N 68°23′07.1″  ·  E 23°53′58.7″

Run with the wild.

Welcome to responsible mushing in the High Arctic. Over 200 huskies, eighteen winters in, 200 km inside the Arctic Circle.

Find your safari Meet the dogs
All awards

Awards & recognition

Earned in the field. Never bought.

Eighteen winters of getting it right — and a wall of awards to back it up.

  • World Responsible Tourism Awards 2015 — GOLD — Best for Animal Welfare Initiative
    Gold Best for Animal Welfare World Responsible Tourism Awards · 2015
  • TripAdvisor Hall of Fame 2020 badge
    Hall of Fame Top-rated activity TripAdvisor · 2020
  • TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence — 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019
    4× in a row Certificate of Excellence TripAdvisor · 2016–2019
  • Travel and Hospitality Awards 2020 winner badge
    Winner Cultural Tour Company of the Year Travel & Hospitality Awards · 2020
  • Travel and Hospitality Award Winner badge
    Winner Adventure Activity of the Year Travel & Hospitality Awards · 2019
  • Sustainable Travel Finland — Carbon Negative — Earth Positive
    Certified Carbon Negative · Earth Positive Sustainable Travel Finland
  • Winston Churchill Memorial Trust
    Fellowship Memorial Trust Award Winston Churchill Memorial Trust

Responsible mushing · since 2008

Over 200 huskies. One promise:
their welfare comes first.

Hetta Huskies is an award-winning sled-dog kennel and the heart of CAPE Lapland — Finland's Centre for Arctic and Polar Exploration. Eighteen winters of dog-first safaris, 200 km inside the Arctic Circle.

200+ huskies, all named

Alaskan, Siberian, Taimyr and Nenet Laika. Vet-led care. A no-kill policy for retirees — one of the very few in Scandinavia.

GOLD award, animal welfare

World Responsible Tourism Award 2015 (Animal Welfare). 'Adventure Activity of the Year' 2019. 'Cultural Tour Company of the Year' 2020.

Real wilderness

Trails into the Pallas-Yllästunturi backcountry — not the car park. Frozen lakes. Old taiga. Genuine silence.

Who runs this

Two people. Two hundred dogs. One promise.

Pasi Ikonen and Anna McCormack married in 2003, moved to Hetta in 2005, and ran their first client season in 2008 — while Pasi was simultaneously skiing solo to the South Pole. Twenty winters on, they're still the ones in the kennel before sunrise.

Pasi Ikonen, co-owner of Hetta Huskies, in winter expedition gear

Pasi Ikonen

Finnish polar explorer.
Co-owner.

Ex-border-patrol officer who once trained a commando troop with a German Shepherd called Gordon. Skied solo and unsupported to the South Pole in 2008 — leaving Anna to run the first full client season with 20 pups in the house.

  • Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Fellow
  • Motivational speaker & expedition leader
  • Bilingual EN / FI
Anna McCormack, co-owner of Hetta Huskies

Anna McCormack

Adventure Racer.
Co-owner.

The other half of the partnership and the one who held it all together that first winter — running an international job, twenty puppies, and a brand-new commercial dog operation while her husband was at the bottom of the planet.

  • Adventure racer & expedition planner
  • Drives the dog-welfare standards work
  • British, fluent EN / FI

Pick your trail

Half a day, or half a week — your call.

From a frost-bright afternoon out on the lake to a five-day expedition sleeping in remote cabins, every safari runs with the same dog-first care.

A young child driving a small husky sled through a snowy forest ½ day

Magic of Winter

20 km · December – April · from €95 pp

Your first real taste of mushing. Harness up, learn the lines, and let the team show you what they were born to do.

Explore
A husky team running toward the camera at sunset with a musher in a red parka Full day

Call of the Wild

30 km · January – April · from €205 pp

A full day in the saddle. Lunch by an open fire, your dogs napping at your feet, the trail still ahead of you.

Explore
A snow-covered timber wilderness cabin among frosted trees in deep winter 2 days

2-Day Polar Tour

December – January · 1 overnight · from €700

Two days of mushing, one night in a traditional kota by the farm. The kind of dark you forget exists in cities.

Explore
A distant husky team and musher crossing a vast snowy tundra plain 3 days

Taiga Tour

Primarily April · 2 overnights · from €1,250

Three days through the spring taiga. Long light, soft snow, and the kind of pace that lets you actually listen.

