frozen toes: Rifle Training

Today with wind chill it was -32! Needless to say it felt a bit chilly. We walked in to uni with only our eyes showing looking puffed up like birds in winter. I discovered that eyelashes freeze together and feel rather odd, and when I blinked would stick briefly to the fleece scarf up on my cheeks. If your nose isn't covered the inside of that freezes up to which feels odd but is fine until you step inside...then a tissue is needed immediately to prevent flooding! Thank goodness for buying the studs for my boots- the place has turned into a giant ice rink which looks weirdly like glass in the twilight.

Today was the first safety training day, so after a couple of lectures we headed out to the shooting range. The drive up afforded stunning views, but was a little precarious driving up a steeply winding ice covered road with no railings and a large drop in a fair few places. We even went past the global seed store- a little triangle with a door into the mountainside.

And so we reach my first big disappointment out here. I couldn't do the rifle training. Mentally that is. I managed with the blanks but as soon as I had the live ammo my brain frazzled. I got confused when firing the first round so stuck up my hand for help, but the instructor was helping elsewhere. I was left lying in the snow, freezing cold, with loud shots going off all around me. That was the end of it for me, but the instructor was very sweet and understanding and apologised for not being with me sooner to sort out the problem with my rifle. I am extremely disappointed and felt I let myself down, but maybe it is a good thing that I cannot be responsible for others' lives if a polar bear comes at us! As a consolation prize I am still allowed to use the flare gun to try to scare a polar bear away if the situation arose.

I shall leave you with some pics of the view from the rifle range, the uni at 3pm and a baby reindeer on the way home.