West Coast Dryland Mushing Events, Fall 2014

Just a few more weeks, and mushing season 2014/15 will be here!
Here are a few scheduled events for the western US and Canada:

September 21 & 28: CDMA Dryland Race, Chugiak AK
October 4-5: Camp K Dryland Challenge, Cle Elum WA
October 13: So Mush Fun, Vacaville CA
October 18-19: Rosebud Dryland, Didsbury AB
October 18-19: Pacific NW Dryland Championships, Cle Elum WA
November 1-2: Dirt Rondy, Spokane WA
November 8-10: La Pine Mushing Weekend, La Pine OR

For additional races throughout North America, please see Sled Dog Central's race schedule.

While we are completely booked for the remainder of the year, please contact us if there's a new cart in your future, so you'll be ready to hit the trails in spring.

For more information about our carts, please see:

Arctis 3-Wheel

Arctis Mid-Size 4-Wheel

Arctis Heavy 4-Wheel

Did you check all your lines and harnesses before starting the new season?

If you need replacements, please see our friends at Alpine Outfitters for quality gear.

For non-mushing related pet supplies, please see Pet Club Online.

La Pine Mushing Weekend 2014

It's official! Our friend Karen Yeargain has just posted the official dates of this year's La Pine Mushing weekend. We've attended this event since 2008 and ended up moving to La Pine from southern CA after falling in love with Central Oregon's beautiful scenery. A perfect place to be out and about with your dogs. 

For this year's details, please click here.

This is a fun event for everyone interested in running dogs, from a "newbie" with one dog to a seasoned veteran with a full team of 16 dogs.

 We'll see you at La Pine State Park in November!

New Arctis 4-Wheel Dryland Mushing Rig

It's finally here!
The mid-sized Arctis 4-wheel cart to fill the gap between our 3-wheel and heavy 4-wheel carts.

The specs are as follows:
Length 78" (198cm)
Width 46" (117cm)
Height ~46" (117cm) The cart's height can easily be made to your preferred size.
Weight 140lbs (63kg) to 180 lbs (81kg)
Made from 1" steel tubing
Powder coated finish in any color
Structurally sound sandrail design
Strong front bumper/brush bow to protect wheels from trees and poles
Rear hydraulic disc brakes standard (front optional)
Two circuit brake system for added safety
Locking "digger" earth brake with replaceable tips
Front axle suspension
Rear independent suspension with adjustable springs and air shocks
Single-sided rear swing arms
Solid 5/8" axles
Quality traction tires (Dunlop, Pirelli etc)

As always, all our products are hand crafted in the U.S.A.

Please contact us for 2015 pricing. 

Optional equipment:
Front wheel disc brake system
Rear fenders
Front fenders
Passenger seat
More options to come soon.

Shipping not included. We'll be glad to send you a shipping quote to your location and will work with your shipper as well. Local pick-up in Central Oregon is possible, too.

PLEASE NOTE: as of May 2014, we are booked solid for the entire summer. If you have not placed your order at this time, delivery will be in September 2014. We are looking to add capacity to reduce our back log in the near future.

For questions or to place your order, please e-mail info@arctis-carts.com or call (949) 280-7019

Dryland Cart orders for spring, or should it be fall?

It's been way, way too long since our last blog post, but hopefully, you're keeping up with all our activities on our facebook page, too.

Very little snow, especially in the western part of the US, brought us quite a few orders which will keep us easily occupied way into May, and there are more customers "hovering". It may sound crazy at this time of year, but if you're looking for new Arctis Cart for fall training, it may be a good time to get in touch with us right about now.



Our latest batch of orders brought carts all over the US, from Oregon to Minnesota, Alaska to Colorado, and the next batch will stretch from Washington to Vermont and California to Alaska.
Over the winter months, signal colors seemed to be the trend, yellow, orange and red. The next ones to come will be a bit different :-)

We are looking to expand production substantially this year, after moving to our new location one year ago and doing some major upgrades in tools and machinery throughout the year.

