September 13, 2009
Visiting with Scandinavian Dog Mushers
After we spent a day touring some the museums in Oslo, we were invited to the home of Petter and Torhild Ringerike. They also have a malamute kennel, Trap Line Kennel.
They had a very nice kennel setup, beautiful dogs, and a great home with a lovely view of wheat fields and mountains.
This sleepy puppy had us missing our own pups back in Two Rivers, Alaska!
We had a great visit with Petter and Torhild. It was such a pleasure to talk about Norwegian history with them, and to gain insight into the world of dog sledding with Malamutes in the Scandinavian countries.
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We were contacted by a Swedish couple, Chris and Kristin, who have a malamute kennel in Sorsjon, Dalarna, Sweden. They invited us to their place, so we hopped on a bus and traveled across the countryside to their farm. It was an unexpected but welcomed side trip!
They had a cute litter of pups and a great kennel.
Joe, Chris, and Chris’ partner, Hendrick talking about Joe’s arctic expeditions.
Kristin showed us her “baby.”
And they had a handsome red mal, too!
We were invited along on a training run with Hendrick and his team.
Chris and Kristin have a farm, which includes sheep…
…Icelandic horses…
…and some really awesome Scottish Highland cattle.
We had a fire and BBQ with an organic homegrown meal and stayed overnight there in Sweden.
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The following day we took the bus back to Oslo and met up with Johanne Sundby for coffee. Johanne is very well read on the great Norwegian polar explorers and was a pleasure to visit with. She is especially familiar with Helge Ingstad, a lawyer turned trapper/musher who, with his wife, proved that Greenlandic Norsemen set foot on North American soil 500 years before Christopher Columbus. Johanne cared for Ingstad in his later years and inherited his dogs when he passed away.
We had a great time with everyone and hope the folks we visited can come to Alaska to see us sometime! 
