Driving Tips



How do we learn how to drive?

Before you start, we will talk through and demonstrate all of the points that you need to know for a safe start, secure turns, speed control and stopping, as well as ‘counterbalancing’ the sleigh, ascending and descending. Those joining us for longer safaris can also learn how (and why) to supervise the teams during breaks.


Starting-point

The starts are high-adrenaline moments for the huskies and the mushers. The atmosphere can be electric. At rest, the sleds are tied to an immovable object such as a holding post (on the starting line) or tree. We will help the passengers to settle comfortably on their reindeer skins with blankets tucked in around their feet and we will take pictures of you primed and ready to go if you like.

You will then simply wait with two feet on the brake and both hands firmly on the handlebars until all the teams are ready. We will remind you to pay attention when we come to release your line so that the dogs won’t immediately jump forward and pull you off balance. The guide will then untie your team, and will remind you to wait for a hand signal before proceeding. Once you are in this position and ready to go, your hands must be kept firmly on the handle-bar at all times. The only time when you should ever consider letting go with one hand is to signal for help from a guide). (Nearly every day we see clients become relaxed half-way round, and maybe reach for their cameras, or just loose grip. And then, suddenly, the passenger is enjoying a free ride with the dogs, whilst the driver is left behind!).

We make you leave a good gap between you and the sleigh in front to make sure that you understand how to hold your team since if you can hold them, we know that you can stop them. It also gives the dogs a chance to settle into a running pace with no pressure from the team behind. Smaller women may have to lift the sleigh a little as well as simply having their weight on the break to hold the dogs still. Once you have been given the instruction to go, you can release the brake by putting first one and then the other foot onto the anti-slide position on the runners. If the dogs have been waiting for some time, you may have to push the sleigh forward with a couple of steps to break the inertia but be very ready to quickly jump on!

The most common difficulty for novice mushers is being able to relax when mushing. The adrenaline and the fear of falling off usually makes you tense up and hold on really tightly. Tensing up exhausts you very quickly. It also increases the likelihood of falling off since you need to be able to hold your stomach firm whilst absorbing bumps, turns and sudden twists in the trail with your knees, in a relaxed manner, much as you do whilst skiing. Luckily, it doesn’t normally take too long before you will realise that you are managing fine and you can enjoy the experience.

On longer safaris, you will learn how to hold the sled firmly with one hand whilst untying the rope’s slip knot with the other – all the time, whilst the huskies are pulling and jerking forwards strongly. You till then grab the sled with both hands, run a couple of steps if need be to break the inertia and jump onto the runners. You will soon learn to tie the sled up in such a way that you will be able to easily reach the end of the rope with one foot still on the brake for when you next need to set off.


How close should I be to the team in front?

As soon as you leave the start line, the safety distance you need to keep between the sleighs should be 10m. The safety distance gives you the chance to react appropriately when there are problems either in your own team or if the team in front of you suddenly stops unexpectedly. Always observe the velocity of the team in front of you and break when they do to keep the distance between the sleighs constant so that there is a domino effect through all of the teams if the one in front slows down or stops.

It is frustrating for both dogs and guides if people deliberately allow extra distance to build up between sleighs in order to get their dogs to run more quickly. If everyone starts to do that, the safari becomes very disjointed. Hence, it is preferable to just keep one foot lightly on the break and to regulate speed in that way. If there is a big difference in speed between your team and the team in front, we can also teach you how to use the break mat to help keep you at a safe distance behind.

There will be a cord trailing from behind the team in front of you and this is a visual cue to help you to maintain a safe distance between your sleighs. If your lead dogs approach this cord, you are too close to the sleigh in front to be able to react in case of problems.

Of course, everything depends a little on the situation and that is something that those out on the longer multi-day scenarios will learn to judge for themselves. The guide will quickly spot if your team seems to be consistently faster than the team in front and he will call a halt and change the order of the teams if need be.


Turning

As with biking or skiing, balance your body-weight in the direction of the turn; lean your body towards the left when the bend turns left, to the right when the bend turns right. Your weight should primarily be on the inside runner but you will need to keep a bit of weight on the outside runner (as you do on the outside pedal when biking) to counteract the possibility of the sled tipping inwards.

Do all of this while keeping your feet on the skis and your hands on the handle-bar. In other words, if you think that you are going to need to reduce speed in order to take the turn safely, break before you get to the turn and then balance your body strongly, for the turn itself. This is particularly important before tight turns or turns in which snow is banked on one side. Sometimes the turn is so tight that you have to almost stop the team and then run the sled around the corner before the dogs tug on it again, to avoid it over-turning. But most turns are easy and you can make it by simply lowering your centre of gravity by crouching down and possibly altering the position of your feet on the runners. All of this will be explained to you, as appropriate, during your pre-safari training. We will warn you if there is a particular need to pay attention.

For advanced mushers, it is maybe interesting to think about what happens to the line that the dogs are attached to when cornering. As the lead dog takes the corner, the line curves around the trail for the following dogs. If the musher brakes in the corner, the line will straighten. The wheel-dogs, the sled and the musher will then find themselves cutting across the corner in deep snow, often getting tangled in bushes and trees. This is why we say that it is good to brake before turns but not in the middle of turns since it is best that the sled is free to carve around the corners.


Control of speed and stopping

• The brake is situated at foot level, between the skis. The harder you press, the more resistance is applied to the dogs. Use the break to ensure that there is at least a 10m gap between you and the team in front, and to reduce your speed before taking turns. Use it also on descents to ensure that the sleigh doesn’t overtake and injure the dogs and to prevent it sliding out sideways.

• NB The 10m security gap is because the dogs are naturally competitive and want to pass each other, or at least stop side by side, but when they do so, unsupervised, there is a high chance that they will fight or get tangled.

• To stop, it is advisable to place two feet on the brake (and maybe pull upwards, hard, if light-weight) and to keep that position for as long as you wish your dogs to be stationary.


Counter-balancing

• All of our routes follow tracks that we work hard to maintain in good condition. Whilst you might not actually notice this during your safari, you would definitely notice it if we didn’t put in this work. It is definitely one of the many points of differentiation between our farm and many others.

• On either side of these groomed pistes, however, the snow is softer and more powdery. In some conditions, it can be difficult to make out the hard track and in others, the sleigh can simply start heading towards the soft sides if you are unbalanced. When this happens, the sleigh will often start to tip outwards and potentially get stuck. If you feel that happening, immediately counterbalance by placing two feet and all your weight on the opposite runner, (if the sledge is leaning to the right of the track, place your feet on the left runner etc) and gently pull the sleigh in that direction. This action, combined with the force of traction of the dogs will automatically pull the sledge back onto the harder track.

• Whatever you do, even if you end up on your knees, with the sledge tilting almost impossibly on its side, don’t let go. If it overturns, the guide will help you. However, it is more likely that the forward momentum of the dogs combined with your helping force in the correct direction will right the sleigh and you can continue on the next phase of your adventure.


Ascents and descents

• When there is a steep up-hill section in the trail, don’t hesitate to help your team by pushing on one leg, as if you are on a scooter, or maybe even walking or running behind the sledge (whilst keeping your hands firmly on the handle-bar).

• The huskies will know quite quickly if you are a good musher or not and they will be testing you to see if you are aware of and responsive to, their needs during your first couple of outings with them.

• When descending, it is recommended to brake and even to have one foot lightly, but constantly, on the brake if the side is steep or long. This will help to prevent the sleigh slipping sideways under you and it will also ensure that you do not hit the dogs.


Surveillance of your team

Each driver is responsible for his or her team during the safari and it is important to always keep an eye on the dogs. If you see anything untoward or even anything that you are not sure of, please err on the side of caution and call for help from a guide. Common problems to watch out for, include:

• The leaders starting more slowly than the two swing dogs and the line therefore getting tangled (you can reduce the likelihood of this by keeping one foot lightly on the break when you start off to ensure that the gang line is always taut).

• The wheel dogs getting their legs stuck in the line or neckline.

• A dog running on 2 or 3 legs (this indicates that they are either trapped in the line, somehow, or that they have injured one paw or leg).

• A dog being carried through the snow on its back by the momentum of the other dogs (this can happen if a dog has tumbled into the loose snow outside of the tracks and has lost his footing. You can generally just stop and allow the dog to right itself again, and it is normally fine, but double check for lines wrapped around legs, or neck chains that have become too tight as a result).

• A dog is constantly shaking his head or looking backwards all the time.

• Dogs relieving themselves. We teach them to ‘go on the run’ but some do this better than others. To help them, just break gently or completely and allow them to resume their place in the line once finished.

• NB: If you see two dogs running on the same side of the main line, this is not a problem. We try to train them out of this but some like the confidence of feeling another dog running close by (whether the other dog really appreciates it or not).