Dog Days!
A super cold day in Sweden with a high of -10* and a low of -17°. Of course, on the Torne River, expect to have a wind chill of considerably less.
Meeting after breakfast, as the sun was rising, we were met by 2 Dog Sleds and about 20 Dogs. I never in my wildest dreams thought I would be dog sledding. The way this works is, we have 8 participants split between the 2 sleds. We sit on the sled in front of the Musher, very tightly indeed. But it’s comfortable. I was right at the back which helped provide some kind of stability, I am told; and on occasion, myself and the person in front must lean to the left or right. In places on the snow/ice, there is a little bit of water rising to the top and this causes the sled to lean. We don’t want to lean into the ice or we could potentially cut through it. What??
This is what we saw as the sleds came around for us,
As you can see, the sky is still pink from the sunrise at about 10am, although this was about 11am I think.
So, no photos whilst on the Sled as I was holding on for my dear life. These dogs are amazingly strong and super fast. As you can see, they run in pairs (generally) but if there is an odd number, they are equally happy to be on their own. They don’t need to be paired with their fav, and move around quite a bit, but it’s super important to have an experienced dog at the helm. There are no reigns to steer the dogs, and they pretty much know which way to go, and that’s generally on a path pre-cut by a Snow Mobile, but occasionally these paths diverge. A single word instruction (don’t ask what is being said, but I expect it is Left or Right in Swedish, or Dog-ish) and the lead dog goes in that direction immediately.
The bond between the dogs and the Musher is unmistakeable. They are friends, although the Musher is still their boss. On race days, the Musher is the only one to take care of the dogs, or risk disqualification. The only other person who can help is the Vetinarian, who will give the dog a green light to continue. But the musher knows the dogs the best, and will not risk hurting them if they are unwell or injured. The sleds must be big enough for their supplies, plus a dog if they cannot run.
Make no mistake with these dogs. This is not Cruel. This is the life the dog wants. It is cruel to NOT let the dogs go on the sled. Those who have been in a location where there are dog sledding and they are barking like crazy, it’s not because they don’t want to be there. It is more like “I smell a rabbit“, or “what did you say” to another dog, or “hurry up, we wanna go!” If I dog doesn’t want to run, it doesn’t run. Not all dogs enjoy sledding, and in that case, it’s not for them.
Dog sledding these days is usually confined to either Racing or Tourism. They are generally not a working concern these days, as they have Snow Mobiles for that, which are far more capapable. But Tourism allows the dogs to get out and exercise, plus it helps pay the bills to keep the dogs to race. Musher (at least in this case) doesn’t have sponsorship, like in some other place (Alaska I’m looking at you) and it’s not a cheap sport. It’s purely for the love and the challenges.
I recall seeing the Greenland Huskies in Iceland in 2010 on a Glacier. You can’t see it here, but the eyes were a bright blue, and I remember one staring at me and it was quite unnerving. Having had my career involve working dogs (Police Dogs) I would never go close to them, for fear of setting them off, or too close, who knows what will happen. But I thought they were similar, as they were working dogs right? No way. These dogs are soooo friendly. They love interaction, and by that, I mean being patted, or spoken to in a language they have no clue. In fact, out of both of these 2 groups of huskies on this cold day in Lapland there was one particular female dog (the only one in the group), who knew how to get attention. She was showing off to the boys, and was the first one to want to be pat by us. She was gorgeous and gentle. But to be honest, they all were. But this one was the only one, that when my attention was diverted somewhere else, it pawed my leg, saying “more…more…” Beautiful. But you should never have one as a pet, unless you were prepared to put in the work. They need a lot of exercise.
So, off we went. We travelled maybe 2 kilometres or so. Who would know? It could have been 5, but I felt it was a couple. For accuracy, we will say it was 2.4 kilometres. We made our way to what would be a lake. Now, I don’t actually know where the River ends and the lake begins, but there was a boat you see, and we were told it was a lake. It’s all under snow or ice or both so who really knows who doesn’t aleady live here. But this was our photo stop.
Walking into the snow was quite hard. There was a lake cabin (ah, that’s how we know), and of course we had to walk as close to that as possible. The snow falls away quite quickly and you need to have solid ground, otherwise, you could go down 30 cm, 50 cm, or a metre if it were off the edge of a mound. Or maybe even splash! Not gunna try. Just stay on the path of the person who didn’t go splash!
But the scenery was beautiful. The light was golden, still. Many trees were covered in snow, and there were lake/river cabins dotted alongside as far as the eye could see. Most were in clusters of cabins as roads moved in and out of the forest for access, which would be quite restricted, given the forestation of the area. It’s a fishing area. Even upon our return a little later, we saw people drilling into the river with a Ryobi One+ Auger (or some such device) making a nice hole to catch something for later.
But it was very very cold. To be honest, it was too easy to take a nice shot. Between the gold light, the snow, the boats, sloping hills, rivers angling away from the forest for nice composition. It was too easy. You don’t need a super expensive camera to take photos here as it’s too beautiful. Just use the iPhone if you have one, or just put the camera away and relax in the silence and enjoy the location. Just stay warm!
It’s funny to look at the images that are so serene, but I am reminded of the harshness of the environment. This is what -25° looks like on the River.
But lets not get carried away with that cold stuff. After our return and relaxation, dinner etc, in the evening some people went back out to the same location for the Aurora, this time by Snow Mobile with Peter. They had a nice one althouhgt it was often partly obscured by cloud but at times it wasn’t. I was actually pretty tired at this time and I needed some rest. Tomorrow was going to be Reindeer Day! Where we have to Mush our own reindeers I needed all my strength and wit just in case… Little did I know.
But to close, here are a few of my favourite images from the dog sledding day. Tbe final one is definitely my favourite. It’s one of Christine enjoying the locatoin.
Steve Hunt 