fittness level for tromso dog sledding

[bobbisailsolo]

I am very interested in dog sledding. It is offered as a shore excursion on my hurtigruten winter voyage. For fitness level it is labeled a 3 out of a possible 3.

First, how strenuous will it be. I am 61, in okay health, but certainly not at my prime. I read someone had to push their sled up a hill, which would be difficult for me....

Second, is it possible to do as a single person. Looks like its designed for 2 and you take turns driving. Im really not interested in doing the driving.

Does anyone have any experience with this?

 

Thanks for any feedback

[kaisatsu]

I have been dogsledding on a winter trip to Tromsø, but not as a cruise excursion. It's certainly not that strenuous if you're not driving. It's mostly just cold, since you're sitting still outside with the breeze in your face. I found driving to be a bit more strenuous, since you had to lean in the turns and manage the brake. Not especially bad, but definitely a lot more work than riding!

 

On our trip, everyone was in a pair, but I'm sure that if you really didn't want to drive at all, the guide could probably accommodate you on his sled.

 

From my experience, you may need to be able to climb onto the sled out of deep snow (We had to get off at the turnaround point on our tour), and there is a chance that your sled could overturn if the conditions allow for higher speeds. That's pretty unlikely if you're riding with the guide, but if you're riding as the passenger of someone else on the excursion, it's definitely a possibility.

 

We didn't have to push our sled uphill at any point, because the track we were on was relatively flat.