I went on the Arctic bucket list trip with Alaskan husky-sledding, igloo bars and Northern Lights spotting

IT’S not every day that a leash is tied around your waist and a dog takes YOU for a walk.

But that’s what happens at the little-known destination of Alta, in northern Norway.

Getty

Getty

The setting is wintry arctic pine forest, the activity is guided snowshoeing and the dog is an Alaskan husky named Bruce.

I had asked to take HIM for a walk — he was accompanying our trek to pull provisions on a sled — but as Bruce is stronger than me it has to be the other way round. So he leads and I follow, enjoying the novelty of it all.

Despite having a fjord named after it, not many people are familiar with the tiny Norwegian city of Alta, population 15,000. But it’s been quietly putting itself on the map as an alternative winter-wilderness destination.

Does it offer exciting activities? Absolutely, yes — husky adventures included.

What about culture? Yes, it has a museum — and the showstopper Northern Lights Cathedral.

Talking of which, is Alta good for spotting the aurora borealis?

Actually, it’s better than anywhere else in these parts, thanks to its geographical location.

I’ve booked a three-night stay with tour operator Best Served Scandinavia, whose itineraries offer the optimum chance of seeing the lights as well as enjoying other activities.

But for now, I’m sticking with husky Bruce.

He leads me to a frozen lake where my snowshoes and leash are removed and attention turns to ice-fishing, which requires drilling holes through the metre-thick ice, casting lines and waiting.

Snow gently falls as our group of four reclines on reindeer rugs, mid-lake, rods in hand.

There’s much debate about what to do should anyone catch anything — prep it for lunch or release it — when suddenly I feel a tug.

The heart rate quickens and palms turn clammy — despite the freeze — as I reel it in. What’s on the end of the line? Just the maggots, being used as bait.

Instead, our guide Kalle cooks salmon and veggies on an open fire in a lavvu, a tent used by Norway’s indigenous Sami reindeer herders.
Everything’s delicious.

My ba­se is the Scandic hotel, which has a large sauna to warm up in, serves superb Scandi-style breakfasts — think herring, gravlax and nutty breads — and has rooms which overlook Alta’s cathedral.

Its knockout swirling design, inspired by the Northern Lights, is equally striking on the inside — especially the harp.

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SHOOTING STAR

Northern Lights are a wondrous but pesky natural phenomenon because in order to see them you’re at the whim of the weather — too cloudy or too bright and they’re not visible.

That night, I join a Hunting the Northern Lights expedition, although what we’re really doing is chasing clear skies.

We drive away from light pollution toward inky darkness and, after heading 27 miles north-east, we hit the jackpot.

Everyone piles out of the van to ogle faint green stripes arcing across the heavens. It’s a good, though not brilliant, aurora sighting because the atmosphere’s slightly hazy.

There’ll be other opportunities. One morning I hike up Komsa Mountain, 45 minutes each way, for a view of Alta’s fjord which was used by Germany as a naval base during World War Two.

It was near here that the Allies first detected the German Bismarck battleship.

I also try “mushing” — steering the eight-strong team of huskies charged with pulling my sled.

And I visit the bar at Alta’s Sorrisniva Igloo Hotel where everything is sculpted from ice, even the glasses.

Their signature shot is electric- blue, laced with vodka, and slips down nicely.

Finally, it’s the last night and activity — a reindeer sleigh ride led by Espen, a native Sami. The stars are out, clouds are few. Might we see the aurora? “I’m optimistic,” he says.

The only sound is that of my reindeer Muzet prancing through the snow towards a clearing. I look up and gasp.

As well as a bright-green band high in the sky there are emerald slashes fountaining from the horizon. And then I spot a shooting star.

I’m too stunned to make a wish, but it is everything anyone could hope for — an arctic break that outshines all others.