Category: Dog Sledding

The 15th of March was the start date for one of our most extreme dog sled tours in our program. Eight days through Sarek National Park, where conveniences like cabins and marked trails don’t exist. This year we had Olle, Jens and Henrik as guests on the tour. Just before start we got green light from the reindeer keepers that we could start the tour from Saltoluokta which was our original plan. We (Jokkmokkguiderna) always try to have a good communication with the reindeer keeping Sami’s in the area where we travel so we don’t disturb the reindeers. This winter we were lucky to get a gap between two bigger reindeer groups so we could go through without making any problems. We went south from Saltoluokta to Sitojaure lake and from there west to Rinim towards Pierikjaure and down into Rapadalen (Rapavalley). The second and third nights offered us marvellous northern lights (latin name: aurora borealis) dancing over the mountains. We continued west through Alkavagge and out to Padjelanta National Park. The snow condition changed from hard and easy travelled in the east from Sarek to soft, deep and heavy…snow up to our knees in central Sarek and towards west. The dogs and we had to work hard to reach Tarralouppal and the upper part of Tarradalen (Tarravalley). The trail in Tarradalen down to Kvikkjokk went like clockwork! The longest day we went 55 km. We spent one night in Såmmarlappa cabin together with the cabin host Ola and stopped for coffee and a chat with Marianne and Roger at Tarrakaise. We continued along the trail to Kvikkjokk and followed the Kings trail to the hostess Berta in Pårte cabin. The next day we reached Aktse where we met Lena, Örjan and their 12 huskies. We had a nice evening

After a few days of rest for the dogs at home at the kennel we loaded sleds and dogs again for a new week tour (6 days) from Saltoluokta. On this tour followed Marianne and Roland from the southernmost parts of Sweden and Paola and Franco from Italy. On the first day we had hard wind and a lot of snow was in the air. After checking the weather forecasts we decided not to go up on the bare mountain and instead go on a day tour down along the Lulea River. You should always have respect for bad weather in the mountains. We got a windy but nice tour down in the protecting forest and ate lunch with the Öberg family in Björkudden. The next day we headed up to the mountains and defied the decreasing wind. Sitojaure, Sitoälven, Aktse, Tjaktjajaure, Rittak, Aktsenjunjes, Sitojaure and finally back to Saltoluokta Mountain Station. The tour was enlightening by very nice guests and sometimes interesting weather. If I should make a summery of this tour I would say that even if it was very windy the first day we could have taken us to Sitojaure the first day, but the margins was smaller than I wished and it would have been a very hard day. You should always be open for modifications of your plans when you travel in the mountains. /Matti