Autumn training is in full swing and we are waiting for the snow to come. But even when it’s finally some degrees below zero at least at night and the ground is frosted in the morning – on some places even the whole day – it doesn’t really look like winter is coming 😬
We enjoy the colorful mornings with beautiful sunrises and frosted plants around us but for the dog paws that’s horrible conditions. Especially since we had so much water on the trail in summer we still have big water holes between 1,5 to 3km after start. That means that it doesn’t make much sense to put booties on the dogs before the start because when they get wet you need to change them. So, only the dogs who already have some sore feet get booties at the start. After 3km we stop and change these booties plus put booties on all other dogs who are a bit sensitive what are quite many in these conditions 🙈. But that takes time and the dogs are not really patient short after start of training 😂 anyway, they enjoy running and dreaming of real winter
The last weekend I stayed in Kiruna for visiting the Kiruna Sleddog Symposium that usually takes place every two years but since Corona stopped everything it was already three years ago that it took place last time and additionally we couldn’t join the last one because it was short before Joël’s birth and 2017 we stayed in Norway. That means, the last time I had the possibility to be there was in 2015. So, maybe you can imagine how happy I was to have the chance to go there ☺️
For all of you who are a bit interested in dog mushing or the musher’s scene I will write a review about the symposium and be sure, you don’t want to miss the next one.
First of all I want to emphasize how great it is that the Kiruna Sleddog Club organizes this event every other year inviting not only local mushers but also speakers from the US and Canada.
This year there were new speakers on the podium with very impressive stories but before I talk about this I want to say thanks to US-veterinarian Dr. Jerry Vanek, who was also a speaker this year (like many other times) but couldn’t be on stage in person. But anyway I met him at Mats’ kennel where I stayed for the weekend. I know Jerry as long as I am working with sleddogs what is now more or less exactly eight years. He taught me a lot about the physiology of a dog, the influence of equipment on dogs, best possible dog care, etc. He is not only a veterinarian and teacher in the field of sled dogs but also a very experienced race vet. And I was really happy that I could assist him with his harness and movement studies in 2018/2019 and with his work as race vet at the Lapland Quest 2019 learning so much from him. And after we haven’t met since February 2019 it was great to have him back in Sweden now 😃 At the symposium he hold two lectures about the sled dog spine what is a part of the body that is easily overseen because it’s much easier to realize a limping dog than to see issues related to the spine. Of course, not everything was new to me after having worked and listened to Jerry for many years but anyway it is always good to be reminded and strengthen your knowledge in all those fields. I am already now looking forward to the next time we meet.
Ok, let’s go on to the mushers who were speakers this year. First one was Rob Cooke. Initially he is from the UK and 25 years ago he just wanted to buy one Siberian Husky as a pet dog. You know what follows? Yes, one dog needs a companion, so you get a second, but having two in front of the training cart or sled you might take one more, or two and within no time you suddenly have ten dogs. Sorry Rob, that’s life with dogs 😂 In his first speech Rob talked about how he started having dogs, about his experiences in sprint and mid-distance mushing in the UK and how he finally ended up in Canada, having a kennel with about 50 Siberian Huskies running Yukon Quest and Iditarod always finishing with a very happy dog team. In his second speech he spoke very, very open about how you get to the starting line. That means starting with breeding, over feeding, training, preparations and ethics. Even if the time was too short he gave a deep insight in how and what he is feeding, how he train and socialize the dogs and much more. For me it was really impressive how much happiness and joy you could read in Rob’s eyes when he was talking about his dogs. He emphasized how important it is to always have happy dogs, and that you can see on every single photo and video he had in his presentation. The dogs were always smiling, laughing or jumping around, not only before the start but also at the finish line. A great musher with a great attitude to his dogs. If you want to read his full story visit the Homepage of his kennel Shaytaan Siberian Huskies.
