Jacques and Magali's little boy Florian sledding at 16 months old in home town Alaska and enjoying every moment :o) Pyramid in lead!

Just had to blog it :o)

The Boss Of The House (30/09/01 to 06/03/10)


Unfortunately, Neo passed away very unexpectedly on Saturday 6th March at around ten in the evening - he had a heart attack and passed away very quickly in Donna's arms - we are very saddened by his loss and we are really missing his chirping and eagerness to get to food weather this be cat, dog or human food. Its not the same without him:-(

We arrived home around 12.30AM.... tired but safe and sound!

Another great Alpen Trail...
This was our third Alpen Trail race... and strongest yet with yearlings (young dogs)!
We finished 13/22 with a total race elevation of 9432 metres spread over 276.9kms in seven stages :o)
Reaching that finish line is always a proud moment... a great sense of achievement for the team along with the integrity you have with your dogs... as they are the ones that get you to the finish line with the trust that you will always do the right thing for them as individuals and as part of a team!

Chrome (ran in every stage)
Fuego (ran in stages 1 & 7)
Sheenjek (ran in every stage)
Sting (ran in every stage)

Yearlings
Kia (ran in every stage)
Arwin (ran in stages 2, 3, 4 & 6)
Echo (ran in stages 1, 3, 5 & 7)
Isis (ran in stages 2, 4 & 6)
Storm (ran in every stage)
Zues (ran in stages 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 & 7)

Many thanks again to all the organisers and other participants for putting together such a professional sportsmanlike race. Well done to you all!!!

Results page... (click here)

Tomorrow we head home...

Race info... (click here)

Yesterday we arrived in Sexten (the Dolomites) around 10AM; our final destination for AT stages 5, 6 and 7.

The night stage (stage 5) started with the first team going out at 5PM. The trail was 9kms and litten up like a runway using fire sticks. A great way in illuminating a night trail... with various spectators dotted around the trail cheering on all the teams :o)

Today was the famous AT mass start.... stage 6.

Mike took a short video clip of all the teams lined out excited at the start line and waiting for the green flag.... (click here to view)

Tomorrow (stage 7) is a repeat of today... and sadly the final stage of the Alpen Trail 2010.

Results page... (click here)

Race info... (click here)

On Mon we arrived at our Herrenstein apartment around 4 in the afternoon... and as always a warm welcome from Elfriede.

This year; the Prags stages consist of a 55 km trail and approx. 1600 meters of elevation.
The start was in Schmieden (1200 m.) in Pragsertal. We passed Bruckele up to the Plätzwiese, then down to Schluderbach.... then to the Toblach loop turning us around back up to Plätzwiese, over to the toboggan trail passing Guesthouse Brückele and then down to Schmieden for the finish. All in all... a fantastic trail.
We did the first day (Stage 3) in 03:20:27 and the second day (Stage 4) in 02:46:42. Our yearlings Arwin, Isis and Zeus are doing exceptionally well and I was very pleased with there performance, but Echo needs to learn to pace himself a little more.... as he tends to work to hard in the first 3/4s at the moment leaving him puffed out for the last quarter.
For our last year yearlings Kia and Storm now in there second race season... Kia is driving the team in lead next to Chrome with confidence and hard. He just needs to pick up on a few leader pointers from Chrome... maybe in time hey!
As for Storm; she has really started to develop into a nice team/wheel dog this season. Certainly Kia and Storm have picked up the pace of the team for AT this year along with the other yearlings :o)

Results page... (click here)

Tomorrow we move again to Sexten.... for the night stage followed by the last two stages of the race.

Race info... (click here)

Dieter.... AT cook :o)


Starting shoot






Team Winterpaws heading towards the finish line of stage 1


Brother Mike


Our dogs after stage 1. (click here for dog pool info)

Results page... (click here)

Today we say goodbye to Lu and our apartment in Muestair.... and drive to Prags Italy ready for stages 3 & 4.

