News, Tips & Bargains : Do-It-Yourself Dog Sledding Up and Down the Canadian Rockies

Here’s a chance to hitch up the huskies and mush through the mountains.

Outer Edge Expeditions, which specializes in adventure expeditions for small groups (two to four people is as big as each group gets), will give you your very own dog team and teach you the basics of how to drive it during a five- or seven-day expedition among the snow-covered peaks of the Canadian Rockies.

Worried that you’re not up to seven days of running behind a sled? Relax, says director Brian Obrecht: “We always recommend that you be in relatively good shape, but you don’t have to be Mr. Triathlete. You can treat the sled like a scooter and hop on and off.”

Other activities include snowshoeing, cross-country skiing and photography.

Nights are spent at the remote Goat Mountain Lodge and a base camp that features heated tents and cabins that are warm enough to play cards in without gloves. Your guide turns chef at mealtimes and you are not allowed to help with KP.

Trips begin and end in Calgary. The five-day version costs $790 and includes most gear, guide services, most meals and accommodations. The seven-day trip is $1,120.

Outer Edge, a 5-year-old company based in Walled Lake, Mich., provides small adventure expeditions from Australia to the Amazon. It has offered the dog-sledding trek for three years and also has a tour that combines dog sledding and skiing. For a brochure, information and reservations call (800) 322-5235.