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The Yukon Quest
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The Yukon Quest
Locals call
Fairbanks the dog mushing capital of the world. and actually that comes
as no small surprise considering that Fairbanks has three major sled dog
races each year. Respectively they are The
Yukon Quest,
The
Iditerod and The
North American World Championships.
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In early February
One of the high points of the year in Fairbanks is the Yukon
Quest. Called
the toughest dog race in the world the Yukon Quest is a grueling 1000 mile
journey across the frozen wilderness between the city of Whitehorse, in
the Canadian Yukon, and Fairbanks Alaska. Let me just say this, there
is nothing small about this race at all. Not only is it the longest and
toughest but it also gets world wide television and radio coverage in over
120 countries.
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An interesting
nuance about this race is that it alternates running from Fairbanks to
Whitehorse on even numbered years and from Whitehorse to Fairbanks on odd
numbered years.
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As a small aside
let me mention that in Alaska they don't call this sport dog sled racing they
call it "mushing, or dog mushing." If you come up here to witness this event
first hand you might find it handy to know a
little of the lingo.
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Don't be fooled by the bright sunlight in these photos. This event takes place in early February and the temperature outside are typically a balmy 15 - 20 below zero. If you'll notice many of the event's spectators in these pictures are not wearing hats, nor are they bundled up like eskimos. That is due in part because Fairbanks is nestled in the Tanana Valley surrounded by mountains on all sides, so there seldom is much of a wind chill factor here.
Another reason is contrary to what
you may think not all cold is equal. In Fairbanks the cold is a very
dry cold -- so much so it that it doesn't penetrate your clothing all that
well. When the temperatures warm up to zero or 10 degrees you can
typically see people walking around in flannel shirts or light sweat jackets.
In temperatures between the twenties and thirties I've seen people jogging
in shorts and T-shirts.
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I wouldn't really care to venture
a guess as to how many people from Fairbanks were lined up along the banks
of the Chena River year to year for the Yukon Quest, but they number in
the thousands and line up along the bank for miles.
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I think one
of the things that surprised me the most about this was the dogs.
In all the movies I've ever seen all the dog teams where pure bred Alaskan
Huskies. Well in all the Dog teams I've seen since I've been up here I
never saw one with even a single Husky in it. On top of the the dogs
of choice for this sport seems to be small lanky mutts, of which it can
seldom be said that any two are alike.
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This is a
custom dog team truck that can carry up to 20 sled dogs. Each dog
has his own private room with a view with plenty of room to stretch out
and turn around and typically the owners put a fresh bed of hay in their
stalls daily. I've lived in Georgia, Virginia, and New york, and
as a salesman I traveled all up and down the eastern seaboard and as far
west as Texas and Oklahoma and I have never seen any vehicles used to transport
dogs that remotely resembles one of these these. And yet every day
in Fairbanks and Vicinity winter and summer you see a dozen or more of
these five star dog hotels driving by.
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I know its a bit difficult to see, but down the center of the street in both of these photographs is a long harness onto which the dogs are hitched in pairs. These harnesses can hold up to 18 sled dogs. Here you can actually see how small these dogs really are. Having been up close and personal with some of these dogs I can tell you that most of these dogs wouldn't even come up to my knee.
The one thing
I can definitely tell you about these dogs is that they live for mushing.
Yipping and yapping excitedly and wagging their tails like mad they practically
climb into the racing harnesses all by themselves. And contrary to
the image of the cruel overweight sled dog owner with a whip that you see
in old cartoons and movies -- These dog mushers love their animals and
they themselves are out there running, and pushing and steering their sled
and dog team for all their worth. I'll tell you what, just watching
them out there going through the paces wears me out. While
these six photos are not from the Yukon Quest I put them here so that you
could see
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I was also surprised by how fast
these dog teams can move. My camera has automatic advance, and with
only seconds between each shot this how far this dog team was able to travel
during this three photograph sequence.
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YUKON QUEST LINKS
For the most
up to date information, facts, and photographs you should visit the official
Yukon Quest web page.
http://yukonquest.com/
Adventure Alaska offers a unique tour for this event, a six day adventure trip that actually takes you right out where the race is happening. Space for this exotic trip is very limited so you need to book this one way in advance. http://www.advenalaska.com/questintro.htm
An interesting
web page that offers you insights into the meaning of some of that all
important lingo associated with dog mushing.
http://www.yesnet.yk.ca/schools/projects/quest/vocab.html
From the Daily News Mine we have
a nice page with photo spread
http://www.newsminer.com/heartland/hland30297/dog.html
A true wealth
of information is located on The Daily News Miner's index listing the stories
that it's reporters wrote during the 1999 and 2000 Yukon Quest.
http://www.newsminer.com/quest/race/index.htm
This site
give you a brief history of the Yukon Quest
http://www.yesnet.yk.ca/schools/projects/quest/history.html
The official
Yukon quest online store
http://quest.midnightsunyukon.com/
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If
you have a site with a dozen or more Yukon Quest photo's, or if you have
any comments or words of wisdom or if you'd like to send me some of your
personal dog mushing photos to create a separate gallery page you can
E-mail me below.
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