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5 days - Extended adventure tour through Swedish Wilderness
Get ready for the ultimate winter experience as you learn how to care for and drive your own team of Alaskan huskies through the beautiful Swedish Lapland, Kirjesålandet Nature Reserve. This reserve is part of the Vindelfjällens Nature Reserve which covers 5500 square kilometres of astounding nature and is the largest Nature reserve in Europe.
Days driving your sled through pristine snowy landscapes, nights in a wilderness cabin, enjoying dinner by the fire and life under the stars, what could be better!
These tours are all limited to a maximum of 4 guests, which allows you to enjoy a cosy atmosphere and means the guides can give each person any guidence and help they need.
As a Certified B Corporation, 50 Degrees North has designed this tour using handpicked local hoteliers and suppliers who share our ethos of delivering services and activities of high social and environmental standards.
The CO2-e per person per day of all tours is carefully measured following each season. We fully offset all emissions of our tours on your behalf, and we constantly look at ways to reduce emissions where possible.
Husky sledding (champion racing husky teams).
Catch a bus to Slussfors (not included in the price) from Umeå (approximately three hours). From there, your hosts will pick you up and transfer you to the guesthouse.
The first stop on our kennel tour is to meet some of our many proven champions and future stars in the dog yard. The kennel has a very special atmosphere. These dogs are superheroes, they are truly special athletes, and we make sure we treat them like that every day.
On either the first or the last night you will be joined for dinner by 2-time Finnmarksløpet champion Petter Karlsson. This is a unique opportunity to learn what it’s like to reach the peak of performance in one of the world’s most uniquely challenging sports. Imagine how it feels to run with your team through 1200 km of the world’s harshest landscapes in only one week. Petter will be glad to share with you some special qualities of the dogs in your own team!
After dinner you’re welcome to relax in the sauna or chill out in our cosy living room, and get ready for the adventure ahead!
Every morning starts with a hearty breakfast together, and preparation for the day to come. With assistance from your guide you will harness your own dogs and make them ready to start.
A quick check to be sure you have everything you need and then it’s time to hit the trail! Over 30km of pristine trails are our playground on this first day. In the afternoon you arrive at your first wilderness cabin, Flottarkoja, which sits beside a beautiful stretch of fast running river. Between the forests and the mountains, with open water all year round, this is a hidden gem of peace and tranquility.
Every afternoon when you arrive at a new cabin, together with your guide, you will take care of and feed the dogs together. After that you will share a traditional swedish evening meal. On the first day this will be moose and potatoes fried on a traditional outdoor muurikka.
Today you travel through magical mountain landscapes. Along the trail you will see the natural magic created by the arctic weather, like pine forests covered by so much snow that they look more like giant snow sculptures than trees.
This part of Lapland is rarely seen by humans and you easily get the feeling that you been transported into a fairy tale world.
In the afternoon you arrive at the next cosy wilderness cabin. After chores and a hearty dinner, guests have the opportunity to unwind in the wilderness sauna.
The more time you spend with the dogs, the better you get to know them and you’ll start to discover their different personalities.
The surrounding nature will astound you anew with different views every day. On your last day on the sled you will travel through ancient spruce forest on the way back home to the husky camp in Slussfors.
After some time to wash and relax it’s dinner time - your guide will come and serve a delicious meal while you all swap stories and reminisce about the adventures you have shared.
Transfer to Slussfors then continue by buss or train to Umeå or Stockholm
Price per person. Specific departure dates every 4 days. Limited availability. Maximum 4 person per tour. Min. age is 18. The three dates over Christmas and New Year's are slightly more expensive.
You need to be in shape and be prepared to run uphill with your team, do a few hours of chores each day to take care of your husky team, and do your share of the work. But guests generally find this aspect of the trip makes it much more meaningful than if you had someone doing everything for you. This tour is designed to give you an authentic dog mushing experience, to get a taste of the dog mushing life and culture. You will learn about the dog mushing family traditions and heritage.
Please bring your own winter hat - as warm and as woolen as possible.
Your luggage gets carried with you on the sled - you will be given a 40L waterproof bag for this. Extra luggage and suitcases will be stored at the guesthouse for you.
Transferring to the start location involves taxi, transfers and bus. Your hosts will look after you and give you detailed information about this. It is a remote, small Swedish village.
SUSTAINABLE TRAVEL:
This trip is all about getting back to nature, and enjoying the beauty and tranquillity of the Vindelfjällens Nature Reserve which you will call home for this experience. The carbon footprint of this trip is kept to an absolute minimum; dog mushing is by its very nature one of the most basic and environmentally friendly ways to travel, allowing you to access remote parts of the reserve which are only accessible by husky team and you may go days without seeing another soul. The environmental impact of the sledding is minimal due to the low temperatures and perma-frost in winter, so there is little evidence of scarring on the ground come the summer months. Group sizes are kept to a maximum of 4 people, to not only ensure that the utmost support can be provided, but to keep the impact of tourism to a minimum.
The wilderness cabin is remote and without electric power or running water, so water is collected from local streams and rivers and any waste is carefully managed to ensure it has as little environmental impact as possible. Meals are kept to simple locally sourced Swedish ingredients and are often cooked with traditional cooking methods such as an outdoor muurkikka over an open fire.
As a racing kennel (as opposed to a kennel used just for tourism purposes) it is in the interest of the keepers to ensure that the animals are in the best physical care as possible, and this means providing only the very best food and care to the dogs to ensure they are happy and healthy. Dog mushing is a way of life for the keepers and the passion they have their dogs is evident in the incredibly high welfare standards given.
Hot air ballooning in Lapland whilst watching the Northern Lights, hiking up volcanoes, glamping in Greenland, a private meeting with Santa or climbing three peaks in Norway - see our collection of unmissable travel experiences across our Nordic and Scandinavian region.
Sweden's Lapland is a winter wonderland of majestic beauty and tranquillity.
Travel insurance is compulsory for all tours with 50 Degrees North. The safety of our travellers, staff and operators is a major priority of 50 Degrees North. With an operational office in Norway, 50 Degrees North has access to an up-to-the-minute flow of information regarding the countries we work in. We are also in regular contact with the various operators we use. Their in-depth knowledge and understanding of their various areas is vital.
