Dog Sledding, Kiruna, Sweden 17th-21st Feb 2011

First of all, you're probably wondering why I am posting this 7 years after the event? Well, this was probably a 'one off' kind of holiday for me so I wanted to document it. A short while after coming back from our holiday I made notes from our trip on the 'notes app' on my phone. Not ideal but documented none the less. This website is the first one I've had that includes a blog, and I thought it would be an ideal format to record our adventure on, and include some photographs too. So basically this blog is entirely for my own purposes, but feel free to read on if you wish.

Day 1 - 17/02/11:

Our holiday officially started for us on Thursday 17th. Our flight to Sweden was from London Heathrow on the Friday morning so we had to fly down from Glasgow and stay in a hotel overnight. Smooth flight down, no complaints, however Heathrow Airport was a nightmare. Far too big and not enough signage for 1st timers to navigate the airport with any degree of success. We eventually found our way to a taxi rank and managed to get to our hotel which was a 10 minute journey but we never left the grounds of the airport! Checked in, room service ordered, good nights sleep was had.

Day 2 - 18/02/11:

Our flights were 1st thing Friday morning so it was up early and aboard a shuttle bus to our terminal. Again all went smooth until we got into the airport terminal. Nobody seemed to know where to go and the loitering staff were less than helpful…what a dump. Finally got checked in and through the completely over the top security, I'm sure the jobsworths just enjoyed seeing me struggle getting my snowboots on and off, over and over again! Finally got boarded and we were Stockholm bound.

Stockholm Airport - nice, clean and easy to navigate. Our luggage was automatically transferred on to our next connecting flight onto Kiruna so we just had to get ourselves to the next terminal. Not long to wait and no hold ups so it was off to Kiruna. We were quite surprised by the size of plane, given our final destination we were expecting a smaller aircraft, but it was a 737 and it was pretty much full. Kiruna is also home to the world famous Ice Hotel so that more than likely explains why the flights are pretty much full at this time of year. The view from the plane was fantastic as we approached Kiruna, beautiful snow covered landscapes and white mountains on the horizon, mesmerising. As we got off the plane we were instantly hit with the sheer coldness of the place. The strangest feeling of our nostrils freezing up is the first indication of just how cold it was. A large sign above the airport doors told us in large red blinking digital letters that it was -33 degrees. Once inside the small airport building we were greeted by our travel rep, we were one of three couples on the adventure holiday. Quickly bundled into a white van and off to our 1st nights accommodation, which although basic, would soon turn out to be a most luxurious and glorious sight upon our return from the wilderness in two days time.

Our plane from Stockholm to Kiruna. A first for me, stepping off a plane on to snow!

Once at the accommodation we were met by Arrent (forgive my spelling, I've written it just as it sounds - onomatopoeia). Arrent, who was the father of our lead guide, helped out during the sledding season. He, and his son Torben, were from Germany and that was their home, but they spent 7-8 months of the year in Sweden, with Torben’s 39 dogs and the sledding tours. Arrent made us a quick lunch, homemade sweet bread with a selection of cold meats and cheese, coffee and then we got fitted up for our snowsuits and boots. Once we were fitted out we then met Torben and we were given a 45 minute briefing and introduction to the dogs. The dogs were pretty much ordinary looking dogs, not the alaskan huskies we were expecting, but it soon became apparent just how well trained and strong these dogs were. They absolutely loved the attention and lived to run. Once back inside Arrent made us some lovely food, a fish soup, served again with the delicious sweet bread. Some coffee and getting to know our fellow sledders and then it was off to bed for some well needed sleep…we now had a better understanding of what was ahead of us.

Our first nights accommodation, absolute luxury.

Day 3 - 19/02/11:

Happy birthday to me. Great way to spend my birthday, the only downside was not spending it with my kids. Anyway, up early, suitably dressed for the journey ahead - base layer, mid-layer, wool socks x 2, outer layer, gloves, tracker hat, neck/face buffer, ski goggles and snow boots. We didn’t need to take many supplies as the next 2 days would pretty much be spent exploring the wilderness and staying in a very basic log cabin with no electricity or hot water. We got packed up and out to our sleds and to meet our dogs. I say ‘our’ dogs as these same 6 dogs will pretty much be in control of our destiny over the next few days. Each team of dogs has a lead dog. He is the boss of all of us, answering only to Torben. We met our second guide, Lucas, who would take up the rear and look out for any fallers or wrong turners. Another quick talk from our guides then we were off.

Checking out our sled for the first time.

