Storm Mushing!

[Glacier]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v38/Glacier1998/Sled%20dogs/06/stormmush.jpg
It didn't look this bad at home, but it was nasty out on the trails. This was really early in the run and the dogs were still having fun! That didn't last long. At about the six mile mark, Paxil started to act funny, like she didn't want to go anymore. I learned a long time ago the hard way not to argue with my lead dogs. So we turned around and went home. Well, as soon as I found a spot to turn in. Turning a dog team around is not as easy as it sounds! It was miserable heading back! The wind was howling!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v38/Glacier1998/Sled%20dogs/06/sunfun.jpg
Sundin was still having fun. He would have kept going quite happily!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v38/Glacier1998/The%20d-80%20pics/snowdogs.jpg
"Storm, what storm? We don't need to come inside or use that dumb doghouse."(Delta and Antare) Why do I even bother buying straw!!??

[Dorothy39]

Your pictures and stories always astound me Glacier!!!

The wind was howling :eek: , and Turning a Dog Team doesn't sound EASY to me at all!!

Sensational Pictures !!!!!

[critter crazy]

OMG!! That last pic is just adorable!!! Looks like a scene from the movie "Eight Below" Love it!!

[RobiLee]

Brrrrrrr....it all looks sooooo cold!

Awesome photo!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v38/Glacier1998/Sled%20dogs/06/stormmush.jpg

The last pic made me giggle. I can see Tori doing the same thing. Although, I have to admit that this past month has been the coldest winter that Tori has seen and twice she has went out and did her business and came back clawing and scratching at the door...lol.

[GreyhoundGirl]

OMG!! That last pic is just adorable!!! Looks like a scene from the movie "Eight Below" Love it!!

That's exactly what I thought! lol!

Boy... your hands must have been cold while you were taking those pictures. :eek:

[chocolatepuppy]

What a great storm picture. I can't believe your dogs laying out in the snow, my two would be heading for the house! :D

[Freedom]

I always enjoy your photos. Can you please explain, where are you, what am I looking at in the first photo? Is it a lake you are on? It is such a wide open space, I wonder what is there in the nice ("warm") weather! How do you stay on the sled and take a photo? I mean, in this photo it is pretty clear the dogs are still running full tilt. (Sometimes, you show us photos and the dogs ahave stopped, so that I can understand a bit better.) Is your camera around your neck, and you use just one hand for the camera?

When you turn the team and sled, that is making a wide arc, isn't it? So with all that open space, I guess I don't know what you mean "looking for a place to turn!?"

I love the one with them in front of the dog house, too, ha ha.

I hope you don't mind all these questions. Your world is so different to mine!
Sandra

[elizabethann]

Great photos. Must be awesome exercise for you & the dogs.

[Daisy and Delilah]

AWESOME PICTURES!!! Incredible as always!! It never ceases to amaze me how those dogs don't freeze out there like that. It does look like a scene from "Eight Below". That's exactly what I was thinking :)

[Queen of Poop]

We're having a Chinook here, so just keep that nasty winter weather up where you are!!! The doggies don't seem to mind it too much though. Hugs for all the doggies!!!

[joycenalex]

We're having a Chinook here, so just keep that nasty winter weather up where you are!!! The doggies don't seem to mind it too much though. Hugs for all the doggies!!!
gayle when your chinook gets down to ohio it's called an alberta clipper.LOL how curious is that?
great pictures, and please pass me a hot cup of tea..brrr

[Glacier]

I always enjoy your photos. Can you please explain, where are you, what am I looking at in the first photo? Is it a lake you are on? It is such a wide open space, I wonder what is there in the nice ("warm") weather!

Yes, that's a lake. A fairly small one, but a lake nonetheless.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v38/Glacier1998/scenery06/lake2.jpg
This is what it looks like in early June from my kayak.


How do you stay on the sled and take a photo?

That camera is a point and shoot Olympus. I put it on the action mode before I leave. I keep it inside my parka so the battery doesn't freeze. I keep one hand on the drivebow at all times. If it's even a little bumpy, I hook my free arm around the drivebow. If it's really rough or a steep dowhill, I don't even try to take pics.


When you turn the team and sled, that is making a wide arc, isn't it? So with all that open space, I guess I don't know what you mean "looking for a place to turn!?"

Turning on the lake would have been relatively easy, but the dogs were still having a good time at that point. We didn't turn around for another four miles or so. That trail is wide enough for two sleds to pass and that's it. Turning a team in that situation is very difficult and requires a very good lead dog. "Come Around" is a difficult command to teach. Paxil can do it and does it well, but I prefer to avoid it if at all possible! The leader has to bring the team in almost a straight line back towards the sled, while keeping the other dogs from getting tangled. The musher has to stay on the sled as it causes a very sharp turn and a snowhook would likely pop out. Watching your team run off without you truly sucks. I waited til we came to a spot where a snowmachine had gone through the trees and followed that track to turn around.

