Day 49, 23 February 2016

Good luck on our side

Really enjoyable night in the cabin with 4 middle aged Norwegians who shared their "old Danish herb alcohol" and chocolate cake with cream topping and ski logo serviettes, with little Norwegian flags stuck in the top. The Norwegians have a wonderful sense of tradition and respect for occasions. The 4 have been skiing together for over 20 years. After a challenging day yesterday, we set off on a lone skidoo track and the skiing was fantastic with a really fast glide. We were going through willow scrub and came across wolverine tracks. We ate up the kilometres. Eventually the skidoo track veered off, and we were on our own, trying to locate summer markers. The valley area was a maze of eskers, moraines, trees and VERY deep powder snow. When you found the track it was a perfect dream ... And when you lost the track it became a nightmare! Fortunately, we only floundered for about 500 metres; then we suddenly spotted cut branches between trees that was an obvious track that led down to a tiny bridge spanning a huge gorge. How lucky were we to find this crossing point? The rest of the day was mainly on forest tracks that were mega good for gliding along. The ski pole repair held up, but I plan to buy a new pole as it is not good on ice.