This document is taken directly from the Dog Sled Rides of Winter Park Musher Manual. It is accurate and up to date as of the 2013-2014 winter sledding season.
Driving Directives
Keep these driving directives in mind as you drive your sled on our trail. If you follow all of them, you will conduct safe, enjoyable trips, the dogs will have more fun and be more willing to go out again, and the trail will last a long time.
- Drive SOFTly: Driving softly has two meanings.
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- First, it is an acronym for “Stay On the Fucking Trail.” Why stay on the fucking trail? The trail is a packed surface free of obstacles. Everything that is not a trail is not meant to be driven on. Driving off the trail increases the chances that a dog may stumble, or step in a hole. You may also hit a stump, or tree and possibly damage your sled or guests. The edges of the trail may also be soft making your sled tip. A tilted sled is harder to drive, and the handlebar could be angled much closer to a tree or branches. Every time you make tracks that go off the trail, every sled behind you has a harder time staying on the trail in that section.
- Second, we want to be as gentle to the trail as we can. Don’t make trenches, don’t use your brake, don’t hit berms etc. The softer we are on the trail, the longer it will last and the more trips we will be able to make on it.
- Required Gear:
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- Gloves, regardless of temperature and whether you wear them or not.
- Glasses or goggles. It is very difficult to drive blind. Protect your eyes.
- Knife and pliers. You may never use it during the season, but you will wish you had it when you need it.
- Radio around your neck.
- Phone. Keep it in a secure pocket.
- Slow Down:
- The faster you go, the less time you have to react to a problem, your stopping distance increases, and the likelihood that a dog can hurt themselves increases. We are not racing out there. You should strive to have your dogs trotting at all times. Until you have driven 500 sleds and seen lots of different trail conditions, and experienced things going wrong, you are driving too fast most of the time. Slow down.
- Don’t stop (just before/in/immediately after) intersections:
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- If you stop just before an intersection the dogs may recharge too much while you are stopped. If they make a mistake in the turn, they will have too much power for you to control when correcting the mistake. The increased speed can also make the turn more difficult to drive.
- If you stop in an intersection, the dogs may think they have made the wrong choice, and change trails. Also while stopped, the dogs move to the inside of the turn. It is easy to get pulled off the trail and into the object we are turning around (like a tree).
- If you stop immediately after an intersection, the dogs may think they missed the turn and run off the trail towards the other direction. This can be messy to fix.
- Proper intersection technique:
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- Slow down.
- Issue the gee or haw about three seconds before reaching the turn.
- Look for recognition of the command from your leaders. They should look in the correct direction and start moving to that side of the trail.
- If they are not showing signs of going the right way:
- Issue the command again. And again if necessary.
- If they refuse the turn, stop, run to the front on the pushing side, and push the leaders to the correct trail while issuing the command. If you approach the dogs on the pulling side, the dogs may move away from you and make it more difficult to correct.
- Run back to the sled and immediately start moving.
- Keep moving through the intersection.
- Tell them “good dogs” when well clear of the intersection.
- Push-Pull in Turns:
- Keep your sled away from the inside of turns. There is no reason to be lazy and not push-pull on most turns on uphill or slow trail. Every time you cut a corner, it makes it more difficult for every sled behind you to not cut the corner.
- Keep off my Berms:
- Berms are built in some turns to help guide your sled around turns. They are not substitutes for the push-pull technique. You must still push-pull on those turns. Standing on the runners while the sled rides the berm or driving over them decreases their useful life. You should be able to push-pull and stay to the outside of the berms without ever touching them. They are there as a guide in the case that your sled is heavy, the dogs slow in the turn or you slip during the push-pull.
- No trenches:
- When you see or feel a trench developing, use a different method to slow down. One method is to use a foot firmly placed on the trail and snug against the side of the sled. Not only does this slow you down, it pulls you to one side of the trail. The trench will become dangerous if the trail gets firm, and the trench gets deeper. It angles your sled and catches runners.
- Don’t use your brake:
- The brake is very damaging to the trail. Use your feet and dragpad to slow the sled to a stop. Once you are stopped, you can use the brake to stay stopped.
- Use you brake:
- You can use your brake in the normal course of driving ONLY IF:
- It is required to stay on the trail.
- You can’t slow down enough with the drag pad.
- To avoid an obstacle.
- To keep from running up on the sled in front of you.
- Any other time you feel it is absolutely necessary.
- Watch your Dogs:
- You should be watching your dogs 60% of the time.
- Look for snowballs. You can see them by staring at their feet as the foot comes off the trail. Remove them immediately.
- Look for tangles. Dogs with legs in their lines don’t pull effectively and can be injured.
- Look for slow dogs. A dog running slower than normal is an indication of a problem.
- Look where they look. They are good indicators of something on or near the trail.
- Look Down the Trail:
- You should be looking down the trail in front of you as far as you can see, 25% of the time. Constantly be reassessing your speed and position on the trail based on what you know the trail should be like and what it actually looks like in front of you. In addition to the condition of the trail, look for downed trees, wildlife, and stopped sleds.
- Talk to the guests:
- You don’t have to talk constantly, but at least have a few standard
things to say to inspire questions from the guests. Avoid controversial
topics and keep it light and fun. Some common topics include:
- The dogs: ages, names, how much they eat, idiosyncrasies
- Dog racing
- Things to do in the area
- The names of mountains
- You
- Do everything quickly off the sled:
- When you stop to do something like take pictures, fix a tangle, switch dogs, etc., do it fast without freaking out the dogs. Strive to be off your sled fixing something for less than a minute. Do the things that have to be done first. If you take time to pet dogs or talk to the guests while stopped to fix something, the dogs may recharge too much and you may not have time to fix the original problem. Also, look for other problems while you are close to the dogs.
Ways to Connect: