The film was being shot for over two years. Our goal was to observe and record how a sled dog team functions while being trained for races (three seasons of the year), and during the most crucial snowy season.
During the first winter, we and Maciej the musher were surprised by total lack of snow. We had to wait till the next wintertime for some snowfall.
Maciej practiced with his dogs for ten months every year, from three to five times a week.
Dogs’ training season is limited by temperature: sled dogs are not forced to excessive physical effort in temperatures exceeding 20 degrees Celsius. Hence summertime is usually free from training.
Maciej took part in about ten competitions every year.
These were both a few-minute-long sprints as well as longer, multi-stage races, for example, with stage I of 60 km, then a break, and then stage II of 50 km, with a 2000 meter elevation gain during the race.
Maciej trained his team specifically for every race.
When making the film, we learned about the “tunnel effect”, which in this context is a specific behavior of sled dogs, confirmed by some mushers: when dogs run onto an open space from, for example, a forest lane (which they perceive as a “tunnel” thanks to high trees on both sides), they speed up without any command from the musher.
