The Necessities - Part 1
There is one fact of life that all parents know. Some choose to keep it to themselves, some choose to tell their kids and others, like Chelsey’s mom and dad, do something about it.
On November 24 the family sat down to Sunday supper and Chelsey found an envelope on her plate. Inside was a Christmas card and inside the card was a folded piece of paper. Chelsey opened it up to find a hand written gift certificate that said;
“Good for one trip to anywhere you want to go on the Christmas break.”
Mom explained that most kids never get to see the world. They graduate from school and soon they have car loans, student loans to repay and rent. They work to survive and rarely have the money to travel. Mom and dad wanted Chelsey to get the chance to go somewhere that she had always wanted to and they were offering to pay as their Christmas gift to her.
Chelsey immediately started to research destinations and tour packages and in her browsing she came across a Canadian company called Wild Woman Expeditions, WWE for short. She liked the name and read further. She found out that they were a company run by women for women exclusively. They offered many tours all over the world but one in particular appealed to Chelsey.
As a person who likes to push herself to her limits Chelsey was keen on a package they offered called The Extreme Winter Challenge. It was a week of outdoor winter activities that would test her strength and stamina. WWE operated several locations across Canada and this outing was offered at their site near Sudbury, a remote city in Northern Ontario.
Chelsey did some more research and found that Sudbury was one of the snowiest places in Canada and that during the Christmas break the temperatures often plunged to -20F at night and didn’t get much above 0F during the day. The activities themselves were strenuous but would be even more so when dressed to cope with weather like that.
The description of the week’s agenda was intimidating at first but the more she looked at it the ore she wanted to try it as a test of her abilities and strength. Chelsey at 20 years old had many years of athletic success but never had she tried any sort of endurance sports and this seemed to be a good place to start.
After discussing it with mom and dad she got their blessing and then she contacted WWE. She made a reservation and WWE emailed her a list of the necessities that she would need to bring. It wasn’t very much but it was very specific. Each item had to meet the requirements exactly and they assured her that upon arriving her gear would be inspected.
For the next few days Chelsey ran around town to various outfitters looking for things such as thermal underwear, a down filled parka, snow pants and winter boots. Most of it was not available in stock and had to be ordered but by the time she was ready to leave she had it all. When the time came she took a flight to Toronto and then transferred to a smaller plane to go to Sudbury.
The Sudbury Airport was in the middle of nowhere miles outside of the city but by chance it was only a half hour drive by taxi to the gathering point, a clearing in the woods down a single lane side road, where the participants were to meet. Chelsey was the first to arrive and the cab driver courteously waited with her until someone else showed up. Within half an hour six other women had been dropped off and were waiting.
Before too much conversation could take place a big red pick-up truck pulled into the lot and two women got out. The small grey haired one identified herself as Leslie, the operator of the tour, and she introduced the taller dark haired woman as Marilyn, her assistant.
As promised the two women did a quick inspection of everyone’s gear and were satisfied that the participants had what they needed. ‘We may seem fussy about your stuff’ said Leslie ‘but you need to have the necessities to survive and anything less will reduce your chances of making it to the end.’
Marilyn dropped the tailgate of the truck and started to haul out pairs of snowshoes. After a quick lesson in how to put them on and how to walk properly with them the group picked up their packs and set out for the compound.
Each woman had to carry what she had brought on a two hour walk in snow that was three feet deep. Even with snowshoes it was an effort and Chelsey soon understood why you didn’t bring anything more than what you needed, just the “necessities” Leslie had said.
Eventually the group were at the top of a small hill overlooking the compound. It was almost exactly as Chelsey remembered from her research. In the center was a large building that had the dining area on one side, sleeping accommodations for twenty on the other and in the middle was the kitchen. To the right of the main building were a few sheds for the storage of equipment and a parking lot in which the red truck was parked.
The women all groaned when they saw the truck and knew that they could have driven all the way in rather than walking. They realized that this hike had been their first challenge. Off to the left side was a long narrow building with a fenced compound that Chelsey didn’t recognize from the map she had studied. The sound of dogs barking rang through the clear cold air.
‘Well I suppose that sound ruins the surprise’ said Leslie ‘there is a small change in the itinerary that we didn’t tell you about. In addition to all of the other activities we have planned for you there will be a day of dog sledding.’
A shiver ran through Chelsey. She had always had a weird relationship with dogs. As a person who loves cats she knew that the tension between cats and dogs was greatly exaggerated and they often get along fine. It was her own experience that made her uneasy because it seemed that whenever she was around dogs they always behaved strangely.
As the group trudged down the hill the barking increased and the dogs could be seen lined up along the fence studying the group. ‘You girls are getting quite the welcome from our furry friends’ said Leslie ‘they are usually excited to see us but today for some reason they are more vocal than usual.’ She laughed as she added ‘You would almost think they had seen a cat!’
***
They took off their snowshoes and entered the main building. There were benches to sit on and remove their boots and long steel spikes pounded into the walls of the log building to hang coats and hats on. A warm welcoming fire was roaring in the huge fireplace and on either side were racks where mitts and scarfs could be put to dry out.
Marilyn told them to put their packs in the corridor to the bedrooms, sleeping accommodations would be sorted out later but first it was time for lunch. Steaming bowls of chicken noodle soup were accompanied by loaves of fresh baked bread, raw vegetables and thick slices of cheese. Leslie explained as they ate that each item had the high calorie content that was necessary to keep a body warm in cold conditions and encouraged everyone to ‘put a lot of butter on your bread, no one will get fat here this week.’
After lunch they were back outside and shown how to maintain the snowshoes before putting them away. Then they had a lesson in how to set up and drive a dog sled. Marilyn brought a sled out of one of the sheds and Leslie disappeared into another. The roar of a motor startled the women.
Leslie appeared driving a big four wheeler ATV. She shut it off in front of them and explained ‘We are going to get used to the sleds by pulling them with this first before we try it with dogs. They are very clever and if they sense that you don’t have firm control they will take off on you.’
Marilyn and Leslie showed them how to attach the dogs to the traces, how stand on the sled and how to apply the brakes but most important was that at all times they had to let the dogs know who was in charge. They was to be no begging, bargaining or negotiating as people did with their pets. These animals had to be verbally bullied and physically intimidated to keep them in line.
The rest of the afternoon was spent riding the sled behind the ATV getting a feel for how it slid and swayed. Each woman took a turn as a passenger and a driver. Even when you were a rider it was important to know how to lean to assist the driver in turning without tipping.
This far north it gets dark before 6PM and they were back in the lodge shortly after six warming up by the fire. They had been pampered at lunch by Marilyn but the pampering was over. They all crowded into the kitchen and prepared spaghetti and meatballs, broccoli salad and garlic bread for supper.
After the supper time cleanup there was finally time for the women to be social and get to know their fellow adventurers. As it turned out Chelsey was the only traveler, all of the others were local women. They took turns introducing themselves over mugs of hot cocoa and bowls of popcorn made in a cast iron kettle on the fire.