Digging, yanking, yelling and pulling occupy the next 10 minutes. Actually, the next 90 minutes, as after a brief attempt to drive a section around the Cragway hairpin, we have to latch on again. We attempt another drive from Six Mile Park, but manage no more than a few hundred yards before we’re back on the rope. Which, incidentally, is now much shorter. This means less slewing about, but instead those giant tracks are now about four feet away, thrashing at the snow, filling our vision. This is what it must be like to drive into a car crusher.

Justin is currently viewing us from out of the yellow shed. He should have a camera in his hand, but instead he’s barely functioning. The cold really caught him on the snowmobile, and right now he needs to recuperate before doing any more pictures. It’s a reminder that, just occasionally, magazine stories can have consequences. Later, he’ll have frostnip on his nose, caused by the camera body freezing to it. He’s lucky his hands didn’t suffer similarly.