Arctic sleddogcenter

7 Day trip to Salvasjärvi
The first 7 day trip ever leaded us to Galdotieva and further north on to Salvasjärvi cabin. Our international group drove through all different landscapes up north to the treeless area at Salvasjärvi near the norwegian border. We covered 325 km, having 67 km to go on our longest day. We saw some nothern lights at two evenings, had a lot of sun, some wind and also a little snowfall. Following some pictures that might tell more than many words:

On the way to Hetta

Old summerpath near Kiekerö

 

 

 

             

 

 

 

 

On lake Ounasjärvi

Nothern lights at Muotkajärvi

 Last Tunturis before Salvasjärvi:

Duppla and Ciao

No trees anymore...

Baikal and Frodo "taking a sunbath"

A big thanks to all the dogs... they did a great job.....!!!

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UUPS!... As I have been all weeks on weeksafari, I almost missed that we got more puppies within the last 3 weeks. Ines and her little ones you know already: here two of them doing what puppies are best on...

     ..... chewing everything and just looking cute...       

 

 

  Erle got one puppy being 3 weeks old now:

Erle and Åke

 
                                                               
                                                              

Macarenas 5 puppies 2 weeks old:    









 Pinjas 3 puppies 1 week old:
                                                     

 

For me I had nice trips with very nice people for the last 3 weeks, next week will be the first 7 days safari, what makes a nice change as we'll get out of our normal trailsystem and go up more to the north to the treeless area... pictures in a week...

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The puppies are growing at a great speed... Now the little ones start already to explore the surroundings...




For me and my it was another week in the forest, this time with a lot of sunshine a good group and again great landscapes...

My team this week: Merlin+Remu, Drako+Denali,Ghosty+Dingo, Duppla,Frosty+Boreal

First team with Avalon+Aura, Inari+Hetfielt

Farytale landscape between Kerässieppi and Saukkooja

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Driving dogs is only one part of the experience. While being on trip we stay in cabins without running water or electricity. Things like having a shower, sitting in a warm place ore drinking a cup of tea have to be "earned" first...
First thing to do after the dogs are put to their over night places is usaly getting water and making fire. Waterplaces are either wells that dont freeze very much or then a whole in the lake that has been covered by a insulationboard. Dogs will need about 100 liter of water and another 50-100 liter we'll use in kitchen and in sauna.

Getting water from the well in Juutilainen

There are several fires to be lit, two in sauna (one to heat the sauna and one to heat the sauna) 1-2 in the cabin. If we are lucky, there has been another group leaving the cabin in the morning so there will be some warmth left. ( unless some members leave the doors open while getting everything to the cabin... in -30 its only a question of minutes to loose whatever warmth was left)
Loads of wood are going to be burned during the evening, but at some point we'll be sitting there in a nice and warm cabin.

Cutting the meat with "ladypower"

Other things to do are cutting the meat for the dogs in small peaces, feed the dogs, give them some straw for the night,..









In between there is always time for a good cup of tea/coffee and something to eat.

Almost ready to give soup

Evenings passe quickly with sauna, food and good company.

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Say hello to our newest members in dogcamp! Ines got 5 puppies last week; 4 girls and one boy. Here the first pictures of the dogfamily, one week old...

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Another 5 day safari has passed again. Nice groupe, great clear weather and some free running teams... ( to make sure nobody gets bored... )
 Dogs are in really good shape at the moment and the trails are really fast. Friday we came home from Saukkooja 44km in 4 hours inclouding 1 hour lunchbreak...
Comming week some snowfall is promised, that might slow us down a bit.

Joiku and Aragon

Baikal, Chico, Fjäll, Coyote and Sumu

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Finally the sun has come back. After 4 weeks without the sun it was great to welcome her back in a long sunrise/sunset hour... Many pictures were taken, so that at some point the dogs probably started to wonder what is going on, so many stops were made.... fortunately the dogs were patient with us, so  no jewed harnesses or lines resulted from our photosessions...

Pallastunturi

Merlin and Remu waiting to go on...

Hilla getting ready for start...

This week Hilla one of my 4 month old puppies joined us on the trip being a sleddog in every meaning of the word...( sitting on the sled...) Lunchbrakes and evenings got some more activities with her and she found some new friends cuddeling with her...

Hilla with her father Merlin

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Two really different weeks... First Christmasweek with temperatures going down to -37 and then the New Years week with temperatures just bellow 0...!

In very cold temperatures it is important to wear the right clothes, using many layers so that the air in between gives some more insulations, then protect your head as well as possible, no cream on your face but rather no washing in the morning and then covering your skin with a buff or a scarf. All hills on the way are very welcome of course because there is the only chance the dogs slow down so that you have a chance to run behind them and get warm again...
With cold temperatures the sky is of course most beautyfull, yellow, orange and pink going over the whole sky as the sun didn't appear yet.

lake Vuontisjärvi

"Warm weather" is more a problem for the dogs than for the mushers. Last week Hetfielt needed to get a ride in a sled to reach lunchplace, his "batteries" were just empty, because of soft snow and warm conditions. (Now wonder as he has at least three times as much hair as the others...) After a break, a little snack and a change into my team, he was ok again for the rest of the week. The temperatures also went down gradually again so that on friday reaching -20 again must have been a great thing for him...

Hetfielt