Finnmarksløpet

Just when the world seemed to be in a tumultuous mess dreading that the snow will never come!....Snowfall, and the world rested with silent content :)

In our ambition we took the guests out on the sleds for the first time this season and it was a success! One of my favorite parts of the first snow are the dogs; the night/day before they seem to sense it and you can feel their pent up excitement with the knowledge that winter is coming and you yourself get butterflies of joy.

Time to dust off the sleds!!!!

 Unfortunately the snow fall was followed by rainfall the next day, stripping and hardening the land so we have closed until the weather has figured out what it wants to do. And the gods hear our cries as we woke to snowfall this morning and it is still coming down in large fluffy flakes.

Something else hit me yesterday...I have not seen the sun in over a week I think? If the clouds are absent, in the late morning you can see a hint of what is assumed to be sunlight grazing the peaks for just a few hours. Early darkness was hard to get used to but now no sun is even weirder!

Ishvonel and Nanuk :)

I regret to say that there are no great stories to recount for this post except for the snow and the continual sting that still lingers in my gut -_- ....In order to make this post worth your read, I will talk about the World's Northernmost Sleddog race: Finnmarksløpet.

Finnmarksløpet takes place right here in the north of Norway and is the longest sleddog race in Europe of a total distance of 1,100km (where the Iditarod distances a little over 1,600 km).  The race starts in Alta and runs to Kirkenes which kisses the Russian boarder and then back to Alta.

Race Map 

There are three classes that can be run for the race: Junior 6-dog class, 8-dog class and 14-dog class. All classes start and finish in Alta varying in route and distance. On the map about the junior route is in green, 8-dog in yellow and 14-dog in black.

There can be up to 180 entries for the race. 180 entries!!!! Imagine all the chaos of dogs and people scrambling to get ready for the big start only to rush into the solitude running across Finnmark where man and beast test their skills and mental strength.

The race starts the second Saturday in March and the leading mushing arrives back in Alta within 7 days.

Thomas (the musher I am living with) has run this race multiple times and last night I was told stories of the trials out on the trail. I  honestly do not know if I could be brave enough to run such a long distance race out in the elements hallucinating in the chill of the winter and never getting sleep.

 Thinking of every musher that has crossed that finish line or the finish line in Nome, Alaska I almost cried with content. The pride and fulfillment these mushers must feel after completing the ultimate journey with their dogs is probably a feeling like none other in the world; a special one reserved for those brave enough to test themselves and their team in the last great races on Earth.

I cannot wait for the day that I get to be waiting in Nome to watch Sofia cross that finish line. It will be a glorious day indeed :)

Cheers to you my little Wild one!