11.15.2011

first sled trip

bye Autumn, hello WINTER !

Woke up Monday morning to a FOOT of fresh snow. We dragged the sleds out of storage and headed up to Gargia (a 15 min drive), the start of the trail up onto the plateau. The main teams have been training here with ATVs for the past few weeks.

There was plenty of snow until we got up onto the plateau, where we met the winds.

The trail varied between 4ft drifts, this (above), and gravel. The wind blew the sleds sideways in some places. After only 10k, the trail turned completely to windblown gravel. The sleds began to fall apart. First my drag broke, then one of the runners fell off. Trine Marie and Øyvind's plastics stripped off. Roger also lost a runner and his plastics. Trine's sled managed to stay together.

We turned around and left the main road for the snow covered winter trail.

Trine Marie and Øyvind turning off the main trail.

Watching the show.

It was a wild ride home. I tipped several times, got dragged across gravel, got dragged across a bridge, got my feet caught in the stupid drag, did both at the same time. I lost my team once, and also my camera. Luckily I wasn't first or last; Trine stopped the team and Øyvind picked up the camera.

Not as idyllic as one would hope the first trip of the season to be! Everyone came away sore, but it was good training for the dogs, who had a great time plowing through the wind and snow. It was exciting to be on sleds but we are back to ATV training for the time being.

1 comment:

  1. HAHA! Perfekt sledeføre ser jeg! Imponert over at du tok bilder :)

    ReplyDelete