Next speaker was Malin Strid who together with her partner Lars Hoffmann runs Cold-Nose-Huskies where we have our dog Mavas from. Malin talked about her way from childhood over handling for Petter Karlsson to starting her own kennel and finally being part of the top elite of long distance mushing. Finishing 3rd in her first attempt of Femundløpet 650km this year behind the great Norwegian champions Thomas Wærner and Robert Sørlie can indeed not been seen as a loss just because her lead dog refused to overtake Robert, being on the podium with these idols is a success itself and just more motivation to go on follow your dreams, what by the way led to another 3rd place in Finnmarksløpet 600km the same season. Malin pointed out how important it is to have a plan and follow it. Yes, it can be necessary to change to plan B or C or D, but if you take every little problem or setback as excuse for not training, not racing, etc you will never reach your goals. I totally agree on that, follow your dreams no matter which complications make adapting you the way. But only if you keep your goal in sight you have a chance to reach it. Dreams can come true but to work for it helps a lot than just waiting for being lucky to reach it by accident. And we will see, maybe somewhen in the near future Malin will also stand on the starting line of the Iditarod.
Next one on the stage was Dan Kaduce who finished Iditarod 2022 on 4th place with all 14 dogs in harness. For some people – including me – that is almost as good as winning the race, maybe even better. In his first speech Dan let us participate in the race by going from checkpoint to checkpoint showing impressive pictures and videos he took on the trail. The second speech focused on questions Dan got from the audience what covered everything from breeding, feeding, training and equipment. One question he got from many mushers was related to the harness he uses, because it is a so called short harness, in Scandinavia almost all long distance mushers use X-back or similar harnesses. So, Dan explained the advantages he sees in this kind of harness but also pointed out that it’s important to look at every single dog, because some harnesses just don’t fit a dog even if it is the right size in theory. That is why he also has other harnesses for some dogs but, of course, because the line setting is totally different for short harnesses you can’t mix them with X-back or the stick harnesses that have become very popular here, even if he is quite interested in trying this too. But this harness topic can fill a whole symposium itself, so let’s get back to the dogs and mushers 😉 If you want to know more about Dan visit the homepage of Dew Claw Kennel.
Another speaker on the symposium was Anny Malo together with her husband Marco Rivest. They talked about their live with their dogs and two sons what means that the whole family is involved in the sports and travels around for taking part in mid distance and stage races. Anny is probably the best Canadian race musher in this category and shared here experiences and thoughts about how to prepare your team and yourself for these races. But to be honest mid distance and stage races are not that interesting for me so I can’t tell you the details of her training because it’s nothing I would adapt for me. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t learn from her because topics like how you bond with your dogs are completely unrelated to races or tours, it’s just a general question. And Anny as all the other mushers on the scene showed the same happiness when talking about her dogs what’s great to see.
Last but not least Lina Hallebratt was on stage. She is not that well known as a musher because she just started in this field. However she was named the Swedish Female Adventurer of the year twice with a lot of really interesting expeditions almost always accompanied by one or more dogs. Beside some other expeditions by foot, by bike or by kayak she completed the White Ribbon – a trail of 1.200 to 1.500 km over the Swedish Mountains, from Grövelsjön in the south to Treriksröset in the north, already eight (!) times, two times in both directions what means 3.000 km. That is really, really impressive. Especially when you hear that she hasn’t grown up in an outdoor or animal family. The last White Ribbon was first time with a team of sleddogs and standing on a sled what lead to already ten own huskies right now… mmh, I think that reminds me on my comment to Rob’s speech 🙈
Beside listening to interesting speeches the Kiruna Sleddog Symposium also has a trade fair where all the big (and smaller) companies who are active in the sled dog business show their products, are there for talks and information and with a bit of luck you find things you need for a good price. It’s always nice to get the possibility to see some products „live“ instead of try to imagine how they look and feel in reality when you just see them on the screen.
Before I end this article I have to tell one really funny story: the Kiruna Slädhundklubb who is the organizer did a lottery where you could win a sled. In fact it was two lotteries, one for an Axaeco sled where all participated automatically who had registered before a certain date and one for an Oinakka sled where you could buy lots during the symposium. And guess who was the lucky winner of the Oinakka sled? No, not me… It was the producer of Björkis sleds, the other well known sled company in Kiruna 🤣 so what should he do with an Oinakka sled? He gave it back to the club for an auction to the audience with the goal to collect money for the kids in the club. And with the help of Jodi (Dan’s wife) a spontaneous auction was held in Kiruna’s Folkets Hus. Probably the last one because the Sleddog Symposium was the last big event in this building in the old city center of Kiruna. Almost everything around is already closed because since some years the town is moving to give the iron mine the possibility to go on with their mining without risks for houses and people in Kiruna. A whole city is moving – that’s indeed a topic for another article.
