Observations on dogsledding from somebody who doesn’t know anything about dogsledding

After a couple of dogsledding experiences in both Alaska and Greenland, I have made some surely keen observations. Dogsledding styles differ considerably between the two cultures. In Greenland, mushers sit on their sleds, which are wider and sturdier than Alaskan sleds. The dogs run in a fan formation and are controlled by voice and with a whip. This contrasts with Alaskan dogsledding, where the musher stands behind the sled, only use their voice to control the dogs, and the dogs run in a row. My impression is that the Alaskan mushers treat their dogs better. Greenlanders claim that their dogs sometimes need to be hit to be controlled because they are such wild dogs. Personally, I don’t think their dogs are any more wild than Alaskan huskies, and they definitely don’t need to be hit. Some mushers in Alaska have learned that the dogs perform better when they are treated well. Somehow that doesn’t surprise me.

There seem to be advantages and disadvantages to both styles, and I think they could learn from each other. The Greenlandic dogs seem more difficult to control because they are not in a line, so they are more likely to get tangled up with each other or with a passing sled. Also, because the musher is sitting down its more difficult to see what lies ahead. On the otherhand, the trails can be very rough and full of rocks. Its easy to imagine that a standing musher would be thrown off their sled if they hit a rock. What I find maybe most interesting is that they don’t have a very good braking system. They have no way to anchor the sled into the ground, and their only way to force the sled to stop is to throw a large rope (like you’d see on a ship) around the front of the runners. I’d have thought that they would’ve developed something more sophisticated by now.

By standing, the Alaskan musher can more easily navigate his team around obstacles. Their sleds, which are somewhat lighter, are easier to manuever from behind but likely couldn’t stand up to repeated collisions with rocks. This is okay because they mostly run through the forest and swamps anyway, which is also why they run in a line. The sleds have both an anchor and a brake.

Two things that I’ve definitely learned: I need my own dog team, and Umimmak (= musk ox = long bearded one) would make a good dog name.

I will post photos later, but right now I stupidly don’t have a way to download them from my camera.