First day of training

After a delicious traditional norwegian brunch, we all Petter, his wife, Mie, their youngest daughter who is 10 and Pia their lovely dog (a german hunter dog) headed out to the forest to try out my new skis. They are Asnes Rasmussen skis red and grey. They look pretty smart and are actually much easier and stabler than my roller-skis!! First I had a long interview with a girl from the local newspaper who was very keen to hear all about this project, the difficulty in the preparation logistics between Norway and the UK, my motivation, the guides, etc.. It was very nice and she took pictures of me pulling the sled.


Then she left and we went around skiing, up and ... down (very unstable!) with the half-skins on the skis. It is less slipery with the skins and the skis don't glide as much so I took them off. It all went well and I could glide quite well. I even was pulled over 50 meters by the lovely Pia and that was scary! It was a super relaxed day.


When we came back, we packed all the food we'll need for the 4 days. One pack with the meals and snack per day per person. So eight bags in total. We will also have 2 sleds each in Greenland as they will not sink as much as a heavy one. Tomorrow we will load them. Tonight I packed all my things in water tight bags, so that if water comes in the sled, nothing is wet.


In the evening Bengt, who is Petter's partner came and talked to us about Greenland. He also showed us the route to take. He has been there many times and seems to know it well. I did not realise that one of the obstacles can be a type of very fast stream which is due to the melting of the ice and which is by the glaciers (first 2 and last 2 days). they can be very difficult to cross due to the strong current and the heavy weight of the sleds. So we will have to avoid them. Sometimes you don't find any, but at other time it can be tricky. 

Anyway tomorrow I leave for my training trip. 4 days of pulling my 2 sleds, sleeping in a tent, eating my rations, and melting snow. Hopefully I will love it!! Because I signed for 3 weeks oh this...