American Dog Derby

We made it! A few members of our local southern CA mushing group made the trek north to take part in the American Dog Derby in Ashton, ID. We pooled dogs to put together two 6-dog teams for the 24-mile "Everett Heseman Race". Knowing from the get-go, that our "working pets" wouldn't stand a chance to compete for a top finish, the question became, which one of our teams would win the red-lantern award? Contributors to the teams were Alpine Outfitters, Three Dog Bakery San Clemente and Arctis.
After a long hard-fought race, the award went to Rancy Reyes and his team, who finished just 3 minutes behind Bruce Stegmaier's team.



For all of us, it was the experience which mattered most, since none of our dogs had ever participated in a snow race before. They all did great and finished in good shape and excellent spirits.



We had a great time up there, enjoying the festivities in Ashton and the friendly people of Idaho, and we're pretty sure, that well be back for another run!

Our local newspaper, the Orange County Register, wrote up a couple of nice articles on our experience before and after the race.

Cascade Quest Sled Dog Race

The Cascade Quest Sled Dog race is coming up this weekend, Jan 28th - 30th, at Lake Wenatchee, WA.
Unfortunately, we won't be able to make it up there, but many of our friends will be running in various distances. Hopefully, snow conditions and weather are going to be great and everyone will have a great time! Good luck to all participants!



Speaking of races, we will attend the American Dog Derby in Ashton, ID, Feb 18th - 19th.
As previously mentioned, we can bring a cart with us and deliver along the way to save on delivery charges for our customers, but if you are interested, you would have to contact us now to squeeze your order in, so we can finish it before we leave.

Oh what fun it is to ride...

We just returned from our first sledding trip of the season to Mammoth, CA. Several members of our local mushing group went up with about 35 dogs for three days of fun in the snow.
Building various teams for various distances on different trails made for interesting runs throughout the weekend.

Highlight was by far the 7½ mile run with a 10-dog team on breathtaking trails, driven by yours truly, with the help of my passenger/handler Dylan and generous support of other members who trusted me with their dogs for the run.

Now, it's back to work. Carts need to be finished and delivered, plus we're closing in on our order deadline before we head to the races in Idaho in February.

Off To Snow Country!

First of all, a belated happy, healthy and successful New Year to all our friends, customers and suppliers, and thank you, thank you, thank you for a great 2010!
Arctis has grown and we've made a lot of new friends throughout North America over the past year and are very grateful for that!
The holidays were tremendously busy, so we're just now getting around to finally posting the first message of the new year, just when we're about to take off for California's eastern Sierra Nevada for our first snow run of the season.



We've been working on a few new products, like our "Easy Load Rack" for the cart, as well as some sledding accessories, which will be available soon (we're testing this weekend!).

Hopefully, by spring we will have a second type of dryland mushing rig ready to go. More to come in the near future on this one.

Last, not least, space is filling up for our free delivery offer in February (see post below).
If you are interested in a new cart by February, please contact us asap, so we might squeeze one more in before our trip.

Another free delivery offer coming up!

While pretty much everyone in North America is dealing with snow at the moment (hopefully in a good way), it's never too early to plan ahead for the upcoming dryland season.
What better way to start the new year, than with a new cart AND free delivery?
We are planning to be in Ashton, ID in mid-February and can bring a cart or two with us to deliver along the way.
Our route will take us from southern California along I-15 to eastern Idaho, just west of Yellowstone National Park.
If you live somewhere along that route and are interested in a new Arctis Cart, here's your chance to save the shipping fees. Please contact us asap if you would ike to place an order, since it roughly takes about 3 weeks to complete a cart and it probably won't take long for the production to be booked solid.

California Mushing Clinic & Washington Rig Race

Two items on the west coast mushing agenda for this weekend:

Sierra Nevada Dog Drivers are hosting their 12th annual mushing clinic in Truckee CA
For more information, see their website here: SNDD

North West Sled Dog Association is starting the dryland season with their Rig Rendezvous in Roslyn WA. Formore information, contact NWSDA

Mark your calendars for November 7th & 8th. Karen Yeargain of Tumnatki Siberians is organizing once again the Central Oregon Mushing Weekend. More information on her website.

Can Am Crown races this weekend in Fort Kent, ME

We are way excited to see our friend Maggie enter her team of Bray Hill Siberians to run the Can Am Crown International Sled Dog Races this weekend (Feb. 28th). She started out not long ago as a fellow "urban musher" right here in southern California, moved to Maine to dedicate more of her time to her growing kennel and the sport of dog sledding, and is now entering the "big time" !
Way to go Maggie! Good luck from all of us at "Team Arctis" and all your friends!!!

Winter Wonderland California

Our trip to Mammoth was once again a huge success. After we dropped the candy apple red cart along the way, we continued on to June Lake, where we stayed for the holiday weekend.
What a quaint little town with wonderful, friendly people who welcomed us and our furry friends wherever we went.
On day 1, we went out for a nice little run at Hartley Springs. The temperatures were a bit nippy, but we had wonderful blue skies.
On the second day, we split up "Team Arctis" to support a couple of other teams, which left my "old" girl Gidget available for me to go out snowshoeing through the woods at Bald Mountain Rd.
Initially, the weather was still ok, but turned into a precursor for the upcoming large storm with strong winds and increased snowfall. Gidget took her job as "alpha bitch" very seriously and made sure, we made it back to base before the real storm hit.
On day 3, the expected storm finally hit, and we decided to just try to make it back to southern California in time and in one piece.
More pictures are here and here.

Back to Mammoth!

We'll be back in Mammoth this weekend to deliver a cart to a local musher. If you're in the area, watch for the Candy Apple Red Lightning blazing through the woods in the near future :-)

Since the weather forecast predicts another winter storm or two to come through the area, we may just have to stay the weekend to take the team out for a run on the trails near June Lake...oh darn!

California Snow!

"Team Arctis" along with about a dozen friends from southern California's "Urban Mushers" went Mammoth in the Sierra Nevada mountains for a weekend of dog sledding. Our first time sledding this season, and what a great time it was!
More pictures here:

and a few videos as well:






Now it's back to work to continue production of our carts!

Celebrating Alaska's 50th Anniversary at the Rose Parade

The state of Alaska is celebrating its 50th anniversary of statehood in 2009, and what better way to do it than to be part of the 120th Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena CA on New Year's Day!
The float will feature first female Iditarod winner Libby Riddles, among others, and the state's exhibit in the post parade expo will feature a real chunk of glacier ice, native Alaskan dancers and dog sledding demonstrations by southern California's "Urban Mushers" , including "Team Arctis".
We're honored to have been asked to be part of this great celebration!
For more information, please visit the Tournament of Roses website here.
We hope to see you there!