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Sutton man rises to Arctic challenge

Tuesday, 02 March 2010

Last month MALACHI SHANKS took part in a seven-day Husky Dog Sledding Challenge across the Arctic Circle in aid of Oxfam’s Africa Appeal. Here, he recounts his adventureWHEN we arrived at the base lodge in a small town called Gargia in Alta, northern Norway, the temperature was -27. It went up and down throughout the week. On our first morning we were introduced to the dogs and them to us. We were assigned specific dogs by our guide Pra-tora, an ex-Norwegian military guy who has done it all, including the North Pole. He can only be described as a cross between Crocodile Dundee and Gladiator. After a very quick demonstration on harnessing and on the sledge we were off. There were 13 teams of dogs in total, three of us for Oxfam, seven for the ISPCA, one medic and assistant guide from the company Across the Divide who organise these events and Pra-tora. I started the trip with five dogs and while I finished with six, they were more or less the same dogs for the whole trip. The dogs need time to get used to you and will let you know if you are not helping, particularly when on an incline or going up a mountain, by all looking back and basically saying get off the bloody sled and help. Eventually you become in tune with them and know what their capabilities are and your own. The further we got from civilisation the more breathtaking the scenery got, just complete white barren wilderness. I've never seen anything like it and you can't appreciate what it is like when you see it on TV. At one point we were crossing a 10-kilometre wide lake, frozen obviously, and it was a complete whiteout, no sky, no horizon, nothing but white. It was a really amazing environment. I never saw any signs of wildlife the whole time apart from when some Reindeer ran through camp one night.    The accommodation was basic but comfortable. Dinner each night was usually reindeer in some shape or form and tasted really good. It was also reindeer for the dogs, except theirs was a hunk of frozen uncooked meat. One particular day we had been going since very early and arrived at our next cabin to find it was full and as darkness descended, we had to re-harness the dogs and carry on for another 10 kilometres across another lake to find another cabin. Several of us had to hike back out to the lake in a blizzard with large drums and a manual drill and drill through the metre thick ice for water. On a typical day we got up between 5.30am and 6am to feed the dogs. Then we had our own breakfast and harnessed up before sledding away until about 2.30pm before it got dark again. Bedtime was usually around 9pm because we were all so tired and there was not much else to do. There were no real injuries to speak of. The Arctic gear we were given was amazing. Both the suits and boots kept us warm and dry. One of the team got some frostbite on the fingers and the rest was sore muscles and blisters. The dogs got the worst of it with cut paws and grazes, but still only minor. I found the dogs absolutely amazing creatures for the job they do in pulling you and your gear up and down mountains in sometimes waist deep snow for days on end. We all became very attached to our dogs in a very short space of time and were in awe at what they do and how they hardly ever went the wrong way. The final day run in was great fun. We came back down through the mountains and forest travelling at 30-35 kilometres per hour, ducking through the trees and negotiating hairpin turns. It was during one of these turns that I managed to smack the sled at full speed into a snow bank. I broke the sled, which resulted in the dogs and myself flying over it. We then found ourselves sledding down a frozen river, which suddenly started to become unfrozen, and there were a few worried faces. It was a truly amazing experience and one that most people will never get to sample but one that I definitely want to do again. I am very glad that I could do this fundraising event for Oxfam Ireland and all their wonderful work abroad, especially their work in Haiti at the moment. I am still fundraising for Oxfam as part of this event and anyone can still make a donation through me or online at mycharity.iemalachishankssevent