Race info... (click here)

All our dogs that trained in Sweden for this years Alpen Trail got the OK. Stage one kicks off tomorrow in Lu, Switzerland :o)

Our dog pool... (click here)

Updated Alpen Trail's participants list... (click here)

Results page... (click here)

We arrived safe and sound at our apartment in Muestair around 3PM... dogs have been fed and watered, just got to feed ourselves now.... and then we are ready for bed. Tomorrow is vet check!!!

8 o'clock this morning we started our long drive down to the Alps.
At 11:15 we drove through Sundvals (Sweden).... and have 1550 miles left to reach our destination in Switzerland.

Many thanks GK and Betan for being such great hosts.

Brother Mike just arrived today from England... He will help in regards to driving, dog handling etc. At least then one of us can sleep while the other drives. Make's the 1700 mile drive to the Alps much easier!

Also Soon.... while he's here at Axe Handle Mountain.... GK will sort him out a sled, a dog team and guide him around the 12km trail... should be fun; considering it will be Mike's first time on dog sled!

After three days of consecutive training.... two 39km runs and one 27km.... a well deserved rest day for the boys running loose in the girls paddock, while the girls where chewing on blocks of meat elsewhere, was more then appreciated to loosen up those muscles!













On another note.... training is going good considering that over half the team are yearlings (young dogs)!
As from Friday we will stick to a 39km training program.... consisting of two on and one off until Tuesday. On Tuesday we start packing in preparation to drive south in the early hours of Wednesday to the Alps. Ready for the Alpen Trail 2010 race.

More soon.... happy trails all!

Skijöring:
Janorsky Pavel	Prag	CZ	Rookie
Sarkovsky Pavel	Janov nad Nisou	CZ	Rookie
Zertani Siegbert	Teltow	GER	Rookie
6 dog class:
Arnold David	Seon	SUI	Rookie
Ballas Thorsten	Lampertheim	GER	Veteran
Bartolini Matteo	Vicchio Firenze	ITA	Veteran
Hofmann Klaus	Neubrunn	GER	Veteran
Kurpas Oliver	Günzach	GER	Veteran
Peer Helmut	Brand	AUS	Veteran
Dr. Schmid Christoph	Rimbach	GER	Rookie
Steigenberger Otto	Kiefersfelden	GER	Veteran
Dr. Ulrich Alfred	Schnelldorf	GER	Veteran
Volk Claudia	Blaustein	GER	Veteran
Wohlmut Andreas	Wildermieming	AUS	Veteran
8 dog class:
Bernhard Luzi	Buchenegg	SUI	Veteran
Binzer Lutz	Langerringen	GER	Veteran
Farcy Ludovic	Alette	FRA	Rookie
Föger Erwin	Obsteig	AUS	Veteran
Franch Charly	Sabadell	ESP	Veteran
Gehrke Eddi	Wald	GER	Rookie
von Gumppenberg Gregor	Frauenau	GER	Veteran
Jünemann Dominik	Schluchsee	GER	Rookie
Dr. Kriegler Winfried	Wiesenburg	GER	Veteran
Krempl Hannes	Oberhaching	AUS	Veteran
Krummrich Olav	Feucht	GER	Rookie
Kuhn Uli	Wotersen	GER	Veteran
Link Michael	Schalkstetten	GER	Veteran
Llombart Puga Ferran	Alella	ESP	Rookie
Netzhammer Stefan	Büttenhardt	SUI	Veteran
Dr. Offer Gerhard	Mieming	AUS	Veteran
Stolz Jürgen	Penzing	GER	Veteran
Stuber Volkmar	Wurzelbühl	GER	Veteran
Vogel Nicole	Ipsach	SUI	Veteran
Walter Manuela	Koblenz	SUI	Veteran
Weber René	Reinach	SUI	Veteran
Wightwick Stephan	Seaford	GB	Veteran
Winter Heini	Augsburg	GER	Veteran

A few days ago we safely arrived at Axe Handle Mountain in Sweden... that is, the dogs and I :o) And as always, a warm welcome on our arrival!
On the snow front this year; its a little thin on the ground at the moment, but more then enough to run sled! The forecast is looking good though over the next few days, with more snow to come and below 0c temperatures; although today it was freaking cold.... at -24c All the dogs got a good run out (third consecutive day running), but I came back with the old icy sticky eyelids syndrome... LOL Basically, if your eyes water it turns to ice on the eyelashes.