But if anyone is not infected of the sled dog virus after this weekend please let me know, I can’t imagine that this is possible 🐕🥰 and keep in mind: don’t stop follow your dreams, they only come true if you work for them.
What do we wait the most for during the warmer months of the year? Yes, snow 😃❄️ it’s not yet here but we cross our fingers 🤞 that it will not take that long anymore…
Meanwhile autumn is clearly visible. We had about two weeks with beautiful autumn colors 🍁🍃🍂 but also a lot of rain 🌧 and muddy training trails. But so what, we can train again and that is what matters 😊 and of course there is also some sunny training runs in between ☀️🐾
Additionally we had some nights with magical Northern Lights and a sky full of stars 🌌 and even if we can lay in bed comfortable while watching Lady Aurora dancing sometimes you just need to go out and look into the sky above you, not even always with a camera 📷 but of course, we also took some pictures for you to let you dream of your next adventure with us 😉
The puppies are growing and the first one already moved to her new home two weeks ago. Alba (former Katie) is now with our friends in Vilhelmina and got a warm welcome by the dogs there. Telma and Loo (former Jackie and Charlie) will move to a friend in Finland this Friday. The rest of the Antarctica litter will stay with us. Maya as the leader, Shadow as beauty queen, Shorty as the little brave girl, Buck as big boy and cute Max, as the smallest of them all in the beginning he will always stay my baby 🙈
Soon it’s autumn, so time to look back on summer at what has happened or is still ongoing.
First of all, the dogs: our puppies are growing 🐶They are now 6,5 weeks old and explore the world. Of course, they also try to do stupid things like chewing laces or trousers and jackets 🙈 now and then one of them follows inside to get used to be without the siblings and also to be in the house what is usually no problem because they are relaxing/sleeping on the sofa like they do nothing else 😂
The big dogs are still waiting for the start of serious autumn training. Long time it was much too warm, even at night, to do a regular training according to a plan. And now, when the temperatures are finally ok in the late evening or early morning we are fighting with this stupid virus we managed to avoid for 2,5 years 😬 so, it’s more free run and individual activities than training with a big team. But we hope that we soon can follow our normal training plan and enjoy the beautiful autumn colors together with our dogs 🐕🍁
Summer time is also berry time. It started with the cloudberries, followed by raspberries and blueberries 🫐 and soon lingonberries are ready. We collected a lot of all, partly we produced delicious jam out of it, partly it’s in the freezer to use it for baking or desserts in winter. Beside the berries we also made jam from the big rhubarb plants on our yard, syrup from fireweed and dried mushrooms 🍄 no, not fly agarics 😉
But the biggest news are that we finally found a guest house 😃 now we have enough space to accommodate our guests for winter tours, plan programs all year round or just rent it out if someone wants to visit to calm down from everyday life.
It was a long process with this topic. First we thought to use „Gammelgården“, the old house on our yard as guest house. But it turned out that the substance is not good enough to make so big investments in a renovation reasonable. Therefore it’s now our dog food kitchen, food and equipment storage.
Next idea was to build a small guest cabin on the yard. But with the unbelievable high costs and delivery problems for construction material since 1,5 years and restrictions to get a financing during Corona that was also not possible within the next few years.
