Goahti

                      Very functional and built like a boat, the traditional sled pulled by                        reindeer, the äkackja, is also known as geres or ráidogers.

Ăkackja

A traditional Sámi sled has flat bottom with the sides slightly curved in and the front end bent up and tapered toward a point.

It can obviously vary in size but made from birch it is often seen to be about 2 feet wide, 5 inches deep and a little over 6 feet long.

These sleds are perfectly suited for areas with lot of trees and deep snow. With the flat bottom they do not as easily sink into the snow but instead they glide on top of the snow.

image of

Sleds with high runners like the komatek sleds Native to the Inuit living on the Arctic coast where the snow is rarely deep and they often run on the ice of the ocean, tend to sink deep when used in deep snow. The smaller äkackja sled also easily tracks right behind the reindeer so that no one is needed to steer and yet the sled can easily carry a load of 200 pounds.