Chiens de traîneau, sortie privée

What surprises everyone is the noise, or rather its absence. The dogs howl loudly enough to drown conversation for as long as they are tethered, and the second the team sets off there is nothing but the hiss of runners on snow. Children remember it years afterwards. Two very different formats exist side by side, and we are often asked to choose: the first ride, where you settle into the sled under a blanket while the musher drives, suits the youngest and lasts around twenty minutes. Driving the team, where you stand on the runners yourself after an introduction, takes half a day and a little composure downhill. We have a preference for the late-afternoon outing, when the light falls across the pastures, but it books a long way ahead. A word on the dogs: they live outdoors and work in hard cold, which is their nature. The kennels we use are the ones you can visit without anyone asking to be warned first.