News and reviews

One of my last trips out of the UK before Covid-19 restrictions came into force was back in February to Norway. I went to the beautiful Dovrefjell National Park looking for Musk Ox during the winter conditions that these mountain ranges are famous for. I have been to these beautiful mountains before looking for Musk Ox during the Autumn and it was tough going then with a hell of a lot of walking involved, to not only to get up to the mountain tops but to find the elusive Musk Ox too. So, I was under no illusion on how difficult this trip would be during these winter conditions. Over the years I have put together some ambitious trips for Natures Images, but I had a feeling this was going to be the toughest yet. Not only did we have to get up the Mountains with all our equipment, but we had also planned to camp up there for three nights too.
Now I had a very able co-guide down to help me run this trip in the form of Des Ong. Des had been up at this time of the year many times and had assured me it could be done. So, with confidence we put a trip together and attracted some equally as adventurous souls to join us. The only problem we had was leading up to the trip Des became unwell and was unable to join us. So, although I had been before I was running a little blind because of certain aspects of the trip. Camping was no problem as I had done plenty of winter camping before and I knew we were working with some great local guys on the ground that would keep us safe with logistics and help tremendously with our aim of seeing Musk Ox. Des had briefed me well on all aspects of what people needed to bring. The problem I had was not knowing the finer details which is why I like to run things a few times so then I 100% know what to expect.

Now I know from experience that it is a long way to walk to get to the area that the Musk Ox are likely to be during the winter. They cannot dig out snow to get to their food source like Reindeer or Bison, so they can only be found in areas that have high winds which keep the snow coverage down (which means high ground). So, it takes a great effort to get all your camera gear, camping equipment and food up to the area you want to base your camp. To make life easy we hired some dog sled teams to take us up. At this point I will say I have never been dog sledding before and so this was the area I was not sure about. We got to our rendezvous spot and the dogs and mushers were already there. It was chaos with all the noise of the dogs as they get so excited about going out, there must have been 60 dogs so you can imagine the noise. The first question we get asked is have we been dog sledding before, everyone answered NO.
So, they need someone to drive one of the sleds and dogs, I look around and we are not getting many takers, so I had to volunteer. It cannot be that hard I thought, and I was given a brief instruction on how to stop if I needed too. Anyway my attention span is not the greatest at the best of times and to be honest I was more amused by my friend Nigel Spencer who was going to be my passenger on the sled and he was already zipped up and in place with just his head showing and then one of the dogs made a beeline for him and started licking his face (it’s funny because Nigel doesn’t like Dogs at the best of times). Anyway, it is still chaos with all the noise of the dogs, and they kept crossing each other getting tangled, poor things just wanted to run. If you have ever been dog sledding before you will know what I mean.

Anyway, we eventually get moving and the first few minutes are great, nice pace, seems pretty steady. Then we go up a slight incline and the dogs stop. I have to start running to get them moving, great off we go again, then they stop again, I get off and run again and again we start moving, and so on and so on and so on. After fifteen minutes of this I am absolutely exhausted and with all my winter gear on I am burning up, I am trying to hold on and strip off at the same time. I think the dogs now know they have a muppet as a driver and are now doing it on purpose. I think Nigel is now having the last laugh. Anyway, after that difficult start it starts to get a bit flatter and over even ground. The dogs are now in complete control and I am starting to cool down, get my breath back and enjoy the ride. I have to say it is one of the best experiences that you can do.
So, we finally get to our base camp and are now in position to look for the Musk Ox. It is on foot from here on in, but we have put ourselves in a position to find them without too much effort. I think Musk Ox are one of the most beautiful animals to be found in the Arctic and without doubt one of the best places to see them is in the Dovre Mountains. It was amazing to finally find them and start taking images of this prehistoric mammal. Camping in the mountains was pretty comfortable, especially once you were in your tent and sleeping bag. The hardest part was going out in the middle of the night to go to the toilet, it is hard work when it is minus -20. We also got caught out by a blizzard one day and had to spend about 18 hours in the tent which was hard work. I would have loved to have ventured out in these conditions as that is what photographers want but it was just too hard, and you could hardly see ten metres in front of you. I think it was all worth the effort to just to get the chance to see the Musk Ox. If I am brutally honest with you though which I usually am regarding my work I thought, we could have done better with better conditions and certainly better light. Sometimes it is good to have this feeling of not being satisfied as I am definitely looking at going back and I know the guys with me thought so too.
I think all the guys that were on the trip with me deserve a huge pat on the back, it was hard going especially the long walk back (next time we will use the dogs to get us home too). Take a bow Nigel, Pete, Steve, Michael, and Nigel, what an adventure, what an experience.