Day 7, 12 Jan 2016

Hardest day yet... By a long way!!

Set of north up to a dam, which was fine despite 1" of new snow. After the dam we tried to take the summer route to avoid the regulated hydro lake. The deep snow in the trees was incredibly hard due to skins not being able to grip to give us purchase. We took skis off and "post holed". No real progress was made; 1 hour for 500 metres. We headed down to lake to check out its condition. The shore line had collapsed about 3 metres due to water regulation and was at times near vertical... We tried to ski along it but it was unstable and hadn't fully settled. We tried going out for a few metres from the shore, but because the ice was made up of many thin layers, water would seep up and make both the sled and skis wet, thereby making the soft snow ball up and stick to the base, impeding forward progress. The ice is only 80 % safe at the moment so we decided not to venture any further out. After 4 1/2 very physical hours we realised we were not making any progress (less than 3km), so made the decision to return. All in all a very full 81/2 hour day as we arrived back at Ljosland in the dark. Rather than repeat the same process tomorrow or wait for the lake to freeze, we have re-attached the wheels to our sleds and will progress to Hovden and pick-up the route where we have been told the lakes are fully frozen.