Several new developments are in the works to make that happen. One new addition to our cart program is currently being built and will most likely be on the market later this month or early April.

...and just a reminder, that the 2014 Iditarod is in full swing at this moment. Click here for current standings.


Our sponsored teams in the race are Karen Ramstead's "Pretty Sled Dogs" and Mike Ellis' "Tsuga Siberians".
Unfortunately, Brent Sass' team "Wild & Free" had to withdraw, due to Brent's injury he suffered during the recent Yukon Quest.
Please click on the links to visit their pages (and support their teams!).



Speaking of the Yukon Quest, here are a couple of wonderful videos from this year's race:

West Coast Dryland Mushing Events, Fall 2013

Fall dryland season is finally here!
Here are some of the events scheduled in the western US:

Oct 26/27: Pacific Northwest Dryland Championship - Cle Elum WA - More Info
Nov 2:       IDidaRace - Park City UT - More Info
Nov 9/10:  La Pine Mushing Weekend - La Pine OR - More Info
Nov 9/10:  South Park Dryland Challenge - Hartsell CO - More Info
Nov 16/17: Dirt Rondy - Spokane WA - More Info
Nov 16/17: Adventure Unlimited - Buena Vista CO - More Info

We're going to be at two or three of the above listed events.

Speaking of dryland events: our recent "Wild & Free Weekend" was a huge success!
Thanks to Brent Sass for making his way down to the lower 48 and spending some time with us "Americans", as well as all those teams that showed up from near and far to run dogs, talk dogs and just enjoy great food and company. We had 12 teams from 4 states with about 150 dogs show up and explore our local trails. Here are some pictures.

Last, not least: after Brent got back to the real world in Alaska's interior, he hopped right back on his 4-wheel cart to continue his training for this season's upcoming races. So far, all his training miles have been on our carts, not atv's as in previous years. We'll keep our fingers crossed for a successful season!

Arctis 4-Wheel Heavy Training Cart

It is finally here!
After many requests and several delays, we have finally finished our heavy 4-wheel training cart and made it available for sale. We took our experience from building the smaller 3-wheeler (click here for 3-wheel cart  and mid-size 4-wheel cart product overview) for several years, customers' feedback and requests and put it all together in this cart. It was designed with one goal in mind: to run a large team as safe and controlled as possible. We believe we have met that goal... and then some!

Specs & Features:
Overall length: 94" (238cm)
Width at its widest point (front bumper / brush bow): 55" (140cm)
Height at the handlebars: 46" (117cm)
Weight: 220 lbs (100kg)
Heavy duty frame made from 1" steel tubing (11ga & 16ga).
Sandrail style design for energy absorbtion and stability
Reinforced joints in load bearing locations
Double-reinforced heavy duty bumper / brush bow
Powdercoated finish in any desired color (Please note, that some colors will incur additional cost. Please check with us for details.)
4-wheel independent and adjustable suspension
4-wheel hydraulic atv disc brakes
Custom made 2-circuit brake system for safety
Oversized digger / earth brake with replaceable tips
3.50-12 off-road tires for ultimate traction
4-wheel fenders
36" x 30" cargo area
Solid 5/8" axles
High strength and stainless hardware all around

As always, the cart is designed and handcrafted in the U.S.A.

Please contact us for 2015 pricing.
Shipping additional. In-person pick-up available.

To order, a 50% down payment is required, with the remaining amount due upon completion.

If you would like to place your order or have any questions about the cart or shipping, please don't hesitate to contact us at info@arctis-carts.com or (949) 280-7019


The first review is already in:

Ok, here's one more:

Spring Madness !

Springtime is here, and so is dryland season.
It's been busy, busy, busy in the shop. Filling orders for carts, carriers, scooter racks and at the same time working on our new cart model, which is in the final stages of completion.

