When the world gets closer.

We help you see farther.

Sign up to our expressly international daily newsletter.

Already a subscriber? Log in.

You've reach your limit of free articles.

Get unlimited access to Worldcrunch

You can cancel anytime.

SUBSCRIBERS BENEFITS

Ad-free experience NEW

Exclusive international news coverage

Access to Worldcrunch archives

Monthly Access

30-day free trial, then $2.90 per month.

Annual Access BEST VALUE

$19.90 per year, save $14.90 compared to monthly billing.save $14.90.

Subscribe to Worldcrunch
food / travel

Hold On Tight! Dog Sledding In The French Alps

Skiing isn't the only winter sporting activity that can give you snow, speed and the beauty of nature. Follow an amateur in France as he tries to harness the wild icy power of dog sledding.

Dog sledding in Sainte Marie in the French Alps
Dog sledding in Sainte Marie in the French Alps
Martine Picouët

BESSANS — They’re jumping, yapping, barking, rolling around in the fresh snow, pulling on the tow-rope, ready to go: London, Kimi, Expresso and Irka, three Huskies and one Alaskan, hop up and down impatiently on the side of the tracks. At the head of the convoy, London, promoted to lead dog, and Kimi, harnessed to his side, are particularly excited. Behind them, right in front of the sled, Expresso and Irka are attempting to force the vehicle into setting off.

And there is me, standing behind the sled, alone with the four dogs, both feet on the brakes, hands on the handlebar, I wait nervously for the start signal. Will the start look like those first water-skiing attempts of my youth? A few minutes to go, the harnesses and sled still need a final check, and then there is no turning back.

Ready, steady, go

In pole position, the ten-dog team and their two mushers in charge of initiating us to the sport of dog sledding, closely followed by us two beginners, each at the head of a four-dog team. A total of 18 dogs set off onto the Bessans plateau, in the French Alps. They charge along the track, ignoring the cries and inopportune attempts to slow down made by the amateur driver, alone at the reins.

Christophe Caron, founder of Husky Adventure, had warned us: “In general, the dogs do the exact opposite of what we would like them to do. They start fairly quickly and return fairly slowly.”

I quickly try to remember the advice both Christophe and musher Christian Pelwitz had given us before we set off: put your feet into a “v” on the skates, bend your legs when going downhill or around a bend, and hold the handlebar like a car steering-wheel to avoid flying off backwards.

And the brakes? They must be handled gently. “Right before you set off, the dogs will get excited so you’ll need to have both feet on the brakes to prevent them from taking off without us,” Christian explained to us complete beginners, trying to remember every piece of advice. “Then, once we set off, you’ll need to keep one leg on the skate; the other one will operate the brake. So you’ll have to be able to transfer your weight.” A bit like skiing, I tell myself for comfort. That, I can do.

The last recommendation before departure is, in case of a fall, never let go of the sled. “The dogs will not turn back to come and get you,” Christophe says. “First, the dogs will stop for 5 or 10 seconds, until they get excited and set off again. You fall, they leave.”

We were warned! Promise, we’ll hold on tight.

Photo by camdjardins via Instagram

Here comes the first bend and downhill slope — the tow-rope must remain taut or the sled will be impossible to maneuver, Christophe said several times. Sleds move quickly on snow.

Dogs obey their master

My balance is still a bit unstable but, gradually, my stress decreases. The mushers were right, after the first 10 or 15 minutes, the dogs calm down and, little by little, a certain connivance settles in. “The dogs and the driver form a team that will react according to you, whatever the level, even you’re a beginner,” said Christian, before setting off. “So you must remember to communicate with the dogs, say stop, right, left… warn them what you’re going to do. It is important to know that the dog doesn’t obey a simple order; he obeys to please you. There must be a sort of symbiosis between the musher and the dog.”

Slowly, my body loosens up; my grip isn’t so tight on the handlebar anymore. My eyes, which were fixated on the dogs until now, are now looking further away, at the first sled, superb with its 10 dogs, tawny, white and flecked with grey, and then further upwards. Behind the forest of larches surrounding the track, the Albaron and the Ciamarella — both big and small — the summits that surround Bessans, and further away, Bonneval and the Iseran mountain pass.

Snowy surprise

Deserted when we arrived, the snowy area is now livening up. The first snow fell early, at the start of November, but we had to wait until the end of the year to see good snow, suitable for skiing and dog-sledding. Cross-country skiers and athletes on the French biathlon team have reached the plateau and put on their skis to resume training. Their long svelte bodies seem to only brush the snow with their narrow skis. A little further, on the track reserved for pulkas (small, flat sleds harnessed to a skier and towed by dogs), a skier with a dog salutes us.

But the trailer where the dogs are waiting for us is already in sight. The adventure is coming to an end, well, almost. After 7 kilometers on-track, the mushers have a surprise for us: A finish on fresh, unblemished powder snow. The pleasure of making one’s own track in the snow, gently sledding downhill with the dogs, who are happy and eager to cool down in fresh snow, and the muffled silence, is reminiscent of past times spent skiing down untouched slopes. It is the icing on the cake for us.

So when the sled finally stops, there is only one wish in mind: Keep on going, come back tomorrow, discover more trails, try tighter bends, steeper slopes and, one day maybe, set off on a two-day trek around the Mont-Cenis lake and spend a night in a hut.

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

Society

Genoa Postcard: A Tale Of Modern Sailors, Echos Of The Ancient Mariner

Many seafarers are hired and fired every seven months. Some keep up this lifestyle for 40 years while sailing the world. Some of those who'd recently docked in the Italian port city of Genoa, share a taste of their travels that are connected to a long history of a seafaring life.

A sailor smokes a cigarette on the hydrofoil Procida

A sailor on the hydrofoil Procida in Italy

Daniele Frediani/Mondadori Portfolio via ZUMA Press
Paolo Griseri

GENOA — Cristina did it to escape after a tough breakup. Luigi because he dreamed of adventures and the South Seas. Marianna embarked just “before the refrigerator factory where I worked went out of business. I’m one of the few who got severance pay.”

To hear their stories, you have to go to the canteen on Via Albertazzi, in Italy's northern port city of Genoa, across from the ferry terminal. The place has excellent minestrone soup and is decorated with models of the ships that have made the port’s history.

There are 38,000 Italian professional sailors, many of whom work here in Genoa, a historic port of call that today is the country's second largest after Trieste on the east coast. Luciano Rotella of the trade union Italian Federation of Transport Workers says the official number of maritime workers is far lower than the reality, which contains a tangle of different laws, regulations, contracts and ethnicities — not to mention ancient remnants of harsh battles between shipowners and crews.

The result is that today it is not so easy to know how many people sail, nor their nationalities.

What is certain is that every six to seven months, the Italian mariner disembarks the ship and is dismissed: they take severance pay and after waits for the next call. Andrea has been sailing for more than 20 years: “When I started out, to those who told us we were earning good money, I replied that I had a precarious life: every landing was a dismissal.”

Keep reading...Show less

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

Already a subscriber? Log in.

You've reach your limit of free articles.

Get unlimited access to Worldcrunch

You can cancel anytime.

SUBSCRIBERS BENEFITS

Ad-free experience NEW

Exclusive international news coverage

Access to Worldcrunch archives

Monthly Access

30-day free trial, then $2.90 per month.

Annual Access BEST VALUE

$19.90 per year, save $14.90 compared to monthly billing.save $14.90.

Subscribe to Worldcrunch

The latest