Dogsledding—what is it like in practice?

[luzula]

I've always been fascinated by dogsledding, possibly due to an overdose of "Call of the Wild" as a child (the Jack London book, that is, not the due South episode or the Robert Service poem). When I first saw the pilot of due South, it was the dogsledding that drew me in as much as, well, other things.

Recently I went dogsledding for a week, and I thought I'd share what it was like. The purpose of this post is to describe the practical details, which can be important if you want to write post-CotW stories. It's not about winter camping or cold-weather survival, though--we stayed in cabins, and it's April, so it wasn't very cold.

Keep in mind that I'm not an expert in this, and I'm sure there are many ways to dogsled--probably I am influenced by the opinions of the musher who was with us as a guide. I did look up all the English terms, though, so they should be accurate. The pictures look kind of small, but if you click on them twice, you'll get bigger ones so you can see the details. Thanks to isiscolo for beta-reading!

( Equipment )

( What are the dogs like? )

( Caring for the dogs )

( Driving the sled )

( Weights, times and distances )

( So what about Fraser and Kowalski? )