“if you fall, don’t let go of the sled, the dogs will not stop, they live to run.”

Main points of note: don’t get too close to the team in front; don’t let the sled go into the back of the dogs (the length of rope harnessing the dogs between the sled and the rear dogs is only about 1 metre so pretty close) getting the hang of the brake must be instant, no second chances; if you fall, don’t let go of the sled…the dogs will not stop, they live to run.

We decided that I would drive the 1st day and my wife would drive the next day, there we have our first mistake. When driving you are constantly kept busy and 100% concentrating…the guilt of going into the back of the dogs and injuring them is not a guilt I could live with. Therefore when driving the -35/-45 degree cold is less noticeable and penetrating. On the other hand when you are the passenger there is very little you can do other than sit there, therefore it gets very very cold. Ideally we should have swapped over every hour or so…hindsight is a great thing. So, off we went. When you step off the brake the acceleration is instant. As soon as the guides start setting up the sleds and harnessing the dogs, the dogs know what is coming. They start going crazy in their eagerness to run…the noise, the barking and howling is deafening as their excitement grows, therefore as soon as the brake is released..your OFF!

The barking and howling from the dogs is deafening in their anticipation to run.

It is immediately apparent just how strong these dogs are. During the close season Torben trains the dogs to run up to 80km per day. Our mission today is to cover about half that distance. Once we are clear of our base and civilization it suddenly dawns on you that you are in the wilderness of northern Sweden, Lapland, 150km inside the arctic circle.

The start of the journey is through narrow forest trails which are well tracked out, then all of a sudden there is a huge clearing up ahead, a vast expanse marked out only every now and then by a couple of slalom type posts and it becomes apparent that you are travelling across / on top of, a frozen lake. What a feeling, scary yet exhilarating at the same time. Everything surrounding you is white and pure. The views are stunning. The only noise is the sleds runners through the snow. When on the frozen lakes the temperature drops by at least -10 degrees, and trust me, even though it is extremely cold that extra 10 degrees is very noticeable. Thankfully at this point we did not know what ‘overflow’ was, in terms of frozen lakes, so it was not quite as scary as it could have been. After a few hours we came to quite a hilly section of the journey. Up to this point driving the sled was relatively easy, leaning into corners, braking when required, however going up hills was a different story.

Although the dogs are very strong, when going up hills they expect help from you. Depending on the steepness of the hills you either have to help by using one leg to help push the sled up the hill while keeping the other leg on the runner, or alternatively you step off the sled completely and run along behind it while pushing the whole time. Going up hills can be quite slow and the dogs can feel every push you do so they know if, or if not, you are helping. If you are not living up to their expectations they know. The lead dog actually turns around and stares at you if you are not pulling your weight. You soon learn to help. Worse case scenario, if you do not help, is that the lead dog loses any respect he had for you and will not run for you. The same rules apply to the lead dog if you brake too much. Running is all they know and do so if you try and come between him and his team and hinder their running, i.e. over-braking, they don’t like it and will not run for you. Going up hills is very hard. It’s hard physically but the worst thing is trying to breath in the extremely cold temperatures.

Before and after mug shots of our first day sledding.

Approx. 4-5 hours later we arrive at our base for the next two nights. The first thing that needs to be done is looking after the dogs. Torben is very protective of his dogs, understandably so, so we are assigned more menial tasks while him and Lucas unharness the dogs and get them sorted in their kennels. One of the jobs is chopping up large slabs of frozen dog food. This is what they have for their lunch basically. They eat it frozen. Chopping this up is very tiring…between us we have 32 dogs to look after. We each feed our own team. Another task is getting water, not only for the dogs but also for tonights sauna. Water fetching is by far the hardest task. This involves going down to the frozen lake where there is a permanent hole in the ice, which is about 1 metre thick, created by the guides at the start of the season. To stop it freezing over the hole is covered with a large air bag which acts as insulation and it is then boxed in with steel sided shoring. To get water you first of all have to uncover the hole, then you dip a bucket on a rope into it, then you have to filter the water into 30 litre kegs. This job you must do with no gloves on, as you cannot afford to damage your gloves as they are the most important item of clothing when sledding. It takes approx. 10 bucket full’s to fill each keg, then you have to transport the kegs on a makeshift sled up the hill to the base and sauna. It takes two people to pull the sled & kegs which is very heavy and made even more difficult with freezing hands. Three trips were required to ensure we had enough water for the night ahead!

Standing atop a frozen lake. We would soon be sending buckets down into it through a manufactured hole in the ice for water for tonights sauna.

