Present

More than 30 years have past since the first litter in 1969 and Vargevass Siberians can be found all over Europe nowadays. It is one of very few strains left _in Scandinavia without the questionable 'Zero' line in _the background. The kennel has been reduced _considerably in 2002 - making top competition more _of a challenge with less animals to choose from -, _but workability and performance remain the _breedinggoal and to test this quality, the dogs are _running mid- and longdistances.

_At present, Femundlöpet and Polar Distans are the _main goals. Femundlöpet is Scandinavia's most _popular long distance race with 100 teams _participating on average. This race is open to all _sleddogs. There are two classes, with the 12 dog _class running over a distance of 620 km. It is held _the first weekend of February in central Norway.

On a much smaller scale but from a purebred point of view not less interesting race is Polar Distans. This 300 km. race in south west Sweden is organized by the Svenska Polarhundklubben and usually attended by all the four sleddogs breeds; Siberian Huskies, Alaskan Malamutes, Samoyeds and Greenlanders. Karsten participated for the first time in 2003 and took first place in a field of 10 teams from various countries. In 2004 and 2005 he repeated this performance, this time with resp. 13 teams and 12 teams participating.

In 2006, Karsten and the team completed Finnmarkslöpet. Europe's longest sled dog race of 1000 km. in the very north of Norway. At age 67, he is the oldest competitor to have finished the race. The Vargevass team was the only Siberian Husky team and ended on 13. place in a field of 23 teams. It is the second all Siberian Husky team to complete the 1000 km. race as of now. See our Finnmarkslöpet journal for a review of the race.

As concerned for breeding; to add some 'new blood' to the strain, a litter has been bred from Iditarod veteran Alaskan's Ping-Ping of Anadyr with Tellervo av Vargevass in December 2002. The males Sujoz, Putin and Grubian have made it to the main team since the 2004/2005 season. Furthermore, female Alaskan's Chanel of Anadyr was added to the kennel in 2001 and is presently trained by Kjell Dannevall, as are most of the other females. Chanel will be bred in 2007.

It is obvious that happy dogs make the best sleddogs. Well being of the dogs is considered the base for a good team. Therefore, the entire pack of 25 dogs is let loose for several hours a day in the 15.000 m2 play yard where they can roam around and play together under supervision of the human packleader.