Next up: Skijoring

Skijoring: a Norwegian term (literally, "ski-driving") where a horse or a vehicle is pulling the skier. Skijoring with dogs is also popular and is a combination of dog-mushing and cross-country skiing. Similar to dogsledding, but the person is on skis rather than a sled.... and harnessed in.

I read about this in the Oregonian last year and thought it would be a blast. Since we're going to Bend this weekend, I looked up skijoring and found the Cascade Skijoring Alliance who are based in the area. I emailed them to find out if any outfitter offers lessons to beginners. The president, who is now based out of Florence and runs the dogs over sand dunes (also pretty cool), referred me to a friend of hers and said that skijoring isn't very popular, so there aren't a lot of people who do teach it. However, she told me that if I didn't find anyone to help me this winter, I can always come down to Florence to learn on dry land.





Here's a story of a whole skijor trip with a dog.
And if you want to see a killer series of pictures of dogs running down a steep sand dune, check this out.