Once the dogs were taken care of we were shown to our log cabin, 2 couples sharing each cabin, which was heated via a calor gas fire which done the job nicely. Lighting was provided by candles or torches.

The next item on the agenda was a traditional Swedish sauna. It took a few hours to get to the required temperature so after a few coffees off we went to the extremely hot sauna. The sauna was located about 30 yards from the main central cabin in a small shed. Dry hot coals fed with water and a steel drum full of boiling water provided the heat for the sauna…around the 90 degree mark. Were we focussing on temperatures too much? It was hard not to. After about 15mins in the sauna it was time to do the traditional rolling around naked in the snow at -45 degrees!!! Wow… yes i done it, i can say that much. After i had rolled in the snow, trying to get back into the sauna felt like slow motion. I was screaming like a wee girl and trying to run without moving…like the cartoons where they run in the air for a few seconds before shooting off. That was me. The sauna was a great way to wind down after the excitement of the day and it was great to get back into the main cabin which had now heated up sufficiently. We were all ready for dinner.

It was good to get out of all the gear after a days sledding.

Torben was almost as protective about making dinner as he is of his dogs. His meals were great and for the first night in our new cabins consisted of a reindeer / moose stew. Served with spices and the obligatory sweet bread and followed by a few cups of coffee. After our dinner it was time to feed the dogs their dinner. The dogs dinner involved mixing a frozen slab of the food they had earlier with some boiling water to make it into a slushy soup like mixture mixed with normal dog biscuits. Torben showed us what must be one of his coolest party tricks. He took a pan of just boiled water and lobbed it into the air above us…it came down seconds later as snow! Another coffee with our team and then it was off to a well deserved sleep. It was a very cloudy night so there was no chance of seeing the northern lights. It is not something that can ever be predicted so we were not too hopeful anyway of seeing them, but it would be good. Torben had taken a group of Spaniards out the previous night on a Northern Lights tour but they were no where to be seen. How disappointing to come here on a holiday just to see them and for it not to happen?

Day 4 - 20/02/11:

The next day pretty much followed same routine as the previous day, getting us and the dogs prepared and then setting out into the white wilderness. It quickly became apparent that my wife is a much better dog sled musher than I. Falls: me 2 - wife 0. Fantastic day sledding through the forests and over the frozen lakes.

We spotted a moose at one point and better still, for me anyway, a wolverine. For lunch we stopped off at a remote Sami tent, hidden away in the forest, where we got a fire going and made some nice hot food. Heated up sweet bread mostly but it tasted so good.

Getting warmed up and fed inside a traditional Sami tent in the forest wilderness.

Once back at the cabin we got the dogs and ourselves all sorted then time to get changed before dinner. Just as we were getting changed there was some banging on our door. It was our guide, quite excitedly motioning for us to get wrapped up and follow him down to the frozen lake. Once we got there we realised the cause of his excitement. The Aurora Borealis (aka the Northern Lights) were putting on a show. Not just a faint glow, but a massive rainbow shaped glow with the flowing ribbons coming off it painting the sky. At that time I had no idea how to photograph such an event (even if it had crossed my mind to take a pic) so no stunning photos to share of it unfortunately, however I will never forget that moment of standing atop a frozen lake 150km inside the Arctic Circle playing witness to a mesmerising Aurora! Good times! The rest of the night was a chilled out affair, Torben's fish soup for dinner followed by coffee in front of the log fire. Homeward bound tomorrow.

Day 5 - 21/02/11:

Our flight home was not until mid afternoon so we were given a choice: take a leisurely route back to our base at Kiruna then on to the airport, or, take a direct route back to our base then spend an hour or two at the Ice Hotel then on to the airport. No brainer for the majority of our party so direct route it was and then Ice Hotel, couldn't travel all this way and not at least visit? By the time we got back to base I think we were all ready for the comforts of civilisation. Quick showers, lunch, packed, a sad goodbye to the dogs and off we went to the Ice Hotel. We only had an hour to spare at the hotel but that was long enough to explore. What an amazing piece of architecture it is.

Loads of rooms, each one unique with its own theme. An Ice Bar which served drinks in ice tumblers! Superb. There was also a small church incorporated into the hotel which 'real' marriages were performed in! So glad we had time to visit, great experience.

It was then time to head home. A short ride to the airport and our goodbyes said to our excellent guides/hosts, and before we knew it we were in the sky looking down at the vast white wilderness we had just explored. Good times :)