Fashion and dressing tips for the Gobi

It’s getting cold. Or actually, the “microclimates” here differ a lot, making it extremely hard to dress correct. The last nights have been between 7 and 12 degrees below zero and day time range between 2 below zero and 5above. The tricky part is that the sun is still warm (surprising, eh?), so in the middle of the day and when hiking on a sunny slope it can be pretty hot. On the other hand, it is always more or less windy and the wind is really cold. Up on the ridgelines and in shaded canyons it can be pretty cold. So I reckon that if the temperature is zero, that could mean plus 10 in a sunny slope or 15 below in a windy, shaded canyon (the canyons are cool as it is).

A good, thin wind-breaker, a wool cap, gloves and extra clothes in the backpack is very fashionable among westerners this year. Though, the locals do not seem to share the view of what is “hip”. Every time I leave, Oyuna looks very troubled and think that I have way too little clothes on. Many of the people who have been in camp dress really warm, even if we are to take off on a big hike, whereas I dress so that I am cold when we start hiking and get warm from the exercise. Then off course, every time we stop, I feel fine and immediately put on an extra layer that I take off before we start again. Whereas some of my colleagues are too hot and take off clothes when we stop, this is probably the best way to get sick, especially in this wind. The most extreme difference in clothing I have seen so far was two weeks ago, I had a thin wool liner on and another guy had a couple of sweaters and a Helly Hansen down jacket on. I was a little, little sweaty on my back from the backpack and I can imagine how he felt… 

Another funny thing is that Oyuna don’t want me to leave on my own. Since there is no one else in camp that makes fieldwork a bit complicated, unless I bring the cat. She actually followed me to check a kill site (Oyuna that is, not the cat), we had to hike 700 meters, not flat but not really rugged either. Even so, I was a bit afraid that she would fall over dead because she coughed and breathed very hard. After that I think that she decided that I might be able to take care of myself. This part is the funniest of them all. I have quite a lot of survival training and I have lived in remote areas for a substantial time. I am sure that I will be fine for a couple of days even if I would fall badly and not be able to move from the spot, but since I am a Westerner, I reckon that she thinks that I will not make it here on my own. 

She also claims that a young man was attacked and injured by wolves not far from camp last week. Obviously, if the wolves find me, they will definitely attack the Westerner who can’t take care of himself… I am pretty sure that it was a villain dog that bit the man. It’s a lot cooler to be attacked by wolves than a dog though, if you see what I mean. But I don’t know, maybe it was wolves, I wasn’t there… Only thing I know is that there are a whole lot of more or less reliable dogs here. Actually, I think that the “less-reliable dog” was invented in the Gobi. Besides putting an extra layer of felt on the ger, we also shoveled dirt on the edges of the walls to prevent the cold wind from blowing in. This helped substantially; it is almost too warm inside now. I brought out my winter sleeping bag yesterday but I wasn’t able to close it until six o’clock in the morning… I have collected all trap cameras and am moving them to a new area. I heard that the map is on the blog now so I will try to explain where we are going to trap. If you find Mt. Chris, this will be the north western corner of the trap area. Basically, we will search for good trap sites in a square of 3x 3 km from Mt. Chris, more or less.

My knees have taken a little beating and to minimize the hiking (it will take some hiking to find new trap sites) I decided to close the traps. At the time, this seemed reasonable because we haven’t had an unmarked snow leopard visiting the trap area since the 25th of August. Well, four days ago “Inquisitive” stepped in two traps. Or rather, where there should have been two traps. The cat was named Inquisitive by the summer team, reason is that the first pictures we have of it, he/she looks into the camera from a distance of about 20 cm, and the cat keeps looking for a while. Our guess is that the cat is a young individual; it behaves a bit reckless, not at all like Bayartai (Longtail). I think that our youngster is a little afraid of Longtail and dared to visit the trap area because Longtail has been away for a little while. It seems as if he is heading back now though so hopefully, Inquisitive will move into my new trap line. In a little while that is, I have to build it first.

Obviously, I am not jumping around camp in Maasai-warrior style of joy because of this. But partly it feels good because now I have a cat to focus on again. It was a whole lot more fun to build traps and improve them when I was thinking of how to catch Longtail. Since we caught him it has been a bit empty, no cats to struggle with if you see what I mean… Well Inquisitive, the game is on and may the best Swede win…