Risking life and limb...

More show and tell from the Norway archives: a stream near G-Rock's hut.

You may notice the splotch marks in the middle, and also it's quite blurry, although it's hard to tell with such a small picture. There's snow on the lens, and there's a reason why.

Interesting and relevant fact: It turns out the river actually extends significantly further to the left than the snow-water boundary line would indicate.

Snow was powder nearly knee deep, I swooshed down to get a good angle for the photo... maybe a bit closer, shuffle over, and woah nelly! Ground gave way under my right foot, down it went into the river. I instinctively fell with all my weight to the left, and with my left foot, which still had traction, pulled myself up through the snow (which, don't forget to remember, was knee deep powder) to safety. Apparently I quickly took a photo, although I don't remember doing that, and I hastened back to the hut to thaw out my foot.

Turns out my boot had submerged to just below the ankle, and I had narrowly avoided water rushing in and around my warm and unsuspecting woolly socks. It only took a couple of minutes to get back to the hut, but upon inspection the lower sections of my right boot were completely encrusted with ice! Polar bears sought toe-nail holds to traverse to the penguin colony on the toe.

Told G-Rock I fell in the river to some extent, she said "I knew I shouldn't have let you wander around on your own". I suspect there's some wisdom in that, but 2006 is the year of me wandering around on my own, and even the consequences that seem bad are actually good.