Wk 12 Giitu!
Location: 67º83'N 20º61'E
Jukkasjärvi, Sápmi, Sweden
Weather Conditions: Sunshine, 36°F (2°C)
Tack so mycket! Kiitoksia! Tusen takk! A thousand thanks! With the help of people throughout Sápmi - Arctic Sweden, Finland and Norway- on Wednesday evening the two teams of sixteen Polar Huskies pulled onto the boat ramp at Torneträsk Lake in Sweden, the final destination for Gonorth! Fennoscandia 2008. On the shore waving and greeting us was Kalle from Fjellborg Husky Kennel. In early March, some 800 miles earlier, Kalle was on his dogteam waving us off as we set out from Kenth and Ann Fjellborg's kennel in Jukkasjärvi! Watching the waving speck getting larger and larger in the silver light, the Polar Huskies were caught in the wave of excitement bursting into a high-speed-cruise. Hanging on to the handlebar, Aaron turned to Mille with a grin: "it's always really special when someone is waiting!!" | ||||||||||||||||||
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| With hugs and excitement upon reaching our final destination, the sleds, Polar Huskies, gear and team members were loaded onto the Fjellborg Kennel's dog truck. Kalle drove us the last 60-some kilometers (about 40 miles) back to our starting point in Jukkasjärvi for a delicious Elk-stew, mashed potatoes and ...showers! | |||||||||||||||||
We have decided the following sums up the GoNorth! Fennoscandia 2008 adventure learning expedition: generous kindness bestowed upon us by magnificent people and a tremendous support and involvement with the program. We extend our most heartfelt thank you to all of those that made this year's program a huge success. The heartfelt thank you goes to GoNorth! learners of all ages, teachers, sponsors, partners, friends, family, the entire crew at Education Basecamp and throughout the campus at the University of Minnesota, and most especially, the people of Fennoscandia. Not least those that were waiting, expecting us to come, as well as those that simply opened up their home to 'Team GoNorth!' as we arrived - more often than not, wet and in need of power for our computers :) |
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 | The Polar Huskies thrive in temperatures of minus thirty and forty degrees below freezing (and so do our mukluks, clothing, gear and diets - while our ability to document and report from the trail using fancy technologies is powered primarily by solar panels that don't charge as fast on a snowy day. The scorching temperatures we have experienced from the very beginning and throughout most of the journey, paired with wet and very deep snow, has no doubt been the greatest challenge of this adventure learning expedition. It snowed every day for the first month on the trail! It also rained inches (many centimeters)! And we have had far more days above minus 10˚ Celsius (about 10˚ Fahrenheit) during the day, than we have had below. We even had numerous days above freezing! | |||||||||||||||||
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| But then, these very conditions are exactly what makes this region so unique from the rest of the high Arctic. Aaron explains that the climate here is more moderate than the rest of the high Arctic because of the warm Gulf Stream that flows along the northern coast of Fennoscandia. That is why the tree-line goes so far north and there are so many trees and so much snow! Mille also notes, "This climate and the ecosystems it supports are optimal for the reindeer herders and their reindeer. The reindeer stay protected in the trees of the boreal forest over the winter and climb up high into the mountains slopes of the 'fjells' during late spring and over the summer months." | |||||||||||||||||
That's what we were climbing up and down this last week! After the greatest hour-long downhill run, we made it down into the river valley from last weeks' fjell planes in the Finnish mountains to cross the border into Sweden. Not that there was any signs of the border to be seen. If we had not been looking at the map, the only thing that let us know was that when we would cross the river and signs warning us that 'traveling on the ice is at your own risk' were now in Swedish! Then heading due south, by Monday the flag of the University of Minnesota was waving in high winds at the peak of a mountain in the Kiruna Fjell. "Sweeping vistas seemed to appear every five minutes in the Arctic" writes Wendy in her daily dairy. |  | |||||||||||||||||
One thing about being on those wide-open vistas of tundra with no trees to protect you makes going to the bathroom a windy experience indeed. Wendy writes, "...ahoy, a cabin...I love finding these treasures... We actually had a real bathroom with a Styrofoam seat, a real luxury out on the trail!" She continues, "Enjoying our tea and ruminating on the day's travel (over 40k!) we heard a knock. It was two snowmobilers-Sámi reindeer herders!" |
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 | Veronica and Niels Erik were out with a group working on the details of a customer trip they are planning to offer with Nutti Sápmi Journeys beginning next winter. You basically run a dogsled, but instead of by huskies, it is pulled by a reindeer! "The guide will have two reindeer (that push one another to go faster) to lead the group," explained Niels Erik. Asking about life and everyday living in this region, Wendy asked Niels Erik if he goes out much in Kiruna or what he likes to do to have some fun!? "This is my fun. I like to be out here most." answered Niels Erik with not a second hesitation. He went on to talk about how they sometimes herd upwards of 15,000 reindeer using ATV's and dirt bikes; how they fly in helicopters to a mountain peak to get some 'stubborn' reindeer to come down to join the herd;' and about the time when he was out by snow mobile on the land with a few other reindeer herders having rounded up about 3000 reindeers. The animals were following each other in a long narrow line snaking through the mountain landscape, the sky looked to be on fire from the sun as the air was thick with the breath of the reindeer. It looked as if it was painted red hanging in the ice crystals above their heads. | |||||||||||||||||
