Sleds and sleighs in Lake Louise

BRIAN Crisp joins 50 howling and excited dogs for a sledding holiday in Canada.

Escape lake Louise

MY DAY started with a 90-minute dog-sled ride along the continental divide from Lake Louise to the border between the Canadian provinces of Alberta and British Columbia.

I won't say that you need to be a dog lover to enjoy this but it does help.

We arrive at Kingmik dog-sled tour headquarters, about a five-minute drive from the landmark Fairmont Lake Louise, at 9am.

The sun is just peeking through the grey sky, the temperature has climbed to -6C and there's plenty of snow on the ground. The sound of 50 excited dogs howling is deafening.

The dogs, bred to pull sleds, are ready to go. They have been fed, watered and to say they are eager to hit the track is an understatement. Our musher Megan Routley introduces us to the eight dogs that will pull my wife and I along the 10km journey.

We pat each of the dogs as Megan, like a proud mother, describes their personality traits and work ethic on the trails.

Some of these dogs have taken part in the 1000km Alaskan sled races. Despite our not insubstantial weight, this will be a walk in the park for them.

Megan wraps us in blankets and tucks us into our sheltered cocoon and stands on the back of the sled. As she releases the brake, the dogs lunge into action.

The sled pulls off through the fir trees, up and down hills, around sweeping bends, all at a sprinter's pace. The cold air rushes in, forcing its way into every part of your body.

This is the way people used to travel in Canada it is rugged but it allows you to take in the country's natural beauty.

As the dogs run, they scoop up mouthfuls of snow to help them hydrate. They also go about their business without breaking stride, so every now and then you have to hold your breath to keep out the smell.

We stop a few times to give them a rest. At one stop, my wife joins Megan at the back of the sled. She my wife squeals as we swoosh around a bend. The dogs turn to look, and then keep charging ahead with even more spring in their gait.

Megan takes the sled off the main track into what she describes as "Narnia's forest".

The sled eases past trees through metre-deep snow. We bounce over every uneven ditch until the sled pulls into a clearing and we can see the finish line.

The reward for the dogs is a chunk of frozen mince and a pat.

The smile on my wife's face tells me how much fun she has had.

We head back to the hotel to sit by the open fire and warm up before the day's next adventure snowshoeing.  

We are told to meet at the guide's hut at 2pm dressed in ski gear, wearing waterproof boots, and hat and gloves are essential.

Our guide, Mike, is a very funny man. I don't know if he's trying to be funny but his staccato speech patterns and sense of timing have the 10 of us whispering comparisons between him and actor Jim Carrey.

In a few minutes I know more about Mike than some of the people I call friends. He is 49, married to a woman from Sydney, has a daughter who has dual Canadian and Australian citizenship but who is failing maths at college and instead of studying, she is playing volleyball in Japan.

He is one of three guides employed by the hotel. He jokes about how lucky he is to have a job that allows him to spend his time wandering around the mountains in this part of the world.

He fits us all with snowshoes and gives us all the training we need.

"Let's go," he says. "To snowshoe, all you have to do is walk."

And off we go, up the hill, following in his snowshoe prints.

Lake Louise has Canada's highest altitude so it is not long before I, along with several others, are squeezing air into our lungs. One woman finds the going so tough she turns back and heads to the hotel. 

"Don't think about it," my wife says. How did she know I was about to volunteer to go with the ailing lady to make sure she got back safely?

Mike then takes us into some powder snow. Walking behind him dodging trees, stumps and ditches presents some problems but the powder itself is hard work. I fall three times. Each time snow somehow finds its way straight into my undies. And baby it's cold inside.

I eventually work out how to stay upright and we make our way back to the packed path and Mike's final surprise for the trip.

He has built an igloo in the middle of the forest.

He invites us in, lights a few candles, serves biscuits and hot chocolate and tells us about the animals that live in these mountains. 

We get back to the hotel about 5pm, as the sun sets. This time we have 90 minutes to warm up, change into our cowboy clobber and board the Brewster sleigh ride.

First things first, though. We have to sign yet another waiver form.

Tourists in Canada spend a lot of time signing these forms. They are designed to absolve carriers of all responsibility should anything happen to you while in their care.

I understand the need if you are doing something dangerous but what can go wrong on a two-horse open sleigh ride?

Our sleigh takes us from the Fairmont to the Brewster stables for a barn dance. Now here is where I confess that I love country music. So imagine my delight when I walked in and saw the band wearing cowboy boots, wrangler shirts and hats.

The barn was a real barn, the meat for supper was carried in on a pitchfork and there was apple pie for dessert.

Everyone who worked there was family, and they looked like they were enjoying themselves.

The band played a smorgasbord of country music, everything from Johnny Cash to Marty Robbins. They had us rolling, rolling, rolling and later even touched my achy breaky heart.

It was a magical night. My wife learnt to line dance, something she still does when Billy Ray comes on the radio. Perhaps that's why she bought the cowgirl boots the next day and ordered fried chicken for lunch.

As we left the barn at 10.30pm, Larry and Garry that's the band launched into the Toby Keith classic As Good As I Once Was. Appropriate, I thought, as we boarded the sleigh on the eve of my 50th birthday. 

-- The writer was a guest of Travel Alberta and the Canadian Tourism Commission.

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LAKE LOUISE

- Getting there

Qantas offers daily flights to Los Angeles from Sydney and daily connections to Vancouver with Alaska Airlines. Return fares start at $1608 (travel by June 16).

See qantas.com 

- Doing there

Adventure World has Winter Wonderland Escapes in the Rocky Mountains of Banff-Lake Louise in Alberta from $899 a person.

The package includes six nights' accommodation, seven days' car rental, a one-hour dog-sled trip at Lake Louise and a four-hour snowshoe excursion ex-Banff. Conditions apply. Book by August 31 for travel between December 22 this year and April 10 next year.

Ph 1300 363 055 or see adventureworld.com.au 

- More: travelalberta.com