So, we thought to buy a house. First we looked for an alternative in Moräng, but at the end weren’t successful. Then we took Glommersträsk into account. The first house we were thinking of was not possible to have a look inside for several weeks, so we contacted the owners of another house that we had heard to be for sale. And in the end we decided to take this one. It’s a bit bigger than what we initially planned but so we also have the possibility to have e.g. a bigger family or a group of friends there in summer. And for winter we can, if guests wish, offer single rooms for everyone 😉
The house is placed in the nice part of Glommersträsk not on the main road. From a part of the yard you can see the lake and from some windows the hills in the area. It’s perfectly situated to walk up the hill to Toppstugan and the snowmobile trail in winter that we also use on some dog tours is passing only 50 meters from the yard 😊
Of course, like always when you buy an old house, there is renovation needed, some rooms only some details, some a bit more… so you know what we do the next weeks when we are not training 🛠
When everything is ready we will have four sleeping rooms for guests, a living room, a dining room with fireplace and a big kitchen. Moreover there are many smaller and bigger storage places and a basement with possibilities for future projects. There is also a little annex building with a separate sleeping/living room and toilet. And on the yard you can sit and enjoy the quiet around you or collect rhubarb, raspberries, currant (black and red) and apples depending on the season of course. Maybe we will plant some strawberries too 🍓
We know, you are expecting pictures but that has to wait until everything is nice 😉
Last but not least, we want to point out that we opened up all winter dates for tour bookings after we now know that we have accommodation for the time before and after the tour. You can find the tour descriptions here. We will do specials for Christmas, New Year and Easter, also suitable for families with kids from 6 years. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions regarding the tours or would like to adapt a tour to your special wishes. We are happy to welcome you. For all who are already thinking about spring and summer: these programs will be announced during autumn but you can contact us already now if you don’t want to wait 😊
Difficult task is done ✅ puppy names are decided 😊 This time it was not so easy because of the many girls in the litter and our goal to find names according to a topic.
Raffi wanted to have a little Maya since several years, so possible topics could have been names out of the Maya culture, names from indigenous groups in Central America and the dogs of the movie Antarctica. The latter was our favorite but in the film it’s one girl and seven boys. We have six girls and two boys 😬 so, we took time and thought more about the first two topics. But even if we found really nice names it felt wrong, maybe we have thought about Antarctica too long and in our hearts had decided for this already. But how to solve the gender problem? Ok, some names are not definite male names, one you can easily change into a female name and the last two we added names of persons in the film. Even here we took the name from a man for one of the girls, but again it’s a name that definitely is also used for women or female dogs 🐕
So, here comes our Antarctica litter:
Maya – Raffi’s girl, dark fur, white front legs, back tows and tail tip
Buck – the big boy, brown with a big white neck
Max – the small boy, completely brown
Shorty – the smallest girl, brown like Max with a little white blaze and some white on the neck
Shadow – one of the big females, dark fur with only white feet
Charlie – girl with more grey fur, one front leg is white, one only the foot is white
Katie – a special girl with fluffy fur and interesting white blaze and neck
Jackie – the biggest girl with really thick fur, white blaze, front legs and tail tip
Today they are four weeks old and no question, now the funny time with these cuties and new experiences every day starts 🥰
Summer is the time in the year when a lot of things happen within a short time period.
One week ago Ruby and Barolo‘s puppies were born 🐶 now we have some cuteness overload here 🥰 but it’s also work. Ruby is still nervous and doesn’t really know what to do. On the one side she doesn’t want to leave her puppies not even for eating so we feed her out of the hand. On the other side she has times where she seems very stressed even when puppies are not drinking. Anyway the puppies are growing. The smallest we try to feed a bit extra so that the difference to the siblings is not getting too big but like Simba in our last litter he prefers to drink from Ruby. If you are waiting for the names you have to be patient, we will wait until they are a bit older and you can see first signs of different personalities, so maybe two weeks from now…
But puppies are not the only project. We are also almost done with the new dog cages. Only some more stones on the outside of the cages but dogs can already move in. That gives us the possibility to change cages and refresh the painting of the old dog houses in the other ones.
Beside this summer is waiting with its food treasures. First mushrooms are ready, also the production of fireweed syrup can start. Cloudberries may take some more days or a week and blueberries a few weeks longer. We will pick all this so that you can experience the taste of Lapland when you join our tours 😋
Last but not least Zazu and Yvonne were checking some trails yesterday. Our summer and autumn training trail has – after heavy rain – more water than in late autumn. We also need to build a bridge over a mud/water hole because it’s now so big that you have difficulties to come through with the atv. But also everywhere around it’s wet, wet, wet. When the first two trekking trail options we had planned where not possible to hike we decided to just walk a round on our winter trail to come back to the kennel. Since we already had wet feet it was ok to walk through the swamps having your feet in water permanently. But when the water was almost as high as my hips it was not that funny anymore. Especially because there was so much high grass, bushes and other plants that you couldn’t see it and it got difficult for Zazu to pass it because the plants made it impossible to swim but walking was also not possible. I took of the leash and harness from Zazu that he can move freely and what happened? Instead of going forward he was just jumping around or on me enjoying the time together 😃 it’s so great to see how these dogs know the difference between work and leisure. Put him in a harness and on the line and he will immediately start pulling – by the way with so much power that it’s hard to stand on your feet – and if you take away harness and leash he is just cuddling and walking as close to you as possible. By the way, no chance not to think of Ranger who was exactly the same 😍
This weekend midsummer was celebrated and indeed, summer is here.
