24 Feb, 2005 – 23:58

GPS-pos: N67°37′ | E156°18′ | Alt: 9 M

-49°F, overcast and we’ve made our way into a empty, freezing cold and messy log cabin at N 67°37’32.8 and E 156°18’52.0. We’ve put 27 km:s behind us during 2 days and it is Thursday the 24th of February today.

The time is getting close to midnight. We’re both coughing badly, the cold is still there, and we’ve got headaches, some fever and eyes are sore. This is the second night in a row that we’ve occupied a temporarily abandoned hunting log cabin, where the heating stove is beyond belief crappy. We’ve worked like demons, since we arrived here at 2.30 p.m. today, trying to get the heat up. When we started, the indoor temperature was -36°F. Right now, 8 hours later, it’s only -29°F! Last night, having put in the same amount of work, even though we fed the stove with firewood every hour, we didn’t get the temperature above 12°F. We hardly got any sleep at all. The problem is, except this extreme cold at all, is that these last two, half ruined, logcabins are too big and the ceiling far too high. Plus that the stove’s been letting through large amounts of smoke all the time. Which is far from healthy, but still a better choice than sleeping in the tent at -49°F temperatures!

So those of you who’s of the opinion that it’s far easier to stay over in abandoned logcabins are wrong, compared to sleeping in the tent, but, sure, it’s warmer! Most of the time. But, yes, the positive aspects are many. (These past two nights apart) We save fuel, you rest far better, you recover quicker, clothes dry out properly, we can listen to BBC World Service on the short-wave and it is far easier to do repairs. However, using abandoned logcabins is only for people who know the ways of the forest, the taiga. Since there’s no firewood ready when we arrive at an abandoned, and in general, extremely dirty logcabin, it takes us 3-4 hours to find the right type of firewood, get this wet wood to burn and make a lasting fire out of it. And before we’ve melted snow for a warming cup of coffee, we’re cold to the bone, since we’ve hanged all clothes up for drying. But every second after that, is pure joy! At least until 6 a.m. when the alarmclock on the Ipaq wakes us up. And every second hour during the night when we have to feed the stove with more firewood.

We’re 3 weeks behind schedule and the going is getting tougher by the day. I have a feeling it will take quite some time to reach Kolymskaya. We’ve lost far too much power during this unnecessary spell of disease and every day is one log slog. I have no idea where it all will end up, but at least we’re moving. And, I look forward to the morning we will wake up, check the thermometer on the pulk and see the temperature have risen above -31°F. I am thoroughly fed up with this everlasting extreme cold.