Skijoring 101

Today was the last day that I had to spend some time with Marko and Tika before flying to New Zealand on monday morning. Luckily today was a beautiful day. Although a bit windy, the sun was shining on the mountains around Fish Lake and there were plenty of snow to be able to enjoy one of my favorite winter sports (sorry to everyone in Quebec who have no snow!). So we decided to take Tika skijoring... I'm sure my friends here in Whitehorse are all familiar with this sport but for those of you who are wondering what the hell is that, here is a Skijoring 101 course! Basically, skijoring is cross-country skiing with a little help from a doggy friend. We simply use a climbing harness to hook up a rope equipped with a bungee cord to the dog's specifically designed harness. Some people use up to 3 dogs to pull them which to me is complete madness! There are also races here in the Yukon but we are far from entering any of those... Tika would need to stop eating bacon, lay in front of the woodstove and start remembering what her roots are (trapline dog)! Luckily, our friend Pierre lent us one of his trained sled dog to help motivate Tika. Pierre is also from Quebec and has been living in the Yukon for many years. He runs a company that organizes dod sledding expeditions... check out his website, there are some videos of what it is like to be standing behind a dog team! http://shinevalley.free.fr

Next time you will hear from me, I will be in Sunny New Zealand!
Ciao!
Genevieve
p.s.. there are more skijoring photos if you click on the ''Gen's photos'' link on the right!