Even if summer solstice is on 21st of June Swedish people celebrate midsummer on the weekend after. Saturday is midsummer but already Friday most companies doesn’t work so people have a free day and you can find midsummer parties all around. We also arranged midsummer celebration in our little village Moräng. So, people are coming, sitting in the sun, chatting, having fika (coffee and cake) and as a highlight they are dancing around the beautiful decorated midsummer pole. After a break of two years because of Corona it seemed that people were happy to celebrate tradition again. Unfortunately in all the hectic of preparation I forgot to take pictures 🙈
The rest of the weekend was full with work – what else 😉 we continued with the fence of the new dog cages. Not the easiest with 30° in the shadow – but since there are no trees in the future cages, it was only partly shadow at our working place – and millions of mosquitoes and knots (the small ones that are biting). We now have about 40m fence done, out of 90m and already about 700-800 cramps used… can you please order colder temperatures for the rest of the work??? The whole next week is promised to be as hot as this weekend 😬🥵
And the dogs🐕? They are relaxing and not moving more than necessary. But sometimes they are crazy, laying on the dog house in pure sun instead of taking the shadow places. Ok, there are also humans enjoying the sun at the beach 🏝 but we can’t wait to have winter back ❄️😂
Even the thermometer goes crazy 🤣Mose is hiding from the sun 😅
This time we have an interesting post and a recommendation for you. The Headline is a free translation of the topic of the German TV-show Nachtcafé, a high quality talkshow shown in German TV since 35 years welcoming guests out of the „normal“ society to talk about their lives related to the topic chosen for the specified show.
On Friday, 17th June 2022 the show has the title „Wo die Tierliebe hinfällt“ or in free translation human‘s love for animals.
Ok, why do we post this? Especially if we don’t have TV at home 🤔 mmh, maybe because there are interesting guests in the show talking about their lives with elephants, reptiles and fish? Yes, a great mixture of guests 😊 but of course one animal is missing, isn‘t it? So, who is talking about dogs??? Yes, we are or to be precise: Yvonne was asked to be a guest and let people participate in her life with the dogs.
Honestly, it took me a short while to decide. First of all, I had to google the show because not watching TV means that I didn’t know it, even if I know Michael Steinbrecher from former years when he moderated the „Sportstudio“. Second and more important: I am really not the person that likes to stand in front of a camera, already to know that I will be photographed makes me nervous, so how should that work with TV then? 😬 But on the one side I watched some of the old shows on the internet and got the impression that it’s definitely not a kind of talkshow you know from trash TV but high quality with the focus on the guests in a very smart and honest way. And – most important – it’s our philosophy to show our guests our life with the dogs and bring them close together on tours so that they can experience a part of it. So, it‘s just consistent to also use the chance to bring a glimpse of this life to the TV audience.
The ones who follow our story for a while might know the basics of what I will be talking about, but also the other guests have interesting stories:
Patrick Meyer lives with hundreds of reptiles like spiders, lizards, iguanas, snakes and caimans. He joins the show with his tarantula Igittchen 🕷 and already this name is worth to hear what he is doing and where this name comes from. Patrick has a sanctuary for exotic animals and is an expert in the work with reptiles. For more info visit his homepage www.poeci1.de
Bodo Förster started working with elephants 🐘 in the Tierpark Berlin – remember where I have been as a child almost every time I visited Berlin 😃 Since more than 30 years Bodo is in Thailand working with these majestic animals. He has so much experience and it’s great to hear his stories but he also knows about the risks that are implied in his work. You can visit him and the elephants, check www.elephant-tours.de
Gertraud Baron is one of only very few women who has a great love for fish 🐟 Not on the table but in her spacious ponds. And it is a very special and also expensive one, it’s koi fish. Hear about how you can communicate with these animals and what makes them special.
