Day: 9

It's Cold Again, -30 and Windy

Temperature: -30

Location: Great Slave Lake, NWT

Latitude: 62 deg 5' 10'' N

Longitude: 112deg 25’ 53’’ W

We were a little surprised at how cold it was when we got up this morning. We thought it was about 15 below, but it was 30 below. Since our rest day, we’ve been camped in a sheltered cove, and when I told Eric Dayton that it was 30 below he thought I was kidding him. But it was actually pretty pleasant, at least until we got out in the lake. When we got out on the main part of the lake a south-southeast wind came up and we started getting some high clouds from the west, which is a sign of a change in the weather. And then the wind started blowing in our faces at about 10-15 mph, creating a windchill of about 60-70 below.

Our lunch break was actually a very cold ordeal, as everyone had basically underdressed for the day, thinking it was going to be warm. So we cut the lunch break short. We had a 20 mile crossing on the lake, passing what was about a 100 mile draw for the wind, so we were really in an exposed area. The clouds started thickening and the wind picked up, until we made it to the leeward side, the east side, where we made camp near some hills. Right now it’s pretty calm on the leeward side of the island, but we’re thinking that tomorrow it’s probably going to be pretty cold, and we will probably have an east wind in our face.

The dogs have been running real well, especially since the rest day. We made 20.2 miles today in just under five hours, which is pretty good travel with dogs. We are still pulling a heavy load, about 900 pounds, having used up about 300 pounds since we left Yellowknife. And the dogs are sleeping really well in the deep snow on this leeward side, and we’ll get up real early again tomorrow ready to travel.

We plan to be in the village of Litselk’e Saturday night, two nights from now. It’s 45 miles as the crow flies from our camp, and we will probably put in a little longer day on Saturday if the conditions are right. We’re traveling on a trail right now, so we don’t have to burden the mushers or dogs with commands all day. So the travel is good.