Skijøring

What the...? I said the same thing. So we figured that to further our pursuit of being true mountain people, we had better get some Nordic skis. Calling somthing Cross country doesn't sound as cool, and I relish any opportunity to make anything I am doing sound somewhat Vikingish or to refer to myself as a Norse God...anyway, where was I? Ah yes, Nordic skiing. So we took our new skis up to Hatcher's Pass (our new playground a short thirty minute drive away in the Talkeetna mountains) and found that cross country, er, Nordic skiing is actually pretty fun. Although a little awkward at first, it is a great workout, and a lot quicker way to get around on packed trails than hiking. And the best part? The Play it Again up here has the most radical 80's and 90's gear!

Norse godlike?

Alpina "Neo-Gator" circa 1993, hell yeah...

So there we are on the mountain, with Seabass of course, when we hear some dogs barking and coming up the trail. All of the sudden appeared two dogs hauling butt and dragging behind them was a dude on skis. Instantly I was jealous. Katrina informed me that I was watching someone skijor. I looked over at our ninety pound mixed northern breed dog and got excited. What is more fun than skiing? Skijoring. True, I had never done it, but I was certain it had to be more fun.

We decided to do a little experiment. We found a slight downhill on the trail and I put the leash on The Beast. Katrina went ahead about seventy yards and started calling Seabass. He started freaking out wanting to run to her. He took off and although he didn't have to pull me very hard, in about three seconds we were at full speed flying towards Katrina. Success!

Later on that evening I went online and started looking for skijoring gear. I called a musher who was selling a bunch of stuff and had a set up for skijoring. The next day we met her and got Seabass a harness, a skijoring belt, and an eight foot tow line with a built in bungee. She threw in eight booties for Beast's paws. Forty bucks for $175 worth of gear = awesome!

I also read on the internet about some techniques to start training him with. There are three basic instincts dogs have that you can use to get them to skijor. Dogs love to chase things, they like to run along trails, and they like to run in a pack. We figured chase would be our best method to start with.

Back at Hatchers pass we found out a couple of things very quickly about skijoring. One: It can be difficult to teach a dog it is oaky to pull when he has been taught for six years not to pull on a leash. Two: When you do finally get said ninety pound dog to pull you downhill at a full sprint make sure you know how to snow-plow well enough to slow down. Needless to say it was an interesting first day. The most important thing we were trying to convey to Seabass was that skijoring is fun. He is so happy when he is in the mountains.

Second time out on Archangel Trail

The second time out was a lot better, we took a different trail at Hatchers Pass and had him pulling for a hundred yards or so at a time on a slight downgrade. He is getting better with the commands, which are the same as with mushing dogs. Hike means go. On by tells him to keep going past any distractions. Whoa means stop (thankfully Bass is the best at this one). Haw means left and Gee is right. We haven't practiced these that much yet. I took him out for the first time without Katrina last week. It was tough because we couldn't do the chase technique. At first he was reluctant to keep tension on the tow line but by the end of the run he had good tension at a trot. He is almost perfect at on by now too.

We are thinking of joining a skijoring club so that we can get some tips and Seabass would definitely chase another skijor team. We have a long way to go but by the end of the winter we should have it figured out! There will definitely be more updates to come.