It was was a rough weekend last weekend with gale force winds, but at least for the majority of time it was sunny.
Myself and Kelly did a couple of tours out with the snowmobile.
And on Sunday morning we took a long early morning stroll.
At my work, we are now all trying to support our local nursing staff by making visors
And face masks made from vacuum cleaner bags.
Many shops and companies here in Gällivare are providing the materials we need for free and we are very grateful to them.
We completed the quinzee as planned last weekend.
And Kelly was very pleased with the end result.
Conditions are perfect now for driving the snowmobile, so I was out on a long tour on Sunday.
My neighbour has a cabin and I also visited that to see what it looks like.
I also found sign in the snow that Capercaillies have started displaying. You can see in this picture where it has dragged its wingtips in the snow as it displayed.
I have been busy making handles for neck knives.
Kelly asked me if we (which really means l) could build a snow shelter in the garden, so I said that we could build a quinzee.
I began by pressing down the snow in the area where I planned to build the quinzee.
Then I heaped up the snow from around the area and used a shovel to press and shape the snow.
At this point I had to wait a couple of hours for the snow to freeze so the I could hollow out the quinzee.
I went into the shed to put the shovel back and noticed that the roof joists we bowed like a banana. This was due to the weight of snow on the roof. So I had to grab a ladder and the shovel and climb onto the roof and start shovelling away the snow., which was very compacted and over a metre deep (I had already cleared away the snow once earlier in the winter).
Unfortunately I hurt my back while clearing the snow and so was unable to complete the quinzee. Hopefully we can finish it next weekend.
I was out at 6am on Saturday morning for a long walk. I did not need skis because I could walk along snowmobile trails.
Even at 6am I could feel warmth from the sun.
There were many Willow Grouse tracks in the forest
Here a Willow Grouse has climbed up a steep slope and flapped it’s wings to help it get up.
And it seems to be a very good year for Arctic Hare as there were many tracks.
Here’s a view of our house as I returned home.
Later the same day I took a long tour with Kelly on the snowmobile.
On Sunday it was Emmas birthday so we spent time with friends and family.
On Sunday I took a tour with the skis
Up the hill behind our house.
Still impressed with how the Skinbased skis hold me up on the deep snow.
Really enjoyed my trip out.
I have bought my first Garphyttan product, the Fixar insulated jacket and I am very pleased with it. Warm and well made.
Well done Johan and Jacob Skullman who own the company and design the products.
My new Skinbased skis arrived on Friday, only three days after I had ordered them which is amazing considering how bad The Swedish postal service is.
It was a lovely sunny day on Saturday. I was out early to test my skis and they performed very well. The snow is over a metre deep but the skis did not sink much at all.
Later the same day I attached the skis to my snowmobile
And headed off on a long tour
I found a nice spot to stop and make lunch. I put my skis on and trampled down the snow
Then a dug out a hole in the snow and cut a pole to sit on.
I made a fire in the hole
And cooked coffee and fried sausages
The sun was already getting low in the horizon by the time I drove home.
Last Saturday I visited a friend who lives 1 hour from where I live.
We had planned a day trip out in the forest. Harold had packed a sled to take with us and I had a small rucksack with food.
I was planning to use snowshoes but Harold insisted that I borrow a pair of Finnish hunter skis to try made by a company called Skinbased.
https://www.skinbased.com/skis
We skid for a couple of kilometres and then found a nice spot to make camp.
We dug a hole in the snow where we could make fire and cut some poles to make a bench along one side of the hole. We covered the poles with Reindeer skins.
We spent time chatting, drinking whisky and cooking food. Our food included: sprambled eggs, grilled Moose heart, sausages and coffee.
I was very impressed with the skis and will order a pair of WAP 127 skis which are a combination of a ski and snowshoe.