[cyber-sibes]

Watching your team run off without you truly sucks. :eek: I would imagine so! Do you have to round them up and walk them back to the sled to bring it home? wonderful pictures, as always. Paxil sounds like such a smart girl! Love the huskies in the snow - the amazing thing is how warm they are when you stick your hand by their paws & nose - they get downright steamy. Skritches to your pack!

[Glacier]

:eek: I would imagine so! Do you have to round them up and walk them back to the sled to bring it home?

Oh, no. They keep running sled and all. The musher has a long, cold walk home. If you're lucky, they just beat you home. Very bad things have been known to happen to sled dogs when their musher is no longer with the team.

[gemini9961]

That last pic made me giggle. Since I am in Florida any little bit of cold weather and my dogs don't want to step foot out and there yours are just enjoying the storm. :D

[Ginger's Mom]

Oh my goodness, what amazing pictures, and what interesting information. I always love reading your threads. And Antare and Delta, you are such silly boys, it is a good thing you are both so darn cute. ;)

[Jadapit]

You must feel so much peace when you and the dogs are out running. I would love to do that, I envy you. The last picture is amazing, I love it.

[Randi]

Wow, what wonderful pictures! It must be such a thrill going on these "excursions" - I'd probably freeze to death, but I WOULD like to try it just once. :)

Did you see any of the expeditions from Greenland? Our future king (Frederik) was on one of these. Such rough conditions.

Thanks for sharing, your pictures amaze me every time.

[Kalei]

Wow, that is one thing I have wanted to do all my life. I see you live in Northern Canada. I live in Nova Scotia and the most we've had this winter is a couple of centimetres. It sucks, I wanted way more snow than that.

Those were great pics, I just love the one of them running on the lake. It's a pic you would see in a Discovery Magazine or the movies. Huskies are such strong dogs..and strong willed:p

[DrKym]

Ya know hun I was already impressed now I am just flabbergasted!

*bows in amazement* Thanks so much for thinking of all of us and sharing!
Amazing just amazing pics and such a guilty pleasure to open any of your threads :p

[kimlovescats]

WOW is all I can say!!! :eek: Awesome pictures and to think of what you are doing is amazing! I'm sorry but I have to say it ... BE CAREFUL out there! ;)

[Glacier]

Did you see any of the expeditions from Greenland? Our future king (Frederik) was on one of these. Such rough conditions.



I have seen some pictures from those expeditions, beautiful but treacherous! My family is Danish so I try to look up Danish news occasionally!

[Glacier]

I'm sorry but I have to say it ... BE CAREFUL out there! ;)

I always have an emergency bag on the sled with enough stuff in it to keep me and the dogs alive, if not comfortable,for a night or two. I keep a smaller kit, just some matches, bandages, a knife and handwarmers in waist bag. That way if I loose the team and can't walk home, I can keep myself warm!

[captain]

Tamara,
WOW - you do so much, and I love the pics you take. But of course, living here in the SUN all the time, I had no idea what you would have to take "in case" your team ran off without you.

Has that happened to you at all? Do you tell hubbie which trail you are going on before you go? Do you have mobile phone reception out there?

Soooooo many questions, apologies for that .... :)

[Glacier]

I had no idea what you would have to take "in case" your team ran off without you.

Has that happened to you at all? Do you tell hubbie which trail you are going on before you go? Do you have mobile phone reception out there?

Soooooo many questions, apologies for that .... :)


The emergency bag on the sled has paper, matches, a few pounds of dog food, some granola bars for me, a small pot to melt water in, a silver heat reflecting blanket, extra mitts, another hat, and a full first aid kit for human and canines. I also carry extra tug and necklines, booties and a couple spare clasps. I also have an axe and a pair of cable cutters on the sled at all times. The axe is the most frequently used piece of emergency equipment!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v38/Glacier1998/Sled%20dogs/06/fixedsorta.jpg
Fallen trees aren't unusual! This was last week after I chopped through the tree! Sundin and Pingo ducked under it but there was no way the rest of us were getting through!

The cable cutters are there because most of my lines are cable filled rope. In the event of a serious tangle, it could be necessary to cut a line in order to save a dog from serious injury.

Yes, I've lost a team three times. Fortunately, every time we were headed home and they just beat me back to the yard. Once my neighbor found them and drove the team home. Once they just showed up and Stuart found them waiting by the gate to get back in! The last time, a kid on a skidoo found them, stopped them, tied them off to a tree and then went ripping around until she found me walking! She gave me a ride back to my team who were several kilometres ahead of me by that time! I took her a bunch of gift certificates a few days later to say thanks!

