When I heard that the Friends of the Scott Polar Research
Institute were considering a sponsored dog sledge to the Arctic, my ears
immediately pricked up. This sounded like a chance to see the Northern
Lights at last - and my imagination started wandering off into the realms
of armoured polar bears from the Philip Pullman books. However, such
wild fantasies were quickly reigned in by the information that this wouldn't
be about sledging across the Polar Sea. Even so, I was very interested.
In May of 2005, the Friends held an information day at Scott Polar, where
our leader-to-be, Sid, told us that the fitter we were in advance of the
event, the more we would enjoy it. He also made it clear we would be really
looking after the dogs, which was somewhat daunting, and that we would be
living out in the Arctic - perhaps even camping. This sounded so exciting.
Whilst I love the Antarctic, I had something of a feeling that the ship-based
visits I'd made there had left me "on the edge" of the continent, and this was
a chance to actually get out in the middle, to be "in the landscape".
I was in!
Note: All the pictures have a caption, which will show up when the
mouse is hovered over the picture. On all the other pages,
clicking on a picture will take you to a larger version.
When, at the start of the week, we'd been told we wouldn't be camping, I was
really disappointed - but after a couple of nights of in the cabins, I was
perfectly glad that we didn't have to do anything harder, in terms of getting
ourselves warm and dry, at the end of a long day. Mind you, I now think I'm
familiar enough with the conditions that I could cope with camping if I ever
went dog sledging again. Anyway, as the photos and stories above show, I
certainly achieved my primary objective of getting out into the Arctic
landscape.
The final objective of the trip was to raise the profile of, and funds for,
the Friends of the Scott Polar Research Institute. There will be another Friends of SPRI Dog Sledge in 2007. If you are interested in joining, there are still a few places available and you can apply via the SPRI Friends website.