Frosty Zeus


Dogs in training... (click here)

Running in lead with Chrome... Alpen Trail 2008
He will be greatly missed!!!

Since last Friday.... except scheduled breaks, we have been consistently and happily completing 8 mile training runs! So far; all the yearlings are still doing extremely well.... which I'm so pleased with and I'm sure they are as well :o) but we still have a long way to go!!!

1999 - Oct 2009

So sorry Jacques and Magali :o( for your loss of a great leader...

Since the 2010 race additionally has a night stage, that is, three stages to be driven one after the other; Heini Winters and Lutz Binzer have decided to increase the dog pool.
New:
8-dog class with a pool of 12 dogs
6-dog class with a pool of 8 dogs

Over the past week, dogs have been training on our typical 6 mile loop in the forest! At a guess, it will not be long before we up the distance to 8miles.... as they come back from the run wanting more :o)
All the yearlings so far are doing extremely well.... although still excessive line and harness chewers when stationery through excitement in wanting to  pull hard and run!

6 O'clock this morning and the forest was atmospheric with the sound of excited dogs ready and geared up to run... crazy heads full of octane!
After a few weeks of consistent training.... they should start to develop there muscles to coincide with their crazy heads; maybe even settle down a little!!! LOL.

Last knockings of today's four mile run....

Now it’s ready at last, the race invitation for the 2010 race is finished.
Soon the online entry form will be activated, so there’s nothing standing in the way to enter the AT 2010 race.

Race Entry Alpen Trail 2010 (click here)

Despite the narrow-mindedness of some readers who have mis-interpreted the newspaper articles... We have had some great response/offers from friends in Sweden, Alaska and Ireland.

Our dogs, have always been and always shall be our main concern; welfare, needs and future!

Previous articles/letters and application documents

Article/Letter Exhibit 1 (click here)
Application Exhibit 2 (click here)

Before I continue.... I would like to thank deeply the following in their efforts and contributions in our planning application from residential, to mixed change of use (residential/keeping of a number of dogs)....

Malcolm Goodwin... my friend and considered brother
Mark Allaway... our vet
Jennifer Baxter... Senior Enforcement Officer of the Lewes District Council
Steve Howe... Case Officer of the Lewes District Council
And, to those that deemed/considered that this application should be approved!

On Wednesday the 16th September, around 6.30PM, our retrospective planning permission was refused for the keeping of a number of dogs; based on 2mins max of noise pollution five days a week while the dogs were being loaded up into the van for training, the potential of noise (not fact), area unsuitability. And strangely enough, the movement of dog food bowls while dogs where being feed!
In the chamber, the local parish/councillors, moved into the above motion to refuse approval of the retrospective planning permission on these basis, and in my opinion, the following can rot/burn in hell with the rest of the neighbours that pushed for this motion.... and deserve no less... for their future.... just mixed bureaucratic politics with no regards to the implications or concerns of life, other then human!

Parish/local councillors
Neighbouring parties/conspiracy groups

Despite all the effects from those previously mentioned, in all honesty; the motion was passed prior to the chamber. It amazes us; that the movement of dog bowls contributes towards more nuisance noise to that of neighbouring dogs/lawn mowers etc.... canny or what to say the least and ironic! From now on.... I will remark on any other dog/child noise I hear and forward that to the appropriate committee/department. As our lives have been turned upside down and inside out!!! One thing is sure in life; being nice gets you nowhere, that is for certain. At the end of the day, it does not matter if our dogs emit noise or not; it purely comes down to owning a number of dogs!!!
Back in the winter of 05/06; we had onsite 14 dogs.... because the neighbours did not know of their existence.... nothing was mentioned. In fact, most neighbours thought we only had three dogs! With this in mind; what can you say.... except that when they knew the existence of a number of dogs, it becomes an issue.... I leave that conclusion to you, the reader! The fact still remains; that many people do not understand the dogs needs, and probably their own, if the truth was known... and people only see what they want to see! (thank you Magali) And have mixed feeling in what they are! or what there needs are! The agonising decisions we are left with; is uncertain at the moment... but will keep this updated with current events until the end!