Franziska Lüttich has dogs too but that is not her main topic in the show. When she posted obituaries for her dead dogs she got so much positive feedback and experienced that some people don’t know how to handle the death of their beloved animals. Therefore Franziska writes obituaries and help people express their grief. For more information visit www.beruehrende-reden.de
Dr. Carola Otterstedt is a cultural and behavior researcher and is participating in the show with comments on why the love for animals is so important for us humans. She is also very active in preventive animal welfare. You can read more here: www.buendnis-mensch-und-tier.de
You want to see the show? The Nachtcafé is on TV on SWR on Friday, 17th June 2022 at 10.20 p.m. (in German language), if you don’t have TV or no time you can watch the whole show in the media library of SWR from Saturday on. More information on the show: www.swrfernsehen.de/nachtcafe
Last but not least I want to say thank you to Michael Steinbrecher for great moderation and nice atmosphere, to Lisa Frieda Cossham for the invitation and to the whole Nachtcafé team for care taking and all work behind the scenes. It was great to be your guest 😃
When people plan to book their vacation we are often asked what is the best time to go on a husky tour. And to be honest: we don’t have an answer. Or we have to say: „the whole winter“. Taking more time to answer in detail means to ask back what do you want to experience beside having a great time with the dogs.
December: Do you want to escape the Christmas trouble and have a really quiet time out in the nature? Do you want to experience the darkest time of the year that leads to fantastic sky colors in light blue, pink and purple? Do you prefer an exploding sky with Northern Lights instead of loud and dirty fireworks? Then December is perfect for you! But keep in mind, Trails can be more difficult because of less snow and days (and nights) can be quite cold, feeling even colder because of long darkness.
January: Do you love adventures? January is maybe the most unpredictable month when telling guests something about weather conditions. Sometimes you have mild temperatures with heavy snowfall and deep or no trails for a whole week, sometimes it’s ice cold with clear sky all the time. From mid of the month the sun is coming up higher on the horizon and you really enjoy this after the darker period. Still it’s long hours of night with very good chances to see the Northern Lights.
February: Do you want to experience winter on its peak? In February we usually have a lot of snow and good trails, so don’t be fooled and go off the trail, you might need the dogs to pull you out from the snow, deeper than you are tall. Even if it still can be cold it already feels much warmer because of more daylight and often sunny days. Nevertheless the evenings and nights are still good for Aurora hunting.
March: You really would love to go on a sled dog tour but are a bit afraid of the cold? For all who haven’t experienced real winter yet or who freeze easily March is the perfect month. Days are long and relatively warm. Therefore we often drive our daily stage early in the morning, but that means you have even more time for cuddles with the dogs in the warmer afternoon. Trails are most often easy to drive and tours also suitable for younger guests.
April: You think winter should stay a bit longer? Come to Lapland and enjoy beautiful spring winter with lakes still frozen and snow around you while sun is shining and life is coming back. April is also a good time to see other animals on tour, especially birds in their mating season. And it can be a funny adventure to drive a narrow trail with snow while next to you plants and water start to take over.
So, now it’s your turn to decide. Our tours are updated and you are welcome to book your next adventure with us 😃🐕❄️
Yes, again there is some delay in my post but I really owe you a report of my tour into the Swedish mountains.
First, it was planned to start the tour on 25th of April but due to some health issues we had to postpone it. I was close to cry fearing that we might have to cancel it. But no, my will was stronger 💪
On Thursday, 28th, our good friend Andy came to us, accompanied by the seven dogs he had chosen to take on the tour. By the way, two siblings of Stella and Luna were in his team and of course his main leader, Galena who is the mother of those two. But unfortunately neither Stella nor Luna made it in my team. Stella was safe on the list until she was injured before easter and Luna just had to stay home because I could only take seven dogs what was maybe the most difficult decision before the tour 🤔 In my team were Barolo, Ruby, Rafiki, Jade, Mose, Zazu and Pumba.
After preparation of all stuff we thought about start driving in the evening or in the next morning… and in this case Stella was decisive. Since she always wants to follow on tours and already managed to climb out of her jumping cage during tours here I was afraid that she might climb out after we have left when nobody is at home the next day. So, we decided to load the dogs and start while Stella could stay inside with Raffi and Joël 😉 We drove almost to our starting point that was directly at the Norwegian border, but since it’s not the best place for the dogs to sleep there we stopped a bit earlier where they had a nice spot under some trees before sleeping in the trailer. Friday morning we continued to the border and managed to get the absolutely last free space on the parking lot. It was completely full with snowmobile trailers 😬
We packed the sleds, prepared the dogs and started on our tour, following the winter trail to Mavas lake where there is a small shelter. We gave food to the dogs and set up the tent before it started snowing. With the shelter it was quite comfortable to cook without standing/sitting in the wind the whole time. During the night there came more fresh snow but in the morning the sun came out ☀️ After breakfast for the dogs and us we continued our tour.
