Minor problems

10 Feb, 2005 – 21:15

GPS-pos: N67°37′ | E155°18′ | Alt: 9 M

-46°F as usual, a freezing southerly wind, some snowdrift

and it is the 10th of February. We’ve done 29 km;s over the

last 2 days. A hunters logcabin called Petrovo at N 67°

37’39.2 and E 155°18’26.4

Johan’s binding broke today again. Same problem as before. Such is life. Life goes on. At least since we have spares with us. This problem have made us change route slightly and we’ve skid to a hunters camp, since we need to get indoors for the glue to stick. We’ve tried to avoid people since we left Srednekolymsk, since it seems they’ve all been hit with a nasty flu. Which is the worst a couple of hypochondriacs like us can hear about! We rather suffer –

46°F sleeping in the tent than getting close to this evil thing!

And, of course, all these trappers were badly hit by the flu. Not good at all! Neither that Johan broke the axe yesterday. But it seems like everything can be solved along the Kolyma. We’ve been given a new axe, lot’s of tasty smoked and dried fish and we’ve once again met a group of great people. Three yakut trappers. One of them have lived on trapping for the last 50 years, manly sobel, the second one tells the most unreliable stories and the third, he is at 16, the youngest trapper we’ve met so far. They’re living in a small logcabin far away from civilization, which they visit a few times every year either to stock up on new supplies or sell their fur. A trader in Srednekolymsk buys a sobelskin for about 12 dollars, but sells it in the capital Yakutsk for 4 times that sum.

Since the circumstances have changed for the better with more daylight and a full sun, we therefore experience far more of the surroundings. For example, today we’ve passed plenty of fresh tracks after caribou and every night delivers the most fantastic northern lights. As you well understands, it is a true privilege to be here, at this exact moment in the history.

As long as we can keep the flu away!