Steve and Donna

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Yep… today we harness broke the female pups, and all took to running like they had been doing it since birth.
The most impressive was Ivana… hard on her tug from start to finish. And Magali… she is as tall as Sting… she’s going to be one tall girl I think!!!

Sorry… no photos as I forgot to take my camera.

Today we started harness breaking pups…. we only harness broke the two boys today…the girls will get harness broke tomorrow.
Zeus took to running like a cherry on a cake… Echo a little stubborn at first, but soon got up and ran. Both did extremely well on a 3 miles loop :o)

After run…

Zeus

Echo

With the girls… we just took them out on leash…

Ivana getting use to her collar and stake out chain….

We arrived back in England around 12:00AM Tuesday… no snow :o( but good to see my pups, that have grown so much since being away… and my wife.

Tomorrow we leave Italy and drive towards France… to catch our channel tunnel shuttle back to England.

The past five weeks have gone by so quickly… now it’s time to go back to no snow :o(

The Dolomites...

Cable car from Sexten…

View from Rotwand 2000m...

Sexten...

Stage 5 scheduled to take place tomorrow in Sexten, Italy, was canceled due to the danger of avalanche! Hopefully all we be OK for stage 6 on Saturday...

Arrived safe and sound in Mustair around 3pm... It took my brother and me sharing driving 30hrs to drive from Yxskaftkalen, Swedan to Mustair… a 1750 mile trip. Tomorrow we have vet check followed by mushers meeting in the evening. I’ll post dog pool laters...

Sadly our training at Axehandle Mountain in Sweden has come to an end. Tomorrow morning we head south to Switzerland for the start of the Alpen Trail 2009 :o)
 
This year, our time with Graham and Bettan has passed so quickly… great memorable times… and many laughs amongst us all… including Tim, Oz and Seaweed… a pleasure to work with as part of the Axehandle Mountain team.
 
With training… we have managed to get a good 600kms on the dogs on snow. But have decided to change entered AT class from eight dog to six dog. I will post laters once in Switzerland the dogs elected for the pool.
 
Happy trails…

Yesterday we started with the consistency of the 32km river runs from the Axe Handle Mountain base camp… beautiful wild scenery along with low level sun… while watching a tri moose group running majestically away in front of us on the trail.

Today... going up the river

Heading back to the dog yard into the sun

Well deserved rest after todays run... Chrome looking cute

Sting in the straw

Kia is there somewhere

Sheenjek and daughter Storm 

Dogs and I arrived at Axe Handle Mountain in Sweden last night safe and sound around 10PM, just have sore eyes from all that driving!!!

Lots of snow here this year… much more then last year… in our 32km run this morning, we had to break trail for some part of it and at one point, Risk’s body just disappeared beneath the snow… bobbing up and down :o)

More fun to come at Axe Handle Mountain… post more soon!!!

Happy trails.

Well the time has finally arrived for my trip to Axehandle Mountain in Sweden. I am feeling very excited but also thinking about the long drive I have ahead of me. The dogs are all sleeping at the moment and I know they will all be full of energy on our arrival to the colder climate.

Many thanks to family and good friends for their help and support prior to my journey. Especially the following people: Wife Donna, Mark Alloway, Malcomb Goodwin.

I will be posting regular updates once I have arrived in Sweden.  Cya soon Graham & Betan, have my steak ready :o)

Still it persists to rain here in the UK… making every training run a mud pool :o( I think it’s the wettest November we have had for a long time… guess it’s kind of good for the dogs though, as they have to work very hard to pull the 585lbs quad through the sticky muddy parts of the trail.

Hmmm; five miles into our 10mile run, yearling Kia gets all crazy just after a few seconds of stopping…

Risk wondering what the hold up is…. Chrome digging in!!!

Going up….

Scully and Shona running along side the quad… leaders of team ‘B’

TEIGAN!!! concentrate on the trail… lol

Total miles on dogs in training 214… very much looking forward to trading in the mud for snow :o)

Sorry about the blurred pictures!