Due to 1.5 metres of snow fall over the last day, followed by frequent avalanches, day two of the prags trail was rerouted to a new location giving us a new safe 17km trail.

Deep snow…

Notice the fully grown trees in the back ground, just tree tops show above last night’s avalanche.

follow stage results...

Wednesday, January 21, 2009 9:07:09 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)    Comments [1] 

Getting ready for 1min starts

Out the start shoot….

Pictures taken by Michael Wightwick

Tuesday, January 20, 2009 7:19:24 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)    Comments [1] 

Marte Heilemann won stage two in the 8-dog class before Heini Winter. 
Juan Carlos Quintana jr. won the second stage as well in the 6 dog class.

follow stage results...

Sunday, January 18, 2009 2:54:37 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)    Comments [0] 

View dog pool list

Friday, January 16, 2009 9:30:37 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)    Comments [0] 

Arrived safe and sound in Mustair around 3pm... It took my brother and me sharing driving 30hrs to drive from Yxskaftkalen, Swedan to Mustair… a 1750 mile trip. Tomorrow we have vet check followed by mushers meeting in the evening. I’ll post dog pool laters...

Thursday, January 15, 2009 5:18:47 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)    Comments [0] 

Sadly our training at Axehandle Mountain in Sweden has come to an end. Tomorrow morning we head south to Switzerland for the start of the Alpen Trail 2009 :o)
 
This year, our time with Graham and Bettan has passed so quickly… great memorable times… and many laughs amongst us all… including Tim, Oz and Seaweed… a pleasure to work with as part of the Axehandle Mountain team.
 
With training… we have managed to get a good 600kms on the dogs on snow. But have decided to change entered AT class from eight dog to six dog. I will post laters once in Switzerland the dogs elected for the pool.
 
Happy trails…

Tuesday, January 13, 2009 10:15:56 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)    Comments [0] 

off to the mountains…. today… GK, Barbara, Cathy, John, Tim and I set off to the mountains… a 130km round trip on sled in two days.

Base camp at the mountains is an old style Swedish mountain farm which doubles up as a ranger station. We enjoyed good food in the restaurant along with lots of laughs and retired for the night in fine cabins … wonderful company, superb service and beautiful wild scenery.

In the morning, breakfast and coffee was served before we all embarked on our return trip to Axehandle Mountain.

Early morning in the mountains…

Sheenjek and daughter Storm…

On the way back over the lake…

We arrived back at the dog yard around 3pm on Friday, leading into a warm entertaining evening drinking and eating in the main guest house :o)

Interested in taking up the adventure… please visit the Axehandle Mountain website for details

Thursday, January 08, 2009 10:09:26 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)    Comments [1] 

Yesterday we started with the consistency of the 32km river runs from the Axe Handle Mountain base camp… beautiful wild scenery along with low level sun… while watching a tri moose group running majestically away in front of us on the trail.

Today... going up the river

Heading back to the dog yard into the sun

Well deserved rest after todays run... Chrome looking cute

Sting in the straw

Kia is there somewhere

Sheenjek and daughter Storm 

Monday, December 29, 2008 5:35:04 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)    Comments [0] 

Dogs and I arrived at Axe Handle Mountain in Sweden last night safe and sound around 10PM, just have sore eyes from all that driving!!!

Lots of snow here this year… much more then last year… in our 32km run this morning, we had to break trail for some part of it and at one point, Risk’s body just disappeared beneath the snow… bobbing up and down :o)

More fun to come at Axe Handle Mountain… post more soon!!!

Happy trails.

Tuesday, December 23, 2008 5:14:03 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)    Comments [0] 

Well the time has finally arrived for my trip to Axehandle Mountain in Sweden. I am feeling very excited but also thinking about the long drive I have ahead of me. The dogs are all sleeping at the moment and I know they will all be full of energy on our arrival to the colder climate.

Many thanks to family and good friends for their help and support prior to my journey. Especially the following people: Wife Donna, Mark Alloway, Malcomb Goodwin.

I will be posting regular updates once I have arrived in Sweden.  Cya soon Graham & Betan, have my steak ready :o)

Saturday, December 20, 2008 7:30:48 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)    Comments [0] 

Still it persists to rain here in the UK… making every training run a mud pool :o( I think it’s the wettest November we have had for a long time… guess it’s kind of good for the dogs though, as they have to work very hard to pull the 585lbs quad through the sticky muddy parts of the trail.

Sorry about the blurred pictures!

Sunday, November 30, 2008 7:51:30 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)    Comments [0]