Earlier, we delivered our 50th 3-wheel cart to a customer in Iowa, which is the 21st state in "Arctis Country". Our carts also found homes in 5 Canadian provinces, Mexico and now even in Asia!
No.50 should have been a golden cart, but the customer preferred an all black version:

While we're busy with new carts, an old friend, cart no.3 (also in all black), came in for a substantial upgrade. We added all features we had changed over the years, plus a new set of wheels, tires and brakes to bring it up to 2013 standards and added a passenger seat as well.
No.3 was the original "Bat Cart" and it was used for dryland racing in Washington:

Now, it'll be a training and racing cart in California:

Our long awaited new cart model is in its final stages and should be completed shortly. We will keep everyone updated on this blog and our facebook page as well.

Stay tuned for an event we're organizing for Portland OR in June!

Spring Dryland Mushing

Finally another blog update!
We've settled in to our new location in central Oregon and have started to manufacture and ship the first products "Made in Oregon"! Our friends at Alpine Outfitters were the first ones in line with an order for sled brakes and snowhook holders.
The fist carts out of the shop will go to the mid-western US as well as Asia! Yes, the first Arctis cart to leave the North American continent.

Just before our move, we received an inquiry about converting a snow sled for street use in a commercial.

A few 2x4s and casters later, the "roller sled" was ready to go.





The commercials can be seen here:


and here:




While winter is still in session, it's never too early to think "spring training".
We are currently booked through mid-April, but there is still time to get in on a new cart before summer time hits again. Feel free to contact us to check on availability and delivery schedule.

For our west coast mushers, we have two dates for dryland events:
Mush without slush on 4/6 - 4/7 in Sisters, OR
Spring Fling on 4/27 -4/28 in Cle Elum WA

Happy New Year!

Wishing all our customers, friends 

and fellow mushers 

a happy, healthy and prosperous 2013!

What a year it was! We've been busy from the first to the last day, thanks to our wonderful customers across the US and Canada and now also in Mexico. If all goes well, there will be another country on a different continent added to our list soon.
Unfortunately, not everything went according to plan in 2012. Since it was so busy, we've had to move the release of our new cart model to spring of 2013, and the move to our new location was supposed to be completed by the end of the year as well, but we're still in the middle of packing everything up at this point, and will be on our way to the new location in central Oregon soon.
We'll have a much larger production space available to work on several projects and hopefully add an "Arctisan" or two in the process.
Speaking of projects: at this point we are completely sold out for January and March and have one, possibly two spaces left for February. If you are in the market for a new cart for spring training, now would be a good time to get in touch with us.

While we were still in southern California, we finished the last cart in "Caltrans Orange". Actually, the customer preferred this color due to his running dogs in hunting areas. It'll certainly get everyone's attention, no matter what the reason for the paint job.

We also had another reporter visiting our local mushing group. This time it was the AFP who wanted to do a story about "urban mushing" in southern California. They just uploaded a short video and should soon publish an article and pictures of their experience with our group.

Urban Mushing on TV

Our local southern California PBS station recently came out to Fairview Park in Costa Mesa to do a story about Urban Mushing. Conveniently enough, we had one of our carts with passenger seat available for the reporter and the cameraman to hitch a ride with eight of our Siberian furries:

Watch Urban Mushing on PBS. See more from KOCE.

Oregon and the Pacific Northwest

We recently embarked on another road trip north to Oregon and Washington.
First stop was La Pine, OR. for the annual Veterans Day Mushing Weekend at La Pine State park.
While we only stayed for a short while, it was nice to see and catch up with good friends.
This year was the first time that the La Pine area received a good 10" - 12" of fresh snow for the weekend. Since it's billed as a "dryland" event, not necessarily what's expected, but for anyone into running dogs, fresh snow is never a bad thing.

We then stayed a few days in the wonderful city of Bend, OR. A great place to relax, go hiking and enjoy the wide variety of excellent eateries in town.

