The amount of daylight changes rapidly in winter. Up until Christmas the days get shorter, after that spring is on the way and the days get longer. Rovaniemi lies on the Arctic Circle and that means that at least one day a year the sun does not rise above the horizon. This does not mean that the days are pitch black and dark, but that we have a very long period of sunrise followed by a long drawn out sunset. The white snowy landscape also makes things way more bright than expected. For those dark moments we provide headlights for our guests. Our morning tours in December tend to start in the dark and finish with some light. The afternoon tours start when it is still light and finish in the dark.

This is hard to say, because the last years have been unpredictable. In general everything from just below zero to -35 Celsius is possible. Not on all of our tours, but on most of them we provide you with thermal outerwear, boots and gloves to protect against the cold. You can read through the “Clothing & Accessories” section below for more information.

We can start our tours with sleds when we have enough snow on our trails, and all the wet areas are frozen. This is often in the first week of December, but can also be as early as mid November.

Although we can drive dogs ourselves under quite difficult conditions, we need very forgiving snow situations before we are able to safely take guests on the trail. Therefore, even if it looks like there is a lot of snow, please be aware that your tour might take place on carts in the early winter period.

Even without the snow there is plenty to be experienced! In summertime we offer educational kennel visits to take a peek into the daily life of the huskies and mushers. In autumn before the snow comes, we can teach you to drive smaller carts that have wheels, the huskies eagerly pull! Almost all year round we offer experiences with the huskies which vary according to the time of the year. Please don’t hesitate to contact us with questions about what to do in summer or autumn while visiting Rovaniemi!

In general the chances of seeing the Northern lights during the daily tours are very, very small, as we are not out late enough to see them. It might be possible to see them during those tours that take place later in the afternoon. Please note that being able to see the Northern Lights is dependent on the weather conditions, such as cloud cover, temperature, solar wind activity and the location.

Pregnant women are not at greater risk of an accident or harm than other participants in the tour. It is recommended that pregnant women join our tours as passengers and preferably in the guide sled. However, we recommend careful consideration if you wish to join a cart or sled driving part of the tour when on the 1st or 3rd trimester. You can send us an email if you wish to have more information and it’s also useful to note this in the booking in advance. If the program requires special organisation (e.g. additional transport), Bearhill Husky shall not be responsible for the possible extra costs.

This depends on which tour you are interested in. Some of our tours are great for children and infants, but others not so much. Please check the description of each tour to see if it is suitable for children or infants.

One thing to note for children in general is that you need to dress them very well, as they tend to get cold easier and are more prone to frostbite. For infants we would be wary of travelling below -20 Celsius. If it’s really cold we travel according to the capabilities of our weakest member and might adapt the tour to suit the colder temperatures.

This depends on which tour you are interested in. Please check the description of each tour regarding the seating arrangements.

We also welcome solo travellers to our tours! If you are a person travelling solo, or a group with an uneven amount of adults, we might pair you up with another guest from the group, or ask one of you to join our guide sled. We want to offer the possibility to have one of our tours for as many people as possible within our capacity.

If you wish to not share the sled with another guest from the group, you can contact our sales office for advice and solutions.

Although we appreciate the enthusiasm of young mushers, we do not allow participants under the age of 17 to drive the sleds. Driving a husky sled takes a certain amount of strength but also ability to manoeuvre and think that a young person might still lack.

If someone (even adults) can drive the sled is always in the hands of the guide of the tour, since they are responsible for the safety on the tour. To make the guide’s day that much easier, we’ve set the limit at 17 years of age. If an adult guest does not listen to driving instructions or seems that their abilities to manoeuvre a husky sled have been impaired, our guides have the right to not let them drive, but to organise another way for them to join the tour.

At Bearhill Husky we have what are called “Alaskan Huskies”. They are relatively unknown outside of the sled-dog world. They tend to be more diverse in size, eye colour and shape than their pure-breed cousins the “Siberian Huskies”. Please ask us about them, we are more than willing to “talk dog” and answer all your questions!

The answer is complicated and simple at the same time: Sometimes!

We breed dogs to keep our kennel healthy and that means sometimes no puppies and sometimes 1 or 2 litters per year. These pups tend to be born in the spring time and cannot be considered “puppies” any more by the time the snow falls. We do our best to prevent unwanted and unplanned pregnancies in the kennel by castrating all our non-breeding males.

We are aware that certain kennels time and or plan their litters for display purposes, but we find this a dubious and unethical practice not beneficial to the welfare of the dogs.

If seeing puppies is a priority we recommend that you book with another kennel, as we do not reliably have puppies during the winter season.

We can’t speak for anyone else’s dogs, but most of our dogs are very friendly. We do not mind you interacting with them, in fact we encourage it!

Yep it’s cold in winter! Just as you can expect it to be hot on a beach in Turkey, it is cold in Lapland. When you prepare for it, it’s not that bad at all. If however it gets colder than we think our guests can safely handle we will adapt the tour program accordingly. Very often this means we will shorten the tour or have a warm up break in between. Below -30 Celsius we recommend this only for “diehards”, below -35 Celsius we will cancel the tours as it does not benefit our dogs or our guests to travel then. When it’s that cold we are using all our skills and years of experience to stay warm ourselves, and keep our dogs safe.

It can in fact be really hot during some summer days. When in winter it can get as cold as -30, in summer it can get +30 degrees Celsius!

Our summer program generally includes a short ride with a cart that the huskies eagerly pull. The cart ride is offered only when the temperature is less than +10 degrees Celsius due to the welfare of the dogs. The same goes for the husky cart tours in autumn; if the temperature gets too high, we have to keep in mind the welfare of the dogs and reschedule for example.