Monday 4 February 2008

Dog sledding

Working with my own dog team was a new experience for me.

Lotti has 100 Alaskan huskies, but only one Siberian husky.

Having been shown how to harness the dog team I had to gather my dogs and harness them, starting with the lead dog and working my way back. Running a team on my own, I had four dogs and when two of us used a team, we had 6 dogs. Below is the sled.

You control the speed and movement of the dogs and sled using the break located between your legs where you stand.

The dogs are so friendly and extremely keen to work. If the sled tips over it is vital that you hold on otherwise the dogs will continue to run with the sled and leave you behind!.

It really is a fantastic way to travel, but when travelling up hill, you have to run behind the sled to reduce the work for the dogs.




The sun has only been appearing over the horizon for the last few days and doesn't currently get much higher than this.


Dog sledding is also a great way to see and meet the locals.

My next post will be about constructing a snow shelter.

6 comments:

Pablo said...

Excellent! What a way to travel.
Pablo.

Mungo said...

I wonder if I could get my beagle to help me navigate the snowy valleys near my home. I can't imagine him pulling very long. The video is excellent - sounds like great adventures!

Mungo

Fenlander said...

cheers guys!

Springheel said...

They always tell you to hang onto your team. Easy to say, harder to do...I've spent about seven days running teams in total so I'm still a rookie, but I can speak about falling off with some authority...I've fallen off three times (Going too fast into curves every time) and only managed to hold on once.I have to say, it is a painful experience either way
(I cracked a rib first time I came off) but holding on probably risks more damage! The dogs are quite happy to drag you along on or off the sled - and they seem to find every tree, rock and lump going when you're off it. But you have to hold on...

Your post made me desperately jealous. Unfortunately, dog sledding is rather like cocaine; exciting, expensive and rather damaging; but highly addictive.

the joker said...

Kevin, what a fantastic trip. If only we could travel like that in good ole blighty. Looking forward to reading the rest of the blog now.
Regards
Pete

Fenlander said...

Hi Pete,

Good to see you here and thanks for commenting. Hope you enjoy the rest of my blog. I would like to travel with Reindeer next.

ATB

Kevin