Then it was time to head farther north to Maple Valley and Seattle, WA.
Washington state, along with Oregon, is one of our favorite places. The people of the Pacific Northwest are just so friendly and hospitable, no matter if you're at the local coffee shop or a shipping terminal at the port of Seattle. We visited the facilities of Northland Services, a company specialized in shipping between Washington, Alaska and Hawaii. It was the 2nd time we've used them for our carts and their service and friendly attitude was a breath of fresh air in the shipping business. We highly recommend their services for your shipping needs to "the northland"!

After Seattle, we headed back south and added one more "service stop" for one of our customers in California's Bay Area. It's always nice to visit with our customers when we travel the country.

Now that we're back home, we'd like to announce that Arctis is moving to a larger facility in central Oregon!
Starting in 2013, our carts will be made in "the Beaver State". Increasing size, should help with being more efficient, reducing wait times and finally getting a few new products on the market that we had to put on the backburner this year. And who know? Maybe there will be an additional "Arctisan" or two in the near future.


Stay tuned to this blog for more news.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Fall is here!

Fall weather has arrived almost everywhere in North America, except in southern California, where temperatures are still in the eighties at the end of October. This weekend, Northwest Sleddog Association hosts the annual Pacific Northwest Dryland Championships, next weekend it'll be the Spokane Dirt Rondy and the week after that, the annual La Pine Mushing Weekend in Oregon.

The Arctis shop is still busy and we're already scheduling orders for the new year. It looks like January is filling up quickly and next thing you know, spring dryland season is here again. If you are in the market for a new training cart, please contact us to check availability and production schedule.

Our recent batch of orders covered the country (again), from the Rocky Mountains to the Midwest to the East Coast. Our next set of carts will be spread out all along the 49th parallel from coast to coast. Thanks again to all our customers all across the continent!

Recently, our 2nd cart ever built came in for an overhaul. We added all the improvements we've made over the years and had our paint shop put an awesome "anti-freeze" green metallic coat on it.
Here it is, all fresh and clean, nicely folded-up and road ready on our "easy load" rack:

A word about our paint jobs: our carts are powder coated, not spray painted. The paint is electrostatically applied and then cured at about 400°F. It makes for a tougher finish than conventional paint, which always comes in handy in the conditions most of the carts are being subjected to.

We hope to see some of you at the La Pine mushing weekend in November!

End of Summer Update

It's been a very long time once again since the blog was updated, and always for the same reason...the shop's been busy, busy, busy.
Temperatures are slowly cooling down in some parts of the country and dryland season shouldn't be too far away now.

We've been flooded with new orders so that we had to make a slight change to our production schedule. Unfortunately,the new Arctis Cart design is not ready for its introduction, yet. The prototype is being built, but the vast majority of our time is being spent on filling orders to make sure that everyone who placed an order in time, will get to enjoy his or her cart this fall.

One new addition to our program was the "Brentified" version of the 3-wheel cart, thanks to suggestions made by Brent Sass of Wild & Free Mushing. We're using thicker walled tubing for this version, which adds about 10-15 lbs of weight to the cart, plus allows even more weight to be carried on the platform.
The cart shown below also has the substantial heavy duty crate to carry gear and supplies as well as a passenger.

So, once our fall orders are filled, there will be another announcement, in addition to the new cart design, for Arctis in 2013. We'll post it here and on our facebook page, as soon as everything is confirmed.

At this point, all our production slots for this year are filled. Any new orders will be delivered starting in January. So if you're in the market for a new cart in the new year, it might be a good time to get in touch with us now to go over availability, options and schedule. Please e-mail or call (949) 280-7019

Also, we're going to be at the annual Veterans Day Mushing Weekend in La Pine, OR.
For more information, please see Karen Yeargain's website.

As always, we'd like to thank our customers for choosing Arctis throughout North America, from Oregon to Ontario, Montana to Massachusetts and beyond.

Here's one of our carts in the vast wilderness of the Yukon:

and a few of them on California trails:

Summertime...and the shop is busy!

