D64 (5) 13 March 2016

Conrad: 30 kilometres in the rain!

We were royally looked after in the hostel last night, which even had a sauna. I asked the owner if she knew anything about a private hut 40 kilometres north and she said she had sold the hut owner a moose hunting dog! I had not found any information on the web or asking around. She telephoned the hut owner and also asked if she knew about an emergency cabin at the 30km point. We were told it was very basic, but open. We started skiing uphill at 0830 in the drizzle and as the day progressed the rain increased!! Rain and plus 3C in mid-March... Crazy! We were soon soaked and the visibility declined. The saving grace was that we were on a marked skidoo track. Skies glide with a film of water under them, so the rain worked to our advantage and we managed 4kph; our fastest time yet. Ian enjoyed the glide though neither enjoyed the miserable weather. Eventually after 7 1/2 hours we spotted the hut and skied over. Totally brilliant... 2 proper beds, about 7 foot X 12 foot, a stove, plenty of wood and a couple of pans plus 2 stools. We cleared snow from a window and in no time had it blisteringly hot with all the clothes drying quickly. It was like heaven, as it would have been so miserable camping. We both really felt like we had made progress today despite being tired.