Dog-sledding

The dogs - with their kennels

The final activity we tried in Tromso was dog sledding. I obviously had no idea what dog sledding was going to be like, because at the start I was really looking forward to it. I thought you would just stand on the back of the sled calling out instructions and the dogs would do whatever you tell them to do.  Ooooh boy did I have no idea! Basically the dogs are your enemy and the whole time you are fighting against them throwing you off the back of the sled and abandoning you in the snow. Once they are attached to the sled they go completely crazy, the only thing that will stop them is the "brake", which is just a piece of serrated metal that you jam into the snow with your foot.

We went twice, the first was only 90 minutes of sledding at night, this was meant to be a bit of a northern nights tour as well, but since you were so focused on either not being tipped out of the sled, or not being thrown off the back, there was no way you could look for lights. We were again lucky with the weather though, it had been snowing for 2 whole days prior to our sledding, so the dogs were super happy. In retrospect it was actually a really easy dog sledding tour, though it certainly didn't feel like that at the time.

Carnage up ahead

Given that we were doing a longer dog sled tour later in the week, I am actually really glad we did this one first. This tour was exactly what you needed to get used to dog sledding, it was totally touristy, they had everything down to a fine art. The van pulled up to the hotel, let the previous participants out, picked up the new sledders, drove to the dogs, you got changed, played with the dogs whilst they fixed the sleds. Then you had some very rudimentary instruction; this is the brake, don't let go, lean into the corner, then you were off. When you returned it was straight into a warm room with tea and chocolate cake, then back into the van and home. Seriously it was a well-oiled machine.

Beautiful spot - that's where we were snowshoeing the other day

The dogs from the night tour - lazy animals!

The second one was much more arduous, it was kind of crazy that they let beginners do that tour. This was 3 hours of dog sledding, and just so much harder. This was really down to the conditions though, it had rained the night before and was quite warm, so the snow had started to melt. This meant there was dirt patches appearing, and you would sled through flowing streams. It was actually the dog company we had seen when we were snow shoeing earlier in the week. That time we had seem the sledders cross the road and disappear off for a good hour or so. With our tour we only barely made it to the road before turning back. That's how big an effect the conditions have on the sledding.

We needed this at the end of the night

It was so hard that it was actually quite hilarious. People were being thrown out of the sleds, falling off the back, the sleds were getting caught in trees, tipping over, it was total carnage. So many times we would be waiting for someone up ahead to right their sled, and the dogs from the group behind us would start to overtake us, the driver would have fallen off again. It was never a big deal, since you could just reach out and grab the harnesses and they would stop immediately. It just must have been exhausting for that group. At one point we are waiting again, and we look around and we see that the driver had again fallen off the sled behind us, but it was at the top of a hill. The dogs just pick up speed, the person in the sled is screaming, eventually they get thrown out and the sled starts overtaking the dogs, that's when they stopped. I don't think those people will be dog sledding again. There was no way I was driving the sled this second time, we actually had a great time though. Since when the sled tipped over, Dave could just pick it up. So for me there was no real effort, just a lot of adrenaline.

My view for the day

Looking back on the two tours, I would go with the more arduous company again, not sure about the touristy one. The dogs were much stronger and better trained. With the second company, we barely had to push, only a bit up the super steep hills. Whereas the first company had really lazy dogs, and you basically had to push the whole time. That's where I came a cropper, since I was trying to push the sled and I slipped. The dogs don't stop, they just go even faster because there's no brake, so I'm on my tummy behind the sled, being dragged along. It felt like for ages, but must have just been a few seconds. Then I thought to reach up with my other hand and push the brake in, then they stopped. It was quite a scary experience though, since you don't really know what the dogs would do if you let go completely.

The second company just seemed to have stronger dogs, and they felt a little less out of control, they seemed to know how to pull the sled smoother or something. This second company does week long dog sledding adventures, where you each drive your own team and you camp in the wilderness, that would be awesome! I would definitely do that with this company, they were already all booked out for this season though, so would have to be 2017 at the earliest.

Dave with our super friendly sled dogs

The dogs were a lot smaller than I expected too, it was really impressive to go that fast, with what are really only medium sized dogs. I was expecting the big Alaskan malamutes, but they were actually just a bit bigger than kelpies. And so super friendly, again I was expecting them to be a bit stand-offish, like cattle dogs can be, but even though they were working dogs, they loved pats. No growling, no fighting, just lovely dogs, they would come out of their kennels just for pats. I definitely recommend dog sledding, it is super fun, and you really feel like you have experienced something at the end.