It hasn't happened in three years(knock on wood). When I first started mushing, a friend who has won the Yukon Quest, told me I couldn't call myself a musher until I'd walked home without my team! Once I did that, he told me to come over and he'd show me how to drag behind a team! That's where I learned the hooking my elbow under the drivebow trick. I haven't been dragged much this winter, but I do it quite well now!

I carry a cell phone but reception is iffy pretty much everywhere around here. Even in downtown Whitehorse, cell reception sucks sometimes!

I tell Stuart which general direction I'm planning to go. There's a massive trail network around here and I rarely decide exactly where I'm going until I'm out there! I call him when I get home(he's rarely home until late in the evening) so he knows I made it back. If he's not around, I leave a note for my father in law. He's here pretty much daily and would hopefully notice if I wasn't!

[Cinder & Smoke]

Originally Posted by cyber-sibes
http://petoftheday.com/i/our_smilies/eek.gif Do you have to round them up and walk them back to the sled to bring it home?




Oh, no. They keep running - sled and all.
The musher has a long, cold walk home.

I always have an emergency bag on the sled with enough stuff in it
to keep me and the dogs alive, if not comfortable,for a night or two.

I keep a smaller kit, just some matches, bandages, a knife and handwarmers in my waist bag.
That way if I loose the team and can't walk home, I can keep myself warm!

I'd just make sure I had Bus Fare inna pockit ... then
Walk to da corner an Hop on da Bus!
http://petoftheday.com/i/our_smilies/tongue.gif

Hey Glacier ~

You might SERIOUSLY consider a Mountaineer's or Skiier's "Safety Beacon" to carry with you.
Sends out a signal that can be tracked by a search party.

Be CAREFUL out there!
http://petoftheday.com/i/our_smilies/wink.gif

[captain]

Once again Tamara, WOW ............ :eek:

Thanks for filling me in. I am sure there were many other people who wondered too.

Cheers
Michelle

[Ginger's Mom]

Yes, I have to agree with Michelle...Wow! And you do this voluntarily? ;) I am only kidding I am sure it is very exciting and invigorating, and you probably get a real adrenaline rush while out running with the dogs. But as many have said already, just be careful out there.

[Randi]

Tamara, I had forgotten about your Danish family. :o Don't know whether you know about this link: http://www.cphpost.dk/
and this: http://www.aok.dk/section/english

Thanks for telling us about the emergency equipment and everything, it's really really interesting!!

By the way, your photos and stories are fit for NG, have you thought of that?

I'll say like the rest.... Be careful out there! ;)

[Pembroke_Corgi]

Brrrrrr! I can't blame Paxil for wanting to head back. The view there is amazingly beautiful, but I think I prefer seeing your pictures more than I would like being in them. At least you've got a good winter sport to keep you and the dogs happy...do they actually prefer the winter over the summer?

[lizbud]

A question: Who is the dog running off lead beside the sled? (Post #25)


Really terrific pictures, as usual. :) Thanks so much for posting the pictures
and commentary. :)

[Glacier]

A question: Who is the dog running off lead beside the sled? (Post #25)



That's Daisy, my neighbor's dog. It's very rare that I get out of the yard without Daisy tagging along. If she had a better coat, I'd put her in harness with the team, but she gets terrible snowballs in her fur. She's in great shape though. She runs a lot of miles with us.

[Cinder & Smoke]

That's Daisy, my neighbor's dog.
It's very rare that I get out of the yard without Daisy tagging along...

She runs a lot of miles with us.




... and part time custody of Daisy Duke, the neighbor's mutt.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v38/Glacier1998/Dogs/pretty_daisy.jpg

She actually lives about a mile from us, but she can get to our place without crossing any roads. She's allowed to roam and is very social. So whenever she hears barking or excitement at our place she comes over to check it out. She comes on every sled run, walk, bike ride ect with us. Most of my dogs like her and she's learned which ones don't. When one of those is with me, she stays right beside me and leaves the dogs alone. She's great friends with Chum, but they cause utter havoc together in the yard. If Daisy and Chum are in my yard together, there will be a fight. They start the chaos and then back out and watch the scraps!

Her owners aren't mean to her. They feed her and are gentle with her. They just don't give her the attention or exercise she needs. She gets that at my place. It's not an ideal situation, but Daisy seems healthy and happy.

found by Phred

[cassiesmom]

Really terrific pictures, as usual. Thanks so much for posting the pictures and commentary.


These are terrific! I don't know anything about Huskies or sledding so it's fascinating to see the snaps and read the text! Could you give them skritches for me, too, please.

[lizbud]

That's Daisy, my neighbor's dog. It's very rare that I get out of the yard without Daisy tagging along. If she had a better coat, I'd put her in harness with the team, but she gets terrible snowballs in her fur. She's in great shape though. She runs a lot of miles with us.

Thanks,

I thought that might be her tagging along, but not sure from the back. :)
I think I've said this before but, I am so glad Daisy lives close to you guys. :D