Even during the hot southern California summer days, there's plenty of work to be done in the shop. It's rather odd to be working on dog sledding equipment when it's in the upper 90s outside.

We're just finishing up the last summer orders for carts that are on their way to destinations all over North America. So far this year, we've pretty much covered the entire continent, from central Mexico to Alaska, from Oregon to Newfoundland and many places in between. Once again, a big "Thank you!!!" to all our customers.

Once those carts are on their way, work is beginning on our new project which will be announced in a few weeks right here on this blog, so stay tuned for some exciting news.

In the meantime, our friends at NWSDA in Washington have announced their fall schedule:
September 29th - Fall Warm-Up at Camp K in Cle Elum WA
October 13th - Dryland Challenge at Camp K in Cle Elum WA
October 27th - Pacific Northwest Dryland Championships at Camp K in Cle Elum WA
For more information about NWSDA events, please see their website or facebook page.

Also scheduled is Sierra Nevada Dog Drivers' annual mushing clinic on
October 20th & 21st in Truckee CA
Please see their website for more information.

Last, not least: the annual Veterans Day Mushing Weekend on
November 10th - 12th in La Pine OR
For more information click here.


In other news, our friends at Alpine Outfitters have just introduced a new product to their catalog:
the "See Me Safety Vest" . Check it out here.

New Jump Seat for Arctis Dryland Cart

Time flies when you're busy, so our blog posts are unfortunately less frequent than they used to be.
Our "off season" really wasn't and while we're still filling spring orders, we have already booked the first few orders for fall training.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to all our customers! We really appreciate your confidence in our carts!

We just completed another cart for a customer in the great white north who requested an update to our jumpseat, something a little more comfortable than the original one. So, we went to work, and here's the result.

Just like the original, the seat comes with attached foot boards for the passenger, reinforced frame as well as the wider front tire (same as the rear ones, Bridgestone 3.00-12 off road).

Price for this jump seat is $245

If you have any questions in regards to our products, please contact us at info@arctis-carts.com


Stay tuned for some big Arctis news coming this fall.

Arctis Carts featured in Yahoo's Urban Mushing Video

Recently, a crew from Yahoo's Animal Nation webcast stopped by our local southern CA urban mushing group to shoot a video about the sport.
They spent an entire morning filming and interviewing our "leader of the pack" Rancy, and host Bridget even got to run a 6-dog team with one of our carts.

Here is the video:

...and when we're not out making videos, we're in the shop building carts like this one:

This is our first two-tone powder coat paint job. By customer request, it's "reflectra candy red" and "matte black" with red anodized wheels. Our paint shop "Embee Performance" did once again a great job!

With a rather snowless winter in many parts of the country, we've been busy filling orders and are currently booked into June.
There are also a couple of new and exciting projects lined up for the summer, so now might actually be a good time to think about a new cart for fall training.
Please feel free to contact us and inquire about our cart availability and delivery schedule.

Upcoming Dryland Mushing Events

'Tis the season to keep us busy in the shop and away from updating the blog.

Thanks to all our customers for their support!

The first dryland events are coming up within days, after this odd winter most of us had. No snow in most areas, late snow for some folks, and tons of snow in Alaska.

On Sat 3/31 & Sun 4/1 Pacific Sled Dog and Skijor Association is holding its 4th annual "Mush without Slush" in Sisters, OR. www.psdsa.org/Races/MushWithoutSlush.aspx

Sat 4/28 & Sun 4/29 Northwest Sleddog Association's "Spring Fling" in Cle Elum, WA

www.nwsda.org

Mon 5/7 - Sun 5/13 Quinault Malamute's "Malapaloosa" in Ovando, MT

http://run4thered.blogspot.com/2012/03/malapaloosa-2012.html

At this point we are pretty much booked until mid-May. For information about our carts please click here , and to place an order please contact us.

Ready for dryland season?

