Day 6

Our last day sledding!
I’ve been thinking a lot about my dad over the last few days, standing on a sled by yourself in the middle of nowhere gives you time for that sort of thinking. He would have loved to see all the photos, but I’m sure he’s been with me in spirit. I don’t recommend bursting into tears when it’s -20 though, it freezes.
So, back to today… Breakfast was enlivened by tales of the boys’ sauna and skinny dipping in the not-so-nearby creek. They were very wise not to let the girls know beforehand or Youtube may have crashed. We had a few eventful falls on the route home, I managed to stay on the whole way, including many times when my dogs wished I wouldn’t. The uphills were never ending! I had zero energy left to help them, as even if i’d walked up, I couldn’t have kept a grip on the sled, whuch is vital for when you get to a flatter stretch and the dogs take off. On the subject of (lack of) fitness, the training programme really should just have included “running 20 lengths of the swimming pool while carrying a 15kg weight”.
Anyway, today was Amanda’s day for mishaps. We lost her before we had even left the grounds of the lodge, as her dogs took her on a different route to us. Milos took about 10 minutes to find her and get her back on the right trail! Poor Amanda managed to fall off in 3 or 4 places on the downhills then, which the rest of us avoided by the skin of our teeth. Lorna was the only one lucky enough to see Jennifer dive headfirst off her sled into a snowdrift, but didn’t have a camera handy to capture the legs up in the air pose.
We all got back to Mushers lodge safely,however, in time for a well deserved lunch.
This afternoon we went into Kiruna town for some brief touristy shopping before visiting the Ice Hotel. We toured the various designer sculpture bedrooms, oohing and aahing lots, along with the occasional swear word when we tripped over a random block of ice. The designs for next year’s hotel rooms are being reviewed now, since the current ones will melt into the nearby river before May.
We had a little celebratory party with a cocktail or two in the ice bar. Veey tasty, but at approximately £11 for the first drink and £8 for refills, we didn’t splash out too much.
This evening, we abandoned plans for a night out in favour of some drinks in and a visit to the local co-op for snacks. I stayed up until 9.45pm, since I’ve had a stinking cold all day. Sounds like everyone has called it a night now, since a few are taking their life in their hands with a 2hr skidoo ride in the morning. I’m staying firmly put!

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