The Final Spring Husky Adventure

Meet the light and spring in the mountains of Lapland with our huskies.
When most tourists have left and gone home, we start out on this season’s final spring adventure. The nights are bright, the migratory birds arrive and the reindeer herds have returned after their long migration from the forests to their calving land in the mountains. Among the locals here in the north it’s well known that the last weeks of the season can become the absolute best ones.
The exact route for this tour will be decided after taking into account the weather and snow conditions at the moment. We will travel in both mountain and forest terrain, everybody driving their own dog sled.
The setup is simple! We go for a real adventure, straight up on the mountain with our well-trained huskies. In the sledges we bring tents, gas stoves, dog food and everything else we need to make this a nice experience.

Day 1 Arrival to Swedish Lapland
We meet at Saltoluokta Mountain Station. Check in. You will meet the huskies and we eat dinner together in the restaurant.

Day 2-8 Dog sledding over white expanses
We start the with breakfast at Saltoluokta Mountain Station before we go outside and make the dog teams ready. We explain how to load the sleds and why we are doing it in a specific way. How to drive and brake a sled, the simple commands and how we work with the dogs. Then we harness the dogs and hook them in in front of the sleds.
In the coming days, we have different routes that may be relevant. We will decide where the route goes based on the prevailing weather and snow conditions, and in respect to the reindeer. There are four alternatives that are most likely.

Alt. 1: Expedition from the mountains to the woodlands
If it’s good snow conditions and the weather forecast looks promising, we will try to run all the way from Saltoluokta down to Jokkmokk and our kennel. This will be a journey of 220-250 km. Initially along the famous Kings Trail but then through The Pearl River Nature Reserve and east towards Jokkmokk.
We will pass places like Aktse and the Rapa valley, Kvikkjokk the small mountain village at the end of the road, Årrenjarka and Lillselet which is one of few villages without road connection, and at the end come down to Jokkmokk. We will both stay in cabins but also stay several nights in tents.

We travel east along the Great Lule river valley and then follow the winter trail north towards Tjuonajokk. Here we turn west and follow the Kaitum Rivers valley up until we reach the Kings Trail, then go further north to the classic area west of Kebnekaise. If there is a lot of snow we can go past the Kebnekaise Mountain Station down to Nikkaluokta and then southwards back over the mountain plateau towards Tjuonajokk and Kirjaluokta. Some years it is very little snow on parts of this route.
If it’s less snow we will stay in the high mountains and run west towards Hukejaure and onward down to Sitasjaure and Ritsem. From Ritsem we will go by car down to Jokkmokk in the afternoon on day eight.

Alt. 3: The outskirts of Sarek
We follow the Kings Trail southwards towards Sitojaure and Aktse. Here we travel in classic areas with Sarek National Park west of us. We visit the classic Rapavalley and see the large accumulations of Whooper Swans
in the lake Laidaures outlet. We will travel through the old primeval mountain forests in to the Manak area up towards the high mountains in the outskirts of Sarek National Park. We will end the tour in Kvikkjokk, Årrenjarka or other suitable place to be picked up by car to drive down to Jokkmokk in the afternoon on day eight.

Alt. 4: The Ritsem area
If we get an early spring with less snow and warm temperatures we have a plan for that too. Then we move up the start to Ritsem where we normally have good snow conditions until the end of May. Here we go straight out on the bare mountain north towards the high mountain region west of Kebnekaise. The goal is to run to Hukejaure, Alesjaure, Sälka and then back to Ritsem. A nice tour where we will be traveling above the tree line most of the time. Weather and wind conditions will decide the exact route during these days. In the afternoon on day eight we will
go by car down to Jokkmokk.

Setup: Most of the nights are spent in tents. Regardless which of these routes we take, we will go through the
beautiful nature types of Swedish Lapland with bare mountains, virgin mountain forests, river valleys, wide open plains and frozen lakes.
If we were able to book the weather we would be happy if we could book different kinds of weather, everything from snowstorm to calm sparkling days with blue sky, so that you get to experience them all. Now it doesn’t work like that, so we must take the weather as it comes.
During the afternoon at day 8 (if we haven’t run alternative 1) we will have a car transport down to Jokkmokk. Check in at Jokkmokk Hostel and eat a nice dinner together.

Day 9 Departure from Swedish Lapland
After breakfast it’s time to leave Jokkmokk.

Group size:

Minimum 2 persons maximum 4 persons.

Included in the price:

• Experience wilderness guide
• One dog team per person
  
• Warm jacket, pants, warm shoes, hat, gloves
  
• Sleeping bag and equipment for the tour
  
• Fullboard from breakfast day 1 until breakfast day 9 (Typical Lapland and Swedish food)
  
• Accommodation, 1 night at Saltoluokta Mountain Station (group room), 1 night in Jokkmokk Hostel Åsgård (shared room) and 6 nights in mountain huts and tents
  
  

Not included in the price:

• Travel as well as transfer to Saltoluokta Mountain Lodge and from Jokkmokk
  
• Travel insurance
  
• Alcoholic beverages
  
  

For Who?

Minimum age is 18 years old.

NOTE! A certain level of fitness is required.
Read: »What it takes to join this adventure

No previous dog sledding experience is required, but you must like animals and feel empathy for them.

Tour conditions:

In wilderness cabin we sleep on bunk beds in mixed room with both gentlemen’s and women’s. The wilderness cabins are heated with wood/gas and have no electricity or running water. Dry toilet is available at the camps but at tent camps we dig hole in the snow.

Location:

How to get here: