We then gathered around for our trip briefing. There would be a total of ten people on the five day trip. As well as Torkil and Tove there would be four staff; Sigrid from Sweden, Ted and Lina from Lithuania and Isabella from Argentina.


Tor then gave us a tour of the Villmarkssenter with first a look at a sled that was similar to what we would be using. We would each have to carry in the sled our tent, food, dog food, camping mattress, shovel as well as clothing and other personal gear etc.


One of the dogs wearing a cone while recovering in the indoor kennel.


And the outdoor kennels with the rest of the dogs.


I was expecting the working dogs to be a little more aggressive and not so friendly but they were very pleasant and Tor said that he had never been bitten in his 20+ years.


A couple of very cute puppies snuggled up.


Kelly being tempted to take one home!


Back inside again where we were fitted with our boots for the trip. They were definitely the largest I have ever worn and almost resembled moon boots. As well as wearing two pairs of socks they had an inner liner to keep the toes and feet nice and warm.


Trying on the Arctic grade jackets to survive the snow and cold for the next few days.


Getting a lesson on how to use the Primus burners to cook and melt snow with. The element had to be first pre-heated to properly vaporise the white gasoline fuel to get the strong blue flame.


Tor showing us how to put the tents up.


Although there was the option to have our own individual tents, myself and Nigel paired up to share a three man tent to save weight, time and hassle having to put up two separate tents each night and to make it easier to share cooking equipment.


The sun struggling to peak through the clouds.


Looking south as the sky begins to darken in the late afternoon.


Tor showing us how to put a harness on a dog. On the wall just behind were the different harness sizes marked with different colours.


Buckets of meat and gruel ready for the hungry dogs outside.


Tor giving us our first lesson on mushing (dog sledding).


We would stand on the back two foot boards and hold onto the handle bar just above. Snow and ice would accumulate on the foot boards so we had to periodically remove it with our boots.

Going forward was achieved by yelling out 'Up' to the dogs and 'Stoppe' to come to a halt.

There were two brakes at the rear of the sled; a drag mat which is used to control the speed of the team and a claw brake with two big spikes which dig into the snow to help bring the team to a stop.

The dogs on the lead sled driven by Tor are the most experienced and understand his commands. All the other dogs follow the front sled. Likewise the first dogs on any single sled know what to do and the rest of the dogs follow them. When you let the brake off the dogs will go for it and continue at full pace until either the sled is simply too heavy (i.e. on a hill) or you make it too hard by applying the brake. Then the dogs will look back at you accusingly and bark a lot, as if to say: why on earth have we stopped!?!

We then went out to put all the theory into practice with our first ride.


The dogs in their harnesses and hooked up to the main gangline ready to go.


Unlike the main expedition where we would each have our own sled and dog team, this afternoon we would go out in pairs; one person on the back of the sled driving it and the other sitting inside it and along for the ride.

Nigel had done a mushing day trip before so I let him drive first while I sat in the sled to enjoy the ride.


Halfway through our evening excursion we swapped over and I got to drive the team back to the Villmarkssenter. I was abit nervous at first but gradually got the hang of it. The dogs followed the sled in front so we didn't have to worry about steering so we just had to control the speed and make sure the dogs didn't run too fast or let the sled runaway on the downhill sections and run into the back of the dogs.


And having a good pant back at the Villmarkssenter!


I was a little apprehensive before the trip with having work with and to look after my own six dog team while traversing the Arctic tundra. I had had dogs as pets before but this would be quite another challenge. After our successful first mushing run I was a little more confident that I could survive the trip however and might even have some fun.

We then headed back inside as night began to fall.


Warming up with some Reinsdyrgryte (reindeer stew) for dinner.


And some tasty Norwegian Sjokoladekake chocolate cake for dessert.


Tor giving a briefing on the plan for the trip. The exact route was flexible and would depend on weather and other factors.


We then retired to a traditional gamme-hut to sleep on soft reindeer skins beside an open fire at the end of day 2.