A SCOTS beauty queen and a pack of huskies trekked hundreds of miles through the Arctic to raise money for charity.
Miss Edinburgh, Sarah Kremeyer, spent a week battling through snow and ice in -15 degree conditions on a trip round the Arctic circle in northern Sweden.
The 24-year-old has raised around £1000 for animal charity the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SSPCA).
Sarah said: “I love animals and I love adventure holidays and this combined the two perfectly. It was tough out there in those temperatures but it’s all for a great cause.
“I paid for all my travel and training so that every penny goes to the charity.”
As the youngest of a six-strong team, Sarah had to trek 30km every day staying in primitive cabins, without running water.
The participants spent their time at the cabins feeding the huskies and gathering water from frozen streams and wells.
Sarah said: “It was a great once-in-a-lifetime experience. It wasn’t as cold as it normally is but it was still down to -15 degrees.
“What I didn’t realise was that there was only going to be three hours of daylight.
“Even then it wasn’t really daylight, more like dusk. It was light from around ten in the morning and by one in the afternoon it was dark again. You really needed your headtorches after that.
“A lot of time was travelling over the ice. There were also parts where you went through forests. There were hills to go up and down so there was a lot of steering to be done.
“You felt the cold most when you were going over the ice. You felt it in your toes. When you were going through the forest there was more work to do.
Northern lights
“You had to brake and shift your weight to guide it through so you didn’t feel the cold as much.”
The 24-year-old, who works as a Guide dog trainer in Forfar, said she struggled with the constant darkness.
She said: “You lost track of time because it was dark for so long. You would think it must be late at night but it was still tea time. The days would also tend to merge a bit and you could forget what day it was.
“We tried to get back to the cabins for 4pm. There was a lot of work to be done at the cabins getting fires on and chopping up the meat for the dogs. It was very much a team effort.
“We would all be in bed by nine or ten at the latest, we were al so tired. We were up again at seven to start preparing to leave at ten.
“The dogs were really affectionate and you become attached to them. They were so excited every morning when you started getting the sleds ready. They wanted to get out there doing what they do.”
While she enjoyed her 200km trek, Sarah said she had one regret about the trip.
“The only disappointment is we never got to see the Northern Lights,” she said. “They said it was a 70 or 80% chance we’d see them but it was snowing every night so we didn’t see them.”
Following her epic journey, Sarah still made it back to the UK in time for a Christmas party with her workmates.
Sarah would like to thank the companies which sponsored her on her trip: including Johnsons Night Club Dunfermline,Ryan & Calder Veterinary surgery and Thomas Queen Estate agent & Solicitors.