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| That was our last night on the trail, and on this last day we descended the mountains. "I skied alongside the sled again today, and we had some real doozies of down-hills! Some of the tracks even had power-line poles right in the middle, making for an interesting game of 'Dodging the Obstacle.' One particularly crazy downhill had me brushing over small trees on the right side, and one tree even ripped off my cap, which we had to go back to retrieve!" writes Wendy. Back in the trees! Over the course of that last day we went from the vast white expanses of the tundra in the Kiruna Fjell, winding our way down into the birch forest which then slowly turned into a landscape of wetlands and pine trees - the land of the boreal forest. Paul commented "It was pretty spectacular really. To run through all these different Arctic landscapes in just one day!" | |||||||||||||||||
You may remember when first arriving in Sápmi, Mille had thoughts about how it would be for her to travel in this region 'so close to home.' This was a great question asked to her by a student during the second chat of the program. "Well, I have to say I am astonished," says Mille, "and a bit embarrassed actually. I had no idea that within such a short distance of where I grew up is this stunning Arctic nature that I very much live to experience with my Polar Huskies and learners around the world. Its right here basically in my own backyard! I guess I urge you all to take a close look at your 'backyards'!" she grins. |  | |||||||||||||||||
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| Speaking of chats, join this week's chat on Friday, May 2 at 1 PM CST to talk about Climate Chaos with meteorologist Dan Dix from The Weather Channel. It is not only the last chat, but Dan is simply fantastic at fielding questions on this topic. Maybe one of you can ask him to explain this connection between the 'moderating effect of the Gulf Stream' and the weather and climate here in Fennoscandia!? | |||||||||||||||||
No doubt though, Wendy wins as to who have received the most personal 'Send-a-Notes' proportionally in her time on this expedition... maybe ever!!! By now, Wendy is back in California reporting balmy 80+ degree weather in her neighborhood of the world. Wendy and Aaron departed Kiruna, Sweden for their hometowns in respectively California and Minnesota at 6 AM Thursday morning. "It was a hasty departure considering we just came off the trail less than 12 hours earlier" says Aaron. "There was lots more I would have loved to see, like the Ice Hotel that Paul and Mille reported on back in Week 5. It is now just closing up for the season, and also I would have loved time to learn more about the geothermal energy solutions that are used to heat more than 90% of the homes here, including where we were staying with Kenth and Ann Fjellborg!" |
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| Paul, Mille and the Polar Huskies are still at the Fjellborg Husky Kennel busy wrapping up everything (click here to watch the NBC KARE 11 interview the team did live on Thursday) and working on getting the Polar Huskies back to the United States. "It is a bit of a journey that is yet ahead of us," says Paul. World-renown trotting trainer Preben Kjœrsgaaard, who so kindly jumped in the last minute to help us out getting to the expedition starting point as we told you in Week 4, was all set to take-off Saturday morning to pick us all up bringing us back to the airport in Stockholm, Sweden for our flight back to the United States. | |||||||||||||||||
However, Friday afternoon we were informed by Scandinavian Airlines that they will not allow the Polar Huskies to board the return flight in the same dog crates as they arrived to Sweden in!? After some turmoil and discussion, our savior, Ylva, at Scandinavian Airlines decided that the airline will cover the cost to built the wooden boxes that they are insisting are necessary for the Polar Huskies to be allowed to fly out of Sweden. The trick is that each box is literally hand-built specifically for each Polar Husky! Measuring tape in hand, Mille and Paul got very busy sizing up each Polar Husky: measuring from tip-of-the-ear to paw, from base-of-the-tail to snout-tip, across the shoulder width, and from elbow to paw. We are now awaiting an answer from the airline on how long it will take to build these sixteen boxes! But, we sure hope to be on our way on the some 15-hour drive to Stockholm within a few days and able to load the Polar Huskies on a plane taking them to Chicago by the end of the week. From there the Polar Huskies will jump back in their boxes on the dog truck for the drive back to Expedition Basecamp for the summer. While Mille is actually set to wave the Polar Huskies off in Stockholm as she then heads for Chukotka to visit schools there finishing up some work from last year's expedition, Paul will be journeying back across the ocean and onwards with the Polar Huskies. Stay tuned for the last Beacon Blog this upcoming Thursday for an update! |
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 | Wrapping up this year's last report from the trail, we once again thank you to all of you who make GoNorth! a success. A "gutti!" as the Sámi say in Sápmi! We hope you have enjoyed being part of the team as much as we have been enjoying sharing the adventure from those on the trail to the magical moments you have all created in classrooms worldwide and online at PolarHusky.com. Join us for next year's journey, GoNorth! Greenland 2009, to take place in the land of the Greenlandic people and the Polar Inuit people in Greenland - February through May of 2009! | |||||||||||||||||
