Dusting Off the Sleds

A beautiful morning for a half day tour (16/12/25)

On the 2nd of December, we went out on the sleds for the first time - with guests. To start with, we used our 4-passenger sleds with 8-dog teams, on a 6km loop. But when you have ~30 guests, it's almost impossible to get through all of the guests in the 2-hour time limit, because the trail has some tricky corners, and a road crossing. So, in the 2 weeks that we've been sledding, we've made some adjustments.

LGE - Singapore

For our Singaporean guests, we now do a 1km loop through the forest and onto the lake. They can drive themselves on our regular guest sleds, and we assist them on the snowmobile. They each get a ~20 minute husky ride, and we also give them a kennel tour, hot berry juice and cookies by the fire.

TPG and DTV - French and English

For our French and English guests, we are still using the 6km loop over the road. We make a short stop halfway to give them the opportunity to switch drivers and take photos. They also get berry juice and cookies by the fire afterwards.

Half Day

Racka and Atlas as the wheel dogs on my guide sled

Yesterday we went on our first half-day tours, and it was amazing (see photo)! We went on an 11.5km loop through the forest, and over some frozen wetlands. Joyce went first with 5 sleds behind her, and I followed, with 4 sleds behind me. It was my first proper tour this season with my guiding sled, but I had a awesome team, and the German guests were excellent drivers. The half-day guests receive hot berry juice, and cinnamon buns on the fire after their tour.

I only had to catch 1 'flying sled*! At a tricky corner, I saw the drivers behind me fall off, so I quickly stopped my team, put my 2 anchors in, and turned around to catch the flying sled. I caught the leaders first, then slowed them down enough to give me time to jump on the brake. The fallen drivers were taking their time to catch up to me, so I had to yell at them to "please hurry!", because I could see that the anchors on my guide sled in front were about to give out, and then we'd all be in some trouble. Luckily I made it back to my sled in time to jump on before the anchors ripped out (my dogs were very strong).

*Flying Sleds*

If the driver lets go of the handlebars, the dogs will not stop. They will keep running, faster and faster, until either they get badly tangled and are at risk of choking on the lines, or until they crash into something. It's dangerous for the dogs, and for any passenger left on the sled. That's why it's super important for the driver to hold on, and if they let go, that we act fast enough to catch it! On one tour last week, I caught 7 flying sleds. I hope that's the most for a while!