Dog sledding, reindeer, and a warm bed (Icehotel Day 2)

From snowmobiling to sleeping on a slab of ice to breakfast, we had had a busy first 12 hours at the ice hotel, but the fun wasn’t going to stop yet. However, first we had to deal with some logistics. We had to clear out of our ice room by 8:30 and get our stuff out of the storage cubicle by 11. To make this all work, we repacked our bags and checked them in the luggage storage room by reception, leaving only our heavy outdoor suits in the cubicle

Since our dog sledding excursion started at 9:30, we amazingly accomplished this 8:45 so that we had some time to get breakfast before heading out. Even if we didn’t have a morning excursion, we still needed to be out by 8:30 because the Icehotel opens up all the ice rooms and suites to the public during the day (you can buy entry tickets at the Icehotel itself).

Right after eating, we suited back up in the super warm overalls, boots, and other gear (thus fully clearing out of the cubicle) and headed out to the meeting point. Our excursion was quite full, but the one that seemed to have the fewest people was the cross country excursion—I’m not surprised.

After a short walk to the Torne River, the sound of dozens of dogs singing the song of their people (loudly) could be heard well before the frozen river even came into view. They had a number of sleds, each with a big team of dogs harnessed in front of it, every single dog rearing to go.

After getting paired up with a mother/daughter pair and one member of a large Filipino group, our driver gave us a rundown of how to stay safe (mostly, keep your feet on the runner board and stay seated). Then, our sled was off! The dogs had a ton of energy, and our driver shared some more details as we raced along the track on the frozen river. It was the same track as the snowmobiling from the night before, and to be fair, we moved much more slowly.

Almost right away, a dog in our team had what can only be described as a complete expulsion of his bowels while on the run, and with the air motion, it, uh, definitely wafted heavily in our direction. It stank, and honestly I felt terrible for the smaller woman who had taken the lead position on our sled, as she was the closest to that experience.

Flying poop aside, it felt like almost no time had passed at all before we came to a stop in the woods by a cabin. The guides brought all the sleds together there and served us the saffron buns, tea, and coffee, using a wood fire for heat.

This also gave us some time to show the dogs some love and take photos of the sleds. The dogs were actually feeling toasty from all their exertion, and some of them took to digging holes in the snow to shove their faces into, as a way to cool off.

The dogs were already back to howling and jumping all over the place by the time we loaded up on the sled for the return trip. As our guide told us, there’s no gas pedal on this ride, only a brake. Meaning, the dogs will always pull at 100%, and it’s the guide’s job to steer and break as needed. The ride back to the hotel was a lot less eventful than the one out, but no less fun (thankfully without any more projectile pooping).

The guide parked our sled, we thanked our guide, and headed inside to change out of the jumpsuits. We couldn’t get into our nice, warm room yet, so instead we headed out to visit the nearby Sami open-air museum. It’s about a kilometer down the street from the hotel, which would normally be a lovely walk. However, with the stiff breeze in our faces and icy sidewalks, it was a bit more exhausting. When we arrived, the toasty air inside the Sami shop was a welcome relief, for sure. We bought tickets for the open air museum, plus a bag of food for the reindeer, and headed back outside.

They had great explanations of how the Sami have lived in the area, along with examples of their huts, food storage, and cultural artifacts.

And while all of that was wonderful to learn about, we couldn’t help but gravitate to the fenced-in pasture where the reindeer were kept. Those beautiful animals recognize the paper bags that contain their treats, and one came over pretty quickly once we were out there. With the full rack of horns (that they at times didn’t seem to realize was dangerous to us), it was honestly a little frightening. But they were super friendly and just wanted a snack and some friendly pats on their sides.

There was also one without horns who was very friendly to us and definitely got a big helping of moss. Ah, yes, the wonderful snack that these big animals couldn’t get enough of is moss. It looks exactly like the kind that grows on our maple trees back home, and I would never have guessed it’s a tasty treat to them. We even ended up going back inside to buy a second bag so we could keep playing with them.

Finally, we headed back inside and went to the Sami cafe to eat lunch. It was busy with all the tourists (it was peak holiday season, after all), but some friendly Italians were willing to share their table with us. Nick had a reindeer burger (first you pet them, then you eat them, amiright?), while Jerry felt bad and had a vegetarian soup. Both were great, and the warm wood fire was not bad either.

We finally headed back to the hotel, but our room was still not quite ready, so we ended up relaxing and having hot chocolate in the bar to kill some time.

When we did finally get into our room, it was warm, spacious, and had a very functional bathroom attached, thus ending the “camping-chic” vibe we’d been leaning into up to this point.

After some proper showers, we basically napped until dinner. Speaking of which, we had booked the more exclusive restaurant, Veranda, which had all the guests seated around a semicircular bar, looking in at our chef and sous chef for the evening, with a sommelier who also functioned as the lone waiter and maitre’d. It was delightful, and over the dozen or so courses, we got to know some of our fellow guests and the chef. We also got to enjoy an exquisite selection of dishes that celebrated Swedish cuisine, albeit a little heavy on root vegetables (the only seasonal produce in winter) and reindeer.