Mail Sport Extreme: Ida-Helene Sivertsen is covering thousands of kilometres across treacherous terrain with her team of Siberian Huskies … as they prepare for the world’s northernmost sled dog race

At this time of year our attention is naturally drawn to one man, his sleigh and his nine reindeer who accompany him around the world.

However, Santa will forgive us if we take a closer look at a similar activity currently taking place in Northern Scandinavia, where participants in a dog sled ride are led through the rugged Norwegian countryside by their faithful dogs.

Ida-Helene Sivertsen and her ten Siberian huskies live in Tromso, deep inside the Arctic Circle, and have been on a tough training schedule, covering more than 2,500 kilometers before the dog sledding season.

Sivertsen grew up as a dog lover and admits that competitive racing in this winter sport was always attractive.

She initially borrowed dogs from friends and sometimes competitors, but has steadily built her own team.

Sivertsen’s love for dogs has only blossomed as a result. And that’s a good thing, because she has ten of them in her care all year round.

“Here, above the Arctic Circle, dog sledding is huge,” she tells Mail Sport. “A lot of people do it for tourism, but most of the big kennels and the ones that have a team go to competitions and racing.

‘We have some big races here, especially the Finnmarkslopet, which runs through the northernmost province of Norway. It is also the heaviest. This is the top race that most people want to do.

‘Then there are the smaller races, over different distances. If you go with registered Scandinavian breeds – Siberian huskies – some breeds have different classes, but with the longer breeds there are usually two classes. Open, which is a maximum of 16 dogs and limited, which is six to eight dogs.

‘I do the six to eight dogs because I usually only have eight or nine dogs in training. If I were to go to open class I would need at least 20 dogs, and I don’t have them – it’s expensive. It’s tough enough with the limited class. The sled is so heavy and then you have the other equipment and the weight of me and the dogs.”

Sivertsen lives with her regular team of Myra, Lala, Hilma, Yukon, Nahanni, Nova, Balder and Chloe, as well as puppy Vinnu and retired racer Skadja.

Although Myra is her traditional lead dog in the short-medium distance races up to 300 km, Sivertsen will also borrow Denali from a fellow musher.

Sivertsen’s goal is to participate in the Finnmarkslopet race in limited class over 600 km for the second time. When it was first founded in 1981, it had only three participants. Now there are more than twenty times, all with their own dog team.

With the race taking place in March, Sivertsen will have plenty of time to deepen her bond with her furry friends.

‘I have a better bond with my dogs than with my family. I spend so much time with them every day, even when I’m working,” she admits. ‘The first thing I do during the day is go outside and feed them. I take care of them first before I take care of myself. They are my priority.

‘I can’t describe the bond with them. When we are in the mountains, I never worry about not getting home or in the car because I know they will get me there.

‘I have to trust them. When we go to train or race in places I don’t know, the dogs don’t follow the wind or get disoriented.

‘They are very good at this working mode and I have a few experienced dogs helping me and the younger dogs.

“Even though we have checkpoints where you can rest, you still have to take care of the dogs; give them a massage, feed them the best food, let them sleep and then head back out onto the trails and into the harsh temperatures.

‘But I love it. If you go there, I’ll be alone with the dogs. We just disconnect from everything, we stay in our own bubble.’

The connection with nature and her dogs is something Sivertsen cherishes. Especially after an incident during training not so long ago.

She says: ‘In 2021 I was training alone and it was about minus 30 degrees. I followed a trail on frozen ice and we went through the ice. I was there with the water up to my thighs, but my lead dogs didn’t panic.

“Somehow we got out, back on the ice and snow. If my lead dogs panicked, I don’t know if we would have gotten out alive.

“I’m lucky enough to have five or six dogs that are good leaders that I can switch between. The other two just want to hunt little critters and birds!

‘The lead dogs are so important because if something happens they remain calm, which helps to keep the youngsters calm.

‘I usually spend so much time with the dogs, so I know them very well, I see their personalities, their challenges, what they like. So I usually change what role they have on the day during training. I’ll try to pair them with another lead dog, that sort of thing.

“Yukon is sometimes paired with a good lead dog, so he would be a trainee, and I would see how he tackles different challenges; whether that’s deep snow or taking instructions.

‘Some dogs are naturally good leaders, but some may need more praise and trust.

‘I have two dogs that can only be on leashes because they work better alone. They are just like people. Some are leaders, some are not.”

As the world changes and temperatures rise – and snow falls later in the season – dog sledding is facing challenges like never before.

With only 20 minutes of daylight some days during an eight-month winter, Sivertsen admits that choosing the right team of dogs in such extreme conditions is just as important as taking precautions when it comes to her own personal safety.

She adds: ‘The biggest challenge we face now is climate change. We’ll have shorter winters, snow later in the season, higher temperatures.

‘I may not be able to train much for my first race. Being by the ocean, we will get a cold breeze from the Atlantic Ocean, which will be freezing.

‘If we go to the races more inland, you have those extreme temperatures inland. Further to the northeast there are not so many trees (to protect you), so the wind is very strong and it comes over the plateau and can bring the temperature to minus 40 degrees Celsius.

‘You can be on the sled at a speed of ten kilometers per hour, so you have to protect your face and your body with the right clothing. Then when you do long-distance races, you are not just there for a few hours, but also for a few days.’