CONCLUSION

The trip was fantastic. It lived up to my expectations a hundredfold. It expelled a few myths too and one of those was about the dogs....ahhhhhhhh....the dogs.

DOGS
When I first saw the seventy one dogs all lined up at the start, it took my breath away. I imagined they would all be typical looking huskies but instead they were every colour combination under the sun with a diversity of breeds thrown in the pot.
There were typical huskies but some dogs looked like wolves, some like Egyptian hunting dogs and many like any dog you would see being walked in your local park. The shock I had was when I spied by favourite black and grey dog and then saw her eyes. Ice blue -they pierced my heart. I think about that dog everyday. I wish she was here with me now. I never knew her name but in a way it adds a bit of mystery to her persona. How would a dog like that cope in this country. I heard of one family who bought a husky back from Scandinavia to their home in the country and the dog was so unhappy that they had to take it back.

One thing that really impressed me was seeing the dogs work together in teams. They were so happy running with the sled. All four of my dogs acted as if they always stayed in the same team. They got on so well and I had no trouble with them at all. At the end I asked Per Thore if they did work together and he said no.

Toffee and Alaska, my two lead dogs were always jumping up for a stroke and were so friendly. My two back dogs were very shy. The only male had husky features and he kept very quiet. He was really sweet.

I was good to my dogs because I love all animals and believe that when man works with them, it should be a two way agreement. I hope that my dogs will always be well treated by future sledgers.

CLOTHING AND EQUIPMENT
I took far far too much. We were given a kit list but a few weeks before the trip, panic emails started going around about what to wear. I subsequently went out and bought extra clothing. I had one set of thermals but ordered another set from Damart. These were permanantly out of stock much to my annoyance so I had to buy another set. When I came back, the Damart thermal pants had turned up and now I hear that the top is wending it's way to me. I'll be taking my next holidays in the winter from now on!

All we needed was two sets of thermals, one fleece top or jumper, a hat and neck warmer or balaclava, goggles and one pair of thinish thermal gloves and warm over mitts, long warm socks and maybe a duvet jacket. Phil gave us all a lanyard each which I found indespensible. I could attached my overmitts to it when I was unharnessing the dogs. The stainless steel flask I bought was far too large and I found it difficult to open. The Berghaus Mule bag was a brilliant buy from Millets and will get used again and again. I didn't use one thing from my medical kit but I wouldn't have gone without it. One thing I would take if I went again, is a sturdy pair of rubber gloves. These would be useful for when handling the dogs dishes. My thinner gloves came back stinking of dog's dinner.

A small packet of wet wipes is useful when you stay somewhere that doesn't have any running water.

CAMERAS

This is the last time I take three cameras on a trip. My digital was really good, my Ricoh GR1 was good with the Velvia 100 but I had a problem with glare getting into my Pentax zoom which ruined a lot of shots. I took Provia 400 for action shots thinking I would be shooting a lot from the sledge but for the first three days I was too scared to use any camera while travelling. All the shots taken with the 400 film are very dark. When I did get my confidence up to take shots whilst on the sledge, I could have used my digital in Sports Mode.

I had all my slides put on a disc anyway and managed to repair some of them in Photoshop. I was asked to give a slide show recently to a local unit of Girl Guides. I panicked because I didn't think my slides were very good but I managed to find over fifty which were presentable.

The light in Finnmark is so bright and harsh that it is worth checking up on exposure
settings and making sure your camera can cope with these conditions.

WOULD I DO IT AGAIN?

YES YES YES