Well, for many mushers in the lower 48, the entire season seems to consist of dryland training and racing this year. With the exception of Alaska, there's just not that much snow around and many races have been canceled due to lack of the white stuff.

We've certainly noticed, that there's an increased demand in dryland equipment and it's been busy since the season began last fall.

Delivery estimates for current orders are early to mid March at this point, and we always have a few interested mushers "hovering", waiting to place their order.

In order to maybe give an incentive to one or another musher on the west coast, we're thinking about attending NWSDA's spring fling on April 28th & 29th in Cle Elum WA. As always, we can bring a cart or two along the way and drop it off at your door step (if you live somewhat close to or route) or deliver at the race site for free.

Keep in mind, that time and space will quickly run out, so you may want to take a minute and think about a new cart for the upcoming season.

For cart features and pricing, please click here.

If you have any questions regarding our carts and free delivery or are ready to place your order, contact us at info@arctis-carts.com

Wild & Free!

Finally a moment to update the blog after a long drought.
Yes, we're still here and have been spending pretty much all of our time on the trails and in the shop, so updates on our website, blog and facebook have been few and far between.

Someone else has also been very, very busy recently: our good friend Brent Sass of Wild & Free Mushing in Fairbanks, AK.
Brent is a 5-time Yukon Quest Veteran and in addition to signing up for his 6th time at the YQ, he also decided to run his first Iditarod this season, going for "the double"!

We met Brent in September of 2010 when he was visiting family in our area. By accident, he was at our mushing group's staging area when we returned from a weekend morning fun run. When he saw our carts he immediately said "I want one!".
Sure enough, after he finished his amazing 2010/11 season, he called and placed his order for one of our carts, the famed Bumble Bee.
Initially, the cart was supposed to be used for puppy training at his kennel, but Brent scrapped the idea as soon as he received the cart, and hooked up the first 6-dog team of his mainstring to the cart...the first of 4 teams to go out the first day. The next day he added two more dogs to the team and after about 2 weeks, he trained up to 10 of his race veterans on the cart every day.



During his fall training, he constantly kept us updated about how the cart performed and what updates/upgrades would have to be done to run a team of his caliber with the cart. Once his season comes to an end in April, we should have the "Brentified Arctis Cart" ready for him to test. That will be our first all new cart design since we started on the 3-wheel cart.

Since Brent has been such a great advocate of our carts, we decided to start sponsoring Team Wild & Free for the current season. In addition to being a general team supporter, we also sponsor "our boys" Scroggie & Braeburn and looking forward to seeing those boys cross the finish line in Whitehorse and Nome (albeit not in person, unfortunately).



Brent's enthusiasm for the dogs, the sport and life in general is absolutely amazing a definitely infectious. He is held in high regards by his peers and a great ambassador to the sport of dog sledding.

Feel free to check out his website Wild & Free Mushing, see the dogs and read up on any news regarding the races this season. There's also a link to Wild & Free gear and, last, not least, opportunities for sponsorships!

If you check out his facebook page, you'll see plenty of picture and video updates of the team's training regimen as well as the trials and tribulations of training sled dogs in Alaska.

Be wild and free!


As always, if you're looking for a cart for this season, please contact us for current wait times and delivery schedule. Our e-mail is info@arctis-carts.com and phone # is (949) 280-7019

Busy, busy times!

It's been awhile since we posted an update, but it appears that the season has arrived.

After we returned from our trip to the New Hampshire trade fair, orders started to come in from quite literally all over the continent and we're busy at work getting those carts built and shipped.

We're currently booked through the end of the year, and with our own busy schedule during the early months of the new year, you might want to check-in to see what the schedule looks like, if you're thinking about a new cart for the new year. We'll be in spring training in no time.

As always, we may go on a few road trips in 2012 and would be able to bring a cart along if you're in the general area of our route. Feel free to contact us to see where we might go to attend any races.

Thank you to all our customers for your continued support and trust in our products!