold and snowy, and slippery and slidey for the quad bikes.... The brakes don't work so well at minus temperatures (have had -16C already which was a bit parky) and the job gets harder as water freezes inside the cabin.  So, the dog teams have come 'home' to Kvaløya (Tromsø) from Målselv yesterday afternoon, and the dogs are out in the dog yard as we speak, curled up in husky-shaped balls. We are building new dog houses for them this week, and not all are finished so there are a few wet dogs out there as it's raining tonight. Next time these dogs train it will be pulling sleds (maybe even tourists):  The real deal.

However, it's a small family business and there is not really work enough for me to continue here.  It's my last week of work here.  I am on Howling Duty tonight ;)  - don't think I will miss this, but I will surely miss the dogs.