oh yeah - dog sledding.
the plan was that we'd spend a week in the hills of Sweden driving our dog sleds from hut to hut (or Tipee - weather permitting) and learn some Winter Bushcraft skills along the way.
but.....there was too much snow!
i know - that's what we thought too, but it is possible.
the reason is that in order to dog sled you need an existing (compacted) trail on which to travel.
when we arrived there was more snow (for the time of year) than at any time in the last 30 years and so we were a bit buggered.
after heavy snowfall all of the pre-existing trails are covered and useless and so the only trails which had been remade afresh were some up into the hills to the Sami villages and not much else and so we were extremely limited.
here's a quick photograph so that you can see just how much snow there was around:
but we're getting ahead of ourselves - let's do things chronologically.....
we arrived (after a LONG drive) and had some food in a little log cabin belonging to the guy who owned the company we were using and then we drove even further into the hills and met our host/guide - Urban.
i know, i know - it's not a name but there you go.
here's the Urbanator himself:
he was a very friendly and hardcore fella (in a 'hardcore is pretty normal for round here' kind of way) and a lot of fun.
many thanks to him/you (if you ever read this Urban) for all of your time and effort as well as the chance to see the beautiful area you live, spend time with your amazing dogs and for all of the 'happy' meat!
check out their website if you're thinking of doing something similar here.
also on the trip were three other guests.
Joel and Corrie were a couple from Gloucester and Pepe, a whacky Mexican dude.
here's Joel giving Nikki one of his trademark 'you are a bit of a nightmare aren't you' looks:
and here's Pepe looking decidedly un-Mexican (he had no moustache, no poncho, no sombrero - nothing Mexican at all but luckily he did sound like Speedy-Gonzales):
apologies to Corrie but the only photographs of you are very unflattering and so we thought you'd prefer it if they went unpublished!
when we awoke the next morning we were greeted with this view from the house:
then we went to meet the dogs.
Urban has about 40 Huskies which sounds like a lot but he had to enlist the help of his girlfriend (Marlin) for this trip as there were so many of us and the going was tougher with so much snow.
here's Marlin with one of her dogs:
and here's a shot of one of my favourite dogs (sorry but i forget his name as i tended to rename them all with names i could remember anyway):
one thing that nobody tells you is just how insanely noisy it is whenever the dogs aren't moving.
when they're running it's silent bliss but at a stand-still it's pandemonium - utter mayhem which will drive anyone insane given enough time - really REALLY LOUD!!!
after spending a good few hours learning how to harness and secure the dogs to the sleds (and actually then doing it for ourselves) we went for a little tootle around just to learn the basics.
the next morning we were up early again but this time we packed up the vehicles and headed off into the hills for a full days sledding in the middle of nowhere.....
little did we know what the day had in store for us!
here's Urban and Pepe struggling through waste-deep powder trying to flatten the snow enough to set out the line of dogs in order to set-off properly:
and here's Nikki waiting with her dogs just before we started out:
everything began simply enough - me and Urban were on the lead sled with twice as many dogs as everyone else (as there were two of us) so that he could periodically jump off and help the others when necessary.
everyone else had 5 dogs and then Marlin brought up the rear with her dogs.
here's a photograph Urban took of me not long after we'd set-off:
about 45 minutes into the ride we had a spot of difficulty when a snowmobile met us coming the other way on the trail (which had only been made wide enough for one-way traffic with very deep powder off to either side).
in order to see us all safely past, Urban jumped off and helped everyone past while i carried on and waited half a mile or so along the trail.
now 10 dogs are very hard to manage (twice as hard as 5 funnily enough!) and they're trying to run the whole time with only a small foot-brake to keep them from running away (and a snow-anchor when you're stopped for more than a few minutes).
ok, enough excuses - to cut a long story short - just after this shot was taken:
my team of dogs jolted forwards and i lost my balance and fell backwards into the snow.
they then promptly buggered off without me!!!
i ran after them only to fall increasingly behind (eventually vomiting from the sheer effort of trying to keep up with 10 Huskies in knee-deep snow) and eventually i pretty much collapsed and let Pepe go after them on his sled (with half as many dogs and a person to carry).
after a few minutes Urban eventually caught up and i explained what had happened and to put it mildly he was not impressed!
after about an hour of running, chasing and eventually borrowing a snow-mobile to chase the dogs they were recaptured and the day could continue but, for a little while, everyone was thinking that i'd lost Urban 10 of his dogs.
we continued on before stopping to build a fire and have some lunch (pancakes cooked on a really cool skillet).
this took a lot of time and a massive amount of energy (as everything does with so many dogs and such deep snow).
it was starting to get dark by the time we'd finished and so we turned the dogs around and began to prepare to set-off back home.
me and Joel were at the back and couldn't leave our sleds alone but something was clearly wrong as we were stood there for over 45 minutes without any movement.
it transpired that Pepe's dogs had gotten loose (a cable had snapped) and attacked Nikki's dogs. Urban was elsewhere doing something else and Pepe didn't notice at first and so Nikki was left trying to control 15 fighting dogs on her own.
eventually Pepe and Urban arrived to help Nikki but just as they were beginning to get things under control two of Corries dogs chewed through their harnesses and launched themselves into the fight.
at one point one dog had another's head in it's mouth and Urban had to pretty much punch them to get them apart.
after much time and effort sorting all of this out we were once again ready to set-off but by this time it was completely dark and the weather had deteriorated to blizzard conditions.
on the way back the snow had blown over our tracks and the path was lost meaning that Urban had to keep stopping, wading through the very deep snow and try and discern where the trail might be.
it took us hours to get back to the vehicles by which time nearly everyone was exhausted and ready to go home.
at some points it was a little daunting and there were times when i considered that we might not make it back that night without help but it was BRILLIANT - we wanted an adventure of a trip and we weren't disappointed!
after some well earned rest we were up bright and early to do it all again.
we travelled out to a lake, cooked some lunch and then went for a snow-shoe walk and learn a few bits about winter survival in the area.
here's a nice tree we saw:
when we got to the lake we could see something/someone on the other side of the lake and eventually we realised that a guy had gotten his snowmobile stuck on the lake.
here he is:
so, me, Urban and Joel set off to assist the fella:
it's a little worrying at first walking on a frozen lake but you soon get used to it.
we eventually managed to free the guys snowmobile and went on our way.
as it was New Years Eve me and Joel went out to get some beers and bumped into the snowmobile dude as he was telling his friends (big hairy bikers on their way to a biker bar for New Years Eve) about how helpful we'd been.
when we asked if they knew somewhere we could buy something other than crap lager one of the big hairy blokes pulled a bottle of evil home-brewed Vodka from his pocket which was very nice of him (even if it did taste like paint stripper) showing that no good deed goes unpunished (isn't that the phrase?).
on New Years day we did the same loop again - here's a shot of Nikki on the way to the lake:
here's Nikki with Gail (one of her favourite dogs) when we got back:
and here's one of my dogs (Bob - who's mental - always runs sideways!):
a very VERY good time was had by all and i'd like to think that we'll dog sled again sometime (maybe strapping Rudie and Taco onto a sled???).
the next day we were up and on the road again - heading further north up into the Arctic Circle but that's a tale for another time.....
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