Since I had three yearlings in my team we had planned not to do too long stages per day, so the plan was to drive to Vaimok this day. The dogs did quite good, just on some steeper up hill parts and with still heavy sleds they were a little bit irritated what was happening 😉 During the day we met a lot of snowmobiles. Good training for Barolo who is still a little bit afraid. But so good that all snowmobile drivers acted respectfully and drove a bit to the side when they saw dog teams coming. In Vaimok the STF cabin was completely full with snow mobile drivers, of course, it was Saturday and the last day of the season the cabin was open. But good for us, because we were allowed to use the safety room in the smaller cabin of the STF guard what also meant that we could park the dogs a bit away from the main cabin with all the people and snowmobiles. The STF guard was really nice and told us that one of the snowmobile drivers planned to go into the same direction as we the next day. Not that it really helps when its windy – what it was – when you start half an hour later on the trail but anyway good to know…
So, the next day started with some more uphill parts before it started to get adventurous 🤪 first, it was just some icy steep slopes, but then we met a stone desert where there was partly not much snow to get through. After this it was going down into Tarradalen and there we had just a small snowy trail between green fields and later on no trail anymore, just bushes and mud holes – not the best idea to wear my beloved Lobbens (filt shoes) when you have to go from the runners at those spots 😅 we left the marked winter trail and tried to come further next to the river, but 100m before we reached the Njunjes cabin we had the choice to drive on pure rocks or through 50cm deep water on the river – that alternative was chosen by the snowmobile driver we met the day before. For us both options were no options, one would destroy the sleds and the other could lead to sick dogs or mushers. And it was also clear that we could not continue the way in direction to Kvikkjokk, so latest the next day we anyway had to go back where we came. So, we turned around and went back a few kilometers to the STF cabin Tarrekaise. And that was really a dream place for us and the dogs. Behind the cabin you have the impressive mountain Tarrekaise while next to the cabin the dogs could rest under the trees. By the way, even after the STF season is over you can always use the safety rooms what is really comfortable 😃
On day four we went back in direction to Vaimok, having a lot of fresh snow on the trail… or no trail, but this time just because of snow what is totally fine 😉 We passed Vaimok and continued to Pieskehaure where there was another cabin. And Barolo must have thought „now, it’s my time to get inside“, because when I parked the sled next to the cabin he immediately went to the door. But sorry, the dogs stayed outside at the stakeout. Behind a big snow drift they were protected from the heavy wind. Ok, one exception: Zazu had worked so hard this day – like always – that he got permission to sleep inside.
The next morning it was nice to see how fast the weather can change. I took one picture from the dogs at the stakeout with heavy wind and drifting snow and half an hour later it was nice sunshine. We started our tour and thought of doing a loop we haven’t done on the first part of the tour but since there was so much snow and no snowmobile trails an additional loop of 50km in such conditions would not have been reasonable. So, we followed the trail back to Mavas and there we decided not to take the shelter again but drive a bit in the opposite direction of the lake where we found a really nice camping spot. Just when you climbed up the hills it was windy but between the trees it was nice.
The last morning was perfect weather with sunshine and it was a bit sad that it was the last day of the tour. So we took a lot of time to enjoy this last day before we reached the car and drove back home.
One thing I have to add: do you know that you can survive without phone calls or internet six days? Except short before our turning point we had absolutely no phone connection the whole tour. That we both haven’t expected because usually you have some connection also on some spots in the mountains, so at least I send a short message to Raffi that we have no connection, not that he thinks we are lost 😉 but beside this it was really relaxing not to look at the phone every few minutes.
So, a big, big thank you to my dogs for this wonderful tour, to Andy and his dogs for accompanying me and to Raffi and Joël for letting me go for some days while caring for the others at home 🥰
Now we can go into details of next winter planning and of course welcome summer ☺️