Explore
A husky team standing alert on the snow with their musher in a red parka, bright blue sky 5 days

5-Day Wilderness Safari

January – April · 4 overnights · from €1,875

Our signature. Five days, your own team, remote cabins, real wilderness. You leave a tourist, you arrive home a musher.

Explore
A sweeping green aurora borealis filling the night sky over Finnish Lapland Evening

Northern Lights by Dogsled

September – April · 3–4 hrs · from €175

Out of the village light. Hot drink in hand. Eyes on the sky. The dogs settle, and so do you.

Explore
A husky puppy running through a green summer forest, tongue out Half day

Midnight Sun Mornings

June – August · 3–5 hrs

Summer at the farm. Meet the dogs off-season, hike with them, learn what mushing looks like without the snow.

Explore
A snowmobile rider beside a snow-covered wilderness cabin at golden hour Half day

Snowmobile Trails

December – April · 2–4 hrs · from €80

A faster way into the same wild. Guided routes through forest and frozen lake, with stops to listen for ptarmigan.

Explore

Not sure where to start?

Find your safari

Dozens of adventures, 200+ huskies, four wild seasons. Answer a few quick questions and we’ll match you to the trip that fits.

More than mushing

On the farm. Year-round.

You don't have to harness up to meet the dogs. We run farm visits, puppy encounters, hikes, fatbike rides and Sámi cultural evenings every season.

  • Puppy encounters

    Forty-five minutes in the puppy pen. Yes, really.

  • Farm visits

    No sled, no commitment. Just meet 200 dogs.

  • Fatbike trails

    Same wild, different wheels. Year-round trails.

  • Lappish Joiku evenings

    Traditional Sámi singing around a fire.

  • Husky day hikes

    Walk the trails with a dog on a long lead.

  • Husky Guide School

    3-day camps. Veterinary placements. We train the next ones.

  • Dog hotel & daycare

    Leave your dog with people who know dogs.

  • Bushcraft & survival

    Wilderness first aid. Avalanche safety. Real-skill weeks.

We don't just meet the welfare standards. We help write them.

Founding members of the Lappish Sleddog Entrepreneur's Association. Signed up to the Mush with PRIDE voluntary codes of practice. Active in baselining Finland's national sled-dog welfare regulations. The GOLD award in 2015 wasn't an accident — it was an audit.

A day on the trail

What it actually feels like.

  1. Morning 08:30
    Two huskies in harnesses with bright blue eyes, ready to run

    Meet your eight.

    They'll know your scent before you know their names. Coffee in your gloves, dogs yelling for the harness, your guide running through the lines one more time.

  2. Midday 11:40
    Silhouette of a husky team sledding across a frozen lake at sunset

    Sixteen paws drumming snow.

    Forest opens. Lake opens. Sky opens. You stop checking the time. The only sound is breath and runners and the soft thud of paws finding their rhythm.

  3. Dusk 15:20
    Inside a traditional kota at night with a fire burning at the centre

    Reindeer stew. Birchwood smoke.

    Stories that started before you arrived. Your dogs curled in the snow at your feet. Hands warm around a tin mug. Nobody in a hurry to leave.

  4. Night 21:00
    Green aurora borealis swirling over the snow-covered trees and buildings of the Hetta Huskies farm

    Aurora on the cabin window.

    Dogs asleep. The world quiet in a way you'd half-forgotten was possible. You stand outside in your socks because you can't quite believe it. You, finally, the same.

Meet the dogs

They run this place. Literally.

Over 200 huskies, every one of them named, known, and cared for like the working athlete they are. Here are a few of the regulars you might harness up with.

Close-up portrait of a husky with grey and tan fur, sun behind, snow on chin
Leon Lead dog. Decided which way the trail goes before you finished your coffee.
A retired husky resting their head against a guide who is gently holding them
Cathmal Retired now, but still the gentlest soul on the farm. Living out her days under the no-kill policy.
A husky puppy running through a summer forest, tongue out
Obama Summer pup, big personality. Convinced every guest is here specifically for him.
Two huskies resting on red beds inside a warm wooden cabin
Bin & Bon Pack of two. Off duty. The reward for a hard run is a warm bed and a friend on it.
Three young husky pups running together through the snow
The Litter First winter on snow. Born here. Named here. Headed for the front of the line one day.
Two black-and-white husky puppies with bright blue eyes
Mad & Cloud Blue-eyed siblings. Will pose for any camera in the postcode.

