Our hugely popular Husky Sledding Challenge is back for 2020 - and for the first time ever, we have not one but two groups!
Due to overwhelming demand, we've launched a second date for 2020 so even more Dream Challengers can experience this amazing adventure.
Your sled awaits to take you away to the frozen wonderland of the Northern Alps on a challenge like snow other.
Sled through the silent forests of Norway, Finland and Sweden to a finish at the famous Ice Hotel, accompanied all the way by a team of the most amazing huskies you’ll ever meet. Venturing along mountain trails, around frozen lakes and through pristine snow by day and camping by night, you’ll learn to set up camp, care for your huskies and master the art of rural sledding.
Watch out for moose, reindeer, snow grouse and fox, while making life-long friendships with your tightly-knit group of no more than ten challengers. Led by our professional tour guide, you’ll create unforgettable memories and discover a world akin to Narnia.
This incredibly special challenge sells out very quickly every year, so please register soon to avoid disappointment.
Want to hear what this challenge is like from a past participant?
Read our interview with one of the lovely challengers who took on the Husky Sledding Challenge in 2018.
Meeting at the airport in London, we catch a short flight to Tromsø in northern Norway, just above the Arctic Circle. We’re then transferred to our hotel in this amazing city. Tromsø is a place many people visit, hoping for a chance to glimpse the elusive Northern Lights. Akin to a permanent Christmas market (without the seasonal festivities), the city is also renowned for its centuries-old wooden houses and its beautiful 1965 Arctic Cathedral that pierces the skyline with its peaked roof and colourful stained-glass windows. We have some time today to explore Tromsø independently, before meeting back up at the hotel in the evening for a relaxed dinner together.
Today, we get ready for the snowy challenge that awaits us. After breakfast at the hotel, we meet our challenge guides at around 11am and drive out to the camp base at Kvaløya, an island still in the municipality of Tromsø. Here, we meet the adorable Alaskan huskies for the first time in the dog yard and we spend a few hours going through equipment, safety instructions, tent training, kitchen and heating system training and how to handle the sled and dogs. We rest tonight in a local community cabin on the side of a fjord (a stream created by a glacier) and after a group dinner, we sleep in cosy arctic sleeping bags on mats and reindeer skins. It’s a simple and easy standard to ease you into the outdoor life.
After fuelling up on a big breakfast, we load the huskies into the dog truck and drive out to the starting point near the Lyngen Alps (Norway). You’re shown your own team of huskies, who will be your companions throughout the challenge. Here, we unload and the sledding begins! This evening will be our first night in the tents.
Live the dream and discover the scenery of Northern Norway, Sweden and Finland by dog sled. Each day is unique as we travel through wooded valleys, mountain passes and frozen lakes and pass arctic wildlife. Watch out for foxes, owls, snow grouse, eagles, reindeer and moose! With endless, sparkling snow by day and a mind-boggling canvas of stars by night, our eyes are truly bedazzled! Each night we will sleep in high altitude mountain tents.
Today marks our final day on the sledges as we arrive at our end goal, Kiruna, in the northernmost part of Lapland, Sweden. In the afternoon, we say farewell to our husky companions, before exploring the famous and ridiculously beautiful Ice Hotel. (We won’t blame you if you break out in a song of Let It Go!) Afterwards, we check in to our Kiruna hotel and enjoy a hot shower, before we meet for a last communal dinner together at a local restaurant.
We depart Kiruna and return back to London, which may feel unusually warm after eight days in the snow!
Pay a non-refundable registration fee and then commit to fundraising a minimum sponsorship amount for your chosen charity.
In return, everything for the challenge will be provided – flights (not including airport taxes and the fuel surcharge), food, accommodation, transfers, camping equipment, guides, medical support, etc.
The more money you raise for the challenge, the higher the percentage of funds that directly support the work of your chosen charity.
Pay the challenge costs yourself and choose to fundraise or donate as much as you can for your chosen charity.
Pay the tour costs (plus airport taxes and fuel surcharge) yourself, 10 weeks before your challenge starts.
In return, everything for the challenge will be provided – flights (not including airport taxes and the fuel surcharge), food, accommodation, transfers, camping equipment, guides, medical support etc.
This trip is suitable for anyone with a reasonable level of fitness. We do not recommend this challenge if you suffer from back pain, epilepsy or heart problems. By the time the challenge comes around, you'll need to be physically strong in order to control the sled and set up camp. Once you have signed up for the challenge we give you a realistic training programme, which gradually builds up as the challenge gets closer.
Please don't be! The majority of people will sign up for the Husky Sledding Challenge on their own. Once you've signed up for the challenge, we'll send you a link to a private Facebook group for everyone registered for the Husky Sledding Challenge 2020. Please feel free to use this space to swap questions, advice and updates with your fellow sledders on your training and fundraising. You may also want to reach out to the fellow participants in this group to see if there's anyone in your local area you can meet up to train and fundraise with.
Absolutely not! One of the amazing things about the Husky Sledding Challenge is that people of all ages will come together to do something very special. The age range is likely to be from 18 to 75.
We will provide you with Arctic proof boots, winter clothing and camping gear. We will supply you with a comprehensive list of everything you will need to take on the challenge well before your departure date.
We will overnight in a combination of tourist class hotels, cabins and we will camp on the husky sledding nights.
Yes of course! If you wish to extend your stay you will need to come out of our group flights (and of course we would deduct the cost from your balance).
In addition to paying your registration fee, you will need to budget for your airport taxes and the fuel surcharge (currently £150 but subject to change – up or down), personal travel insurance, gratuities, optional tours and personal expenses.
You will need to take out your own personal travel insurance covering health, accident, loss and repatriation. Dream Challenges has a recommended policy, which we will send you details of. You can, however, take out your own insurance, providing it covers you for a husky sled challenge in Norway, Finland and Sweden. Currently, UK nationals don't need a visa to visit Scandinavia. We'll let you know if this changes.