I’ve been wanting to do this for years, and when my plans were scuppered in Alaska (no snow – go figure!) I was determined to get on a dog sled and drive a team before the winter was out.

I woke up early at the cozy UBC hostel, raring to go. I drove the Boyfriend nuts over eggs benny in Creekside’s Southside Diner, wondering aloud about the dogs, the sleds, the commands…and boring him with stories from the Yukon Quest book I was reading. Finally, it was time to go.

We drove 20km north towards Pemberton, turning onto a logging road into the Soo Valley. We bounced along the pitted dirt road for a couple of kilometers before we spotted a truck with dog boxes and heard thirty keening dogs announcing our arrival.

In just five minutes, our instructor rattled off a dozen baffling commands and driving tips while the dogs protested the wait. I bundled the Boyfriend into my sled bag, yelled ‘up tight’, and barely had the vicious steel snow hook out of the ground before we were flying.

Our dogs, pretty Vixen and Mac in the lead, strong Spud and Stains as our wheel dogs nearest the sled, fell silent as they raced forward. These weren’t the slow but hardy Siberian huskies you might imagine, they were faster, smaller Alaskan huskies and crossbreeds of all kinds, better for the milder climate of these low-altitude ranges.

Mac started to flounder, and would only pick up speed when our guide yelled at him from somewhere behind me. I imagined he was sulking about my inexpert driving, and taking my shouts of encouragement as a license to slack off!

We pulled up and swapped Mac for Joffre and Spud for Pez, and were away again. Pez – a skinny, wolf-like dog – sweetly kept turning around to check he was in the right, and my encouragement began to get us somewhere!

After a while, we skidded to a halt on a snowy bluff to photograph the wonderful view of the coast mountain range and Soo valley, and switch drivers.

Though the view doesn’t change much from the sled bag (if you know what I mean!), the swish of the runners in the quiet behind the dogs was as magical as the illusion that I’d been driving them, and not the other way around!

I may not be writing many more articles. I think I’m moving to the Yukon and opening a kennel!