The four breeds on the farm

  • ~70% Alaskan Husky Working sled dogs. Built for distance, not posters.
  • ~20% Siberian Husky The face most people picture. Blue eyes, big voice.
  • ~5% Taimyr Primitive Siberian breed. Tough, instinctive, ancient.
  • ~5% Nenet Laika crosses Reindeer-herding heritage. Sharp, sure-footed.
200+huskies
Allnamed
No-killretirement
Vet-ledcare

Before you arrive

Did you know? Husky home truths.

These aren't the huskies from the films. They're working Arctic athletes — with jobs, opinions, and a 10,000-year-old urge to run. Tap a card to learn more.

No-kill kennel

Retired dogs need homes. We need help running them.

Because we don't put dogs down when they stop running, every retiree needs somewhere — and every working dog costs us roughly the same as keeping a child. There are three ways you can join in.

  • 01

    Adopt a retiree

    Take a retired sled dog home. We handle the paperwork, the vet checks and the travel logistics — wherever you live in Europe. No fee. Just the right home.

    Read the adoption guide
  • 02

    Sponsor a husky

    Pick a dog. Pay monthly or one-off. Get photos, updates from the trail, and the satisfaction of having a working athlete out there who's partly yours. From €15 / month.

    See sponsorship options
  • 03

    Summer foster

    Borrow a dog for the off-season. June to August, while we're quieter, our dogs go to vetted families across Europe for proper holidays. A working break for everyone.

    How fostering works

Stay with us

Sleep where the silence is loudest.

A snow-laden traditional Sámi-style kota among frosted pines under a clear blue Arctic sky

At the farm

The Kota

Sleep in a traditional Sámi-style timber hut around an open fire. The dogs are a hundred steps away. The aurora is on the roof.

A wooden wilderness cabin in the snow, golden evening light on the timber and deck

In the wilderness

Backcountry Cabin

Reachable only by sled. Wood stove, hot food, no signal, all stars. The kind of room you tell people about for years.

What guests say

5-star rated. Eight years running.

Inducted into the TripAdvisor Hall of Fame in 2020 after winning the Certificate of Excellence every year from 2016 to 2019. Thousands of 5-star reviews — and counting.

5.0 average
Thousands of 5★ reviews
Hall of Fame TripAdvisor 2020
GOLD Responsible Tourism 2015
Read every review on TripAdvisor

From the kennel

Notes from the trail.

Long-form writing from Anna, Pasi and the guides — on dog welfare, expedition planning, and what life is actually like 200 km inside the Arctic Circle. Pulled live from our Medium.

Every post on Medium

As seen, heard & filmed in

  • Visit Finland
  • Knorr — Flavour of Home (2014)
  • British Press
  • Finnish Press
  • International Press
  • Frozen Lakes — film & TV
Map of the Lapland region of Finland (actual administrative outline). The Arctic Circle (66°33′N) runs just south of Rovaniemi. Three airports serve the area — Enontekiö (ENF) beside Hetta, Kittilä (KTT), and Rovaniemi (RVN); hover or tap each plane for details. NORWAY SWEDEN RUSSIA ARCTIC CIRCLE · 66°33′N HETTA the kennel · 68.4°N ✈ Rovaniemi Airport IATA RVN · ICAO EFRO ~4 hrs from Hetta finavia.fi ↗ ✈ Kittilä Airport IATA KTT · ICAO EFKT ~2 hrs from Hetta finavia.fi ↗ ✈ Enontekiö Airport IATA ENF · ICAO EFET 10 min from Hetta finavia.fi ↗ N 100 km

Visit Hetta

Where we are. How to find us.

Right now in Hetta

  • Temperature···
  • Snow depth···

Live · updated —

When to come

Winter: December – April. Dogsled season. Deep snow, short days, aurora often.
Summer: June – August. Midnight sun, hiking with the dogs, no biting cold.

Getting here

Enontekiö (ENF) in winter — 10 min by shuttle. Kittilä (KTT) year-round — 2 hrs by bus (twice daily). Rovaniemi (RVN) — 4+ hrs, more flight options. We can arrange the pickup.

What to pack

  • ❄ Thermal base layers (we'll loan the rest)
  • ❄ Warm woollen socks — bring more than you think
  • ❄ Liner gloves for under the big ones
  • ❄ A buff or scarf for face protection
  • ❄ A sense of humour about the cold

Ready when you are

Harness up.

Tell us when, and which trail's calling. We'll come back with dates, dogs, and everything you need.

or

Book instantly on FareHarbor