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Flekken 2 (X Breed) | Dog Packs: Banzai, X Breed

Here are some incredible photos from Oeyvind Bliksvaer of his dog Flekken, hiking in Norway. This is the story to go along with the images…

We had a 4 day hike in one of the Norwegian mountain areas (Jotunheimen) the last week in June. There was still a lot of snow, and much water from the snowmelting. But the Banzai dog pack was perfect, and with good shoes and other equipment, it was perfect.

I am attaching a couple of pictures of Flekken with his pack. It is a perfect fit, and reaches exactly down to his elbows. I had to take the pack off him down the steepest areas where we were balancing down a ridge. Other than that, he was carrying his pack with 4-7 kg all four days, but it was hard on his paws, so if there were to be one more day of hiking, I would have had to put socks on him.

Flekken wearing his Banzai dog pack

This picture is from Besseggen, which is Norway’s most popular hike. It is a 6-8 hour hike, 13 km long and with a total of more than 1000 mtr elevation. We hiked the opposite way of what is most usual, so we had the climbing downwards. This ridge is the one Henrik Ibsen described in his famous act “Peer Gynt”. 35,000 people take this walk each year.

This picture of Flekken shows how rough (and beautiful) this hike was.

The second picture is in a valley 25 km northwest of Besseggen. We were planing to do a one week hike, but there was not so fun with lots of snow and water, so it was shortened to 4 days.