Expedition Recipes - Tent Ice Cream

I love ice cream and make my own, even on journeys when it's usually a rest day treat.

Gary's Tent Ice Cream Recipe

1. Mix one litre of water into one cup of powdered milk
2. Add vanilla sugar
3. Add dehydrated fruit
4. Mix the concoction
5. Leave outside your tent or house if you live in the Arctic. The next best thing is to place it inside your freezer.

The trick is to stir the creamy mixture often. The fun part is to add whatever takes your ice cream flavour fancy.

If you’d like to try this yourself you might want to do what I do and use bagged frozen fruit. Reason being it's already been washed and there are no stalks, skins or peelings. Before journeys I use my UK Juicers food dehydrator on the fruit first. If I am at home, I just add the frozen fruit to the recipe.

I make biscuit treats for my dogs by adding hydrated dog kibble to seal blubber before spreading the mixture flat into a tin and freezing. Once set, I tap the tray and the treats fall out like peanut brittle, much to the delight of my dogs. Spitz especially loves these frozen biscuits.

Where I live the temperature is below freezing for 280 days of the year, splendid tent ice cream and frozen dog biscuit making conditions.

For more information about Gary and his dogs go to http://www.garyrolfe.com/

From Pen To Chain

The traditional way of rearing puppies in Greenland is to have them out all the time, running loose in public with the dam, dodging snowmobiles and getting up to goodness-knows-what until they reach six months old. I worry too much so choose to rear my puppies in a pen, that way they remain safe close to home. Later on a pen creates a secure environment where I oversee the weaning process and early stages of puppy training development the way I want it. With plenty of attention my puppies are happy, confident and healthy before venturing out of the pen after their first vaccine injections. After walks and runs the pen becomes a haven they know as home.

Utilising pens in the Arctic is not an easy option. Our winters are nine months long and it takes a lot of graft to keep a puppy pen relatively empty of snow. When the pen behind my house is empty of puppies it still has to be cleared because Girly will be in heat soon and Stunner will have her first, probably before she’s nine months old. The pen enables me to isolate and protect bitches in heat from un-chaperoned suitors.

So, what happens when puppies reach six months of age? At six months old all puppies into adulthood must be chained when not working. That is Greenlandic law.

My puppies are now six months old. Blimey weighed in at 33.3 kg, Max 31.3 kg, Proper 28.8 kg and Stunner 24.3 kg. It is now time for change in their lives. Blimey and Max were the first to experience the stakeout chain on the riverbank. I gave the puppies seal bones to occupy and distract before clipping on Stunner and Proper.

From Pen to Chain from Gary Rolfe on Vimeo.

This first stakeout experience lasted half-an-hour before I put the puppies back into the pen. The following day I repeated the process but lengthened the time. Tails were down for a while but they soon flipped back up to their scythe-like curl that I love so much. With each litter I take about 10 days build-up before making the transition from pen to chain final. This method of tethering dogs safely is also the one used to secure them overnight during journeys or hunting forays.

In the film you can see my adult dogs below on the frozen river. Before going out on conditioning runs with my adult dogs I let all the puppies loose. At that they rush down, weave, nuzzle and play with the adults. All family. Only next winter will these puppies be put in harness for the first time. For now they run loose ahead, behind and in between my adults out on runs.

For more information about Gary and his dogs go to http://www.garyrolfe.com/

Polar Bear Invasion

Practically every day of the year in Ittoqqortoormiit someone has a bear sighting to talk about. Today my puppies Blimey, Proper, Stunner and Max have asked me to let you know that they came across their first ever polar bear tracks. And there's more.

Last Saturday 12 polar bears were seen locally, four were seen the following Friday. Two were shot for fresh meat, which was good. Three more bears were seen today. They presented themselves as decent rifle shots 150 metres from Ittoqqortoormiit houses. Barking dog teams kept the bears at bay and no bears were shot because this was a sow with cubs. Big cubs. Polar bear cubs stay with their mother for between two and three years to learn the art of killing.

We get lots of polar bears here. Sometimes it gets to the point where it's like looking at cows in a field. A friend commented it would be nice to see something different for a change. Maybe a unicorn. I suggested a dragon. Or a pretty mermaid would be nice.

Next time you read polar bears are in danger of becoming extinct, I have some advice: guffaw, ignore and turn the page.

My blog videos are shot using a Panasonic NV-GS500 and edited on my Panasonic Toughbook, the ultimate rugged laptop. Stills are taken using a Panasonic Lumix DMC-L1.

For more information about Gary and his dogs go to http://www.garyrolfe.com/

Rab Q&A

Rab make the best clothing for extreme conditions worldwide, that is why I choose to wear it. You might like to read my recent interview posted on Rab's new website.

For more information about Gary and his dogs go to http://www.garyrolfe.com/

Pulling Dog Teeth Long Since Outlawed

It used to be Greenlandic law that dog drivers had to remove molars and dull the points of, or extract, canine teeth of their dogs. But the law has long been abolished so I was surprised when a poster was displayed hitting the forbidden practice home. I don't know anyone who does this and couldn't understand why anyone would still need to be told.

Greenlandic subsistence hunters depend on dog teams in order to hunt fresh meat for their families. The dogs here are not pets but they are well socialised. It has not always been that way. Dog attacks on people, especially children, resulting in deformity and occasional deaths were not uncommon in days long gone.

For more information about Gary and his dogs go to http://www.garyrolfe.com/

Puppies' First Training Run

Until they are at least one year old, running loose with my harnessed dogs is the first stage puppies Blimey, Max, Stunner and Proper make before they are put in harness for the first time. They loved it.

Six months ago the puppies were not so active.

For more information about Gary and his dogs go to http://www.garyrolfe.com/

Mettle's Resting Place

Yesterday I went up high to find a nice place for Mettle. I found it and worked hard for the rest of the day to build a pile of rocks.

Today was cold, bright and the sky was blue. It was the sort of day that used to make Mettle’s deep coat look as glorious as a king’s magnificent ermine robe.

On to a little sled I draped a clean tarp and carefully rested Mettle on to it. I covered him over and lashed him down before pulling him to the chosen place. My dogs looked different, they knew what was happening and began a slow, mournful howl.

Puppies Blimey, Stunner, Max and Proper came with me to help bury Mettle. When I carefully placed him on his final resting place I put foam under his body and head to keep him comfortable. It was at that point I thought of all the ways man has tried to bring back the dead. I desperately wanted Mettle back. I stroked him and said goodbye before carefully building a rock cairn over him.

I was glad for the puppies to be with me. Life goes on.

I composed myself in the afternoon well enough to go for a little run with my dogs. This was our salute to Mettle.

For more information about Gary and his dogs go to http://www.garyrolfe.com/