Where to trade in your snow tires for a team of huskies
Secret no. 2 to making the most of the city this chilly season
Tanya McCready and Hank DeBruin mounted their first dogsledding trip—a short jaunt from their home near Guelph Lake—in 1999. Not long after, the pair sold their house, quit their jobs (he was a millwright; she was an engineer) and bought 55 acres of pristine wilderness at the northern edge of Haliburton, three hours outside Toronto. There, they launched Winterdance, a company that runs dogsled tours on the Canadian Shield. McCready and DeBruin now own 150 purebred Siberian huskies, a massive heated kennel and more than 850 hectares of land criss-crossed with winding trails. They lead city-dwellers in need of rural relaxation on idyllic rides past frozen lakes, marshes and towering rock cuts crowned by hemlock trees. (High rollers opt for the heli-dogsledding option, which includes chopper transport to and from Toronto.) On nighttime excursions, sledders stop halfway to sip hot chocolate around a roaring bonfire. From $120 per person for a two-hour trip; $1,425 for heli-dogsledding. Winterdance.com.
The Winter Hater's Guide to Loving Winter
![](http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https://torontolife.com/city/winter-guide-2015-dogsledding/&title=Where to trade in your snow tires for a team of huskies&picture=https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/winter-guide-2015-dogsledding-2000x2000.jpg&description=[caption id="attachment_362844" align="alignnone" width="2000"] (Image: Courtesy of Winterdance)[/caption]
Tanya McCready and Hank DeBruin mounted their first dogsledding trip—a short jaunt from their home near Guelph Lake—in 1999. Not long after, the pair sold their house, quit their jobs (he was a millwright; she was an engineer) and bought 55 acres of pristine wilderness at the northern edge of Haliburton, three hours outside Toronto. There, they launched Winterdance, a company that runs dogsled tours on the Canadian Shield. McCready and DeBruin now own 150 purebred Siberian huskies, a massive heated kennel and more than 850 hectares of land criss-crossed with winding trails. They lead city-dwellers in need of rural relaxation on idyllic rides past frozen lakes, marshes and towering rock cuts crowned by hemlock trees. (High rollers opt for the heli-dogsledding option, which includes chopper transport to and from Toronto.) On nighttime excursions, sledders stop halfway to sip hot chocolate around a roaring bonfire. From $120 per person for a two-hour trip; $1,425 for heli-dogsledding. Winterdance.com.
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