Dog-sledding in Ljungdalen, Sweden

From 8 to 16 March, my dad, Paul and I joined Ralf Hewelcke and his daughter, Vanessa, in Ljungdalen, Sweden for a new experience, dog-sledding. Ralf is a very experienced outdoors person. Among the many expeditions he participated in, I was most impressed and moved by his Greenland adventure. In 1997, he and a number of Greenland sled-dogs followed the paths of the famous Sirius patrol*; an adventure that led them through approx. 2500km of Greenland and lasted for about three months.

Our trip to Ljungdalen (slightly shorter than Ralf's Greenland expedition) consisted of three one-day trips and my personal highlight, a two-day trip where we spent the night outdoors. After nearly 30km and three and a half hours of concentrated "mushing", we reached a shelter cabin (photograph), our final destination for the day. Since the cabin only accommodated for two, I (kindly) volunteered Paul and myself to sleep in Ralf's much tested tent, next to the dogs. (Paul, that's what friends are for.) Some of the photographs (see LINKS on the left-hand side (a dear friend of mine brought to my attention that it is actually the "other left")) were taken up there. The remainder of the photographs were taken the next day on our way back home. It still makes me chuckle (at least now) thinking of Ralf's grinning face when he pointed out two endless ascends which obviously we had to surmount to get back home. That said, regardless of how tiring and exhausting it was, the experience was priceless. I hope that the photographs will give you an idea of what we experinced during these five days.

I'd like to send a BIG thank you to Ralf and Vanessa. You two really made this a very special experience for us.

Seb

* A Danish special forces unit and dog sled patrol conducting long-range reconnaissance and enforcing Danish sovereignty. The unit is operationally under the Greenland Command and administratively under the Royal Danish Navy. The patrol represents Denmark's military presence in Greenland. (taken from wikipedia)