Smiles in Sivuqaq

Just back into Nome from Sivuqaq (Gambell) on St. Lawrence Island. What a great experience, some good friends, good weather, and a successful spring hunt for the community. Even the Russian mainland was clearly in view most days. Click on this picture to see Chukotka, only 40 miles away.



Subsistence, a mix of the old and the new...



My memories, will as usual be filled with smiles...

Catching Up

It's been a whirlwind month, traveling to Portland for a conference on salmon, which was wonderful; including a surprise chance to see John Kerry and Teresa Heinz Kerry speak at the old Baghdad Theater. Teresa was inspiring with her passion for environmental issues and particularly as they impact women. The guy in the front row is the Lieutenant that John Kerry pulled out of the water in Vietnam, saving his life.



After Portland, I had a week with my girls, warm enough for tevas already...



I'm not sure which one is goofiest, but I love them both!


Tupac doesn't get to go on the big walks but he comes out on a leash at home.

A Day at the Races...Chatanika Style

We woke up to blue skies today and headed out with friends to watch the races at Chatanika - an old mining town about 30 miles N.E. of Fairbanks. The races are unconventional as you'll see, but we had fun hiking, playing, watching, and even participating in the human bowling contest.

The view out from the Steese Highway was spectacular today



Tawna is hoping to audition for the next Mutant Ninja Turtle Movie soon...



Chatanika is famous for its outhouse race - 0.8 miles run flat out while pushing a loaded outhouse



Costumes are essential, but let's just say you shouldn't fall behind in this kind of race --- We're putting it down to a rapid transition out of the outhouse at the start!



Tawna allowed me to use her as a bowling ball in the human bowling -- check out Ben and Deas blog for a picture of that!

Iditarod -- The 1978 Finish

I couldn't leave the Iditarod buzz without sharing the story of the 1978 Iditarod. Some of you will know it, but for those that don't, it was the closest finish in history. One that went both ways before a final decission was made. Here's the story courtesy of the Anchorage Daily News. Clearly Dick Mackey (Lance's father) still gets a smile out of this one!


For 800 miles, Dick Mackey and Rick Swenson rarely lost sight of each other. With a few others, they jockeyed for position along the length of Alaska. At the end, they found themselves out in front of everyone else and proceeded to stage the darnedest finish the race has ever seen.


"By the time the two men reached the streets of Nome, they were virtually running side by side," Daily News reporter Doug O'Harra wrote. "One hundred yards out, they were even. By the time they entered the 50-yard chute, Mackey had a slight edge. Both men were running.

"Then Mackey's dogs trotted under the burled arch, the finish line." The dogs tangled. "His sled stopped just short of the finish line. Mackey collapsed.

"Swenson ... kept going and dragged his sled under the finish line. Though his leaders crossed second, Swenson himself crossed under the arch ahead of Mackey.

"Bedlam erupted."

The decision about who won the 1978 Iditarod is debated today whenever race fans gather. But the rules and race officials said it was the lead dog's nose, not the musher's behind, that determined the winner. They awarded Mackey the victory by one second.

Iditarod

I was lucky enough to be in Anchorage for the start and Nome for the finish of this year's Iditarod Sled Dog Race. It's the first time that a musher has won both the Yukon Quest - regarded as the hardest long distance race, and two weeks later won the Iditarod - another 1000 miles with the same dogs. I take my hat off to Lance Mackey who accomplished this, winning his first Iditarod on his sixth attempt wearing the number 13, as did his brother and his father when they were racing...what are the chances of that!

Here is Lance about 6 miles out of Nome wearing a huge smile and enjoying the sun in his face. Remember that the pictures blow up nicely if you click on them.



The trail cuts across some low tundra before heading back out on the sea ice for the final run into Nome. Anvil mountain and the Dew line radars above Nome can be seen on the horizon


It was hard to get a picture on Front Street, but here's Lance punching the air, as he comes down past the infamous Board of Trade. It's a little unclear as to what species of animal is right in front of the lead dogs...seems like they were struck by the outfit as well!


Here's second place finisher Paul Gebhardt acknowledging his lead dog right after finishing about 3 hours after Mackey. I can't imagine how overwhelming all the attention must be after a week and a half on the trail. I'm not sure I'll be up to watch the next mushers come in at 4 a.m, but will try to catch a few before getting on the plane home tomorrow lunch time.

Sivuqaq

Back to St. Lawrence Island in the Bering Sea. The ice is thin this year. We are here to talk with hunters about the upcoming season and the health project I'm trying to start as a collaboration between hunters, the Eskimo Walrus Commission, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the University.

When I think of remote communities, I think of pictures like this of Savoonga; at the edge of the sea ice, America, and of most of what is familiar



Gambell had icy cold windchill as the wind came in off the ice. The -45 degree temperatures had us walking backwards most of the 400 m into town to avoid frostbite. I made the rookie mistake of packing my windpants and not wearing them...that wont happen again! This is a picture of us leaving Gambell in the early morning sun as the wind blows the ice around town in front of Sivuqaq mountain.



For all the cold and wind, it was the kids that again stole my heart. Here's Vera's nephew...they call him "Little Buddha"

The Mighty Tupac

A short story by Tupac

The wily predator Tupac stalks close to his prey, the beautiful Turtle, whose mind is on other things...maybe food.



But then the feeling of fear...oh my god, did that cat's eyes go green again?...



but it was too late, and Tupac chuckles in victory, in that way that Devon Rex's do

Bundling up again!

It's only February and spring suddenly feels like its around the corner. Not sure if it's because we were just in the sun of California, or if it's because Tawna heads off this weekend for some work in Carolina, or that the field season planning for walrus work is in full swing. Whatever it is, the sun feels warm on your skin...at least it did while sat next to the Toyo stove in our cabin, looking out the window...at least it did before we headed up to the summit of Murphy Dome and into the Arctic wind that brought wind chills down to...well to a temperature that you wish you'd put long johns on for. Nevertheless, with the Alaska Range sweeping out in the distance, it would be hard not to be happy with the view!



Tawna, never one to leave a rock unscaled, risked frost bite for a first ascent of this fine problem but is hoping for a resole with sticky rubber on the mukluks (that for the record have poor heel hooking and edging capabilities).



The first ascent took a lot out of us, so we tried sun bathing but our hands fell off and Turtle just wanted to find a moose to chase.

Death Valley!

Out of the cold and into the desert. Our months of preparation, thawing each other's eyes out, and gnawing on frozen energy gels was over!!




So off to Death Valley, an amazing place that like Vegas is hard to encapsulate in any one image. Here, I've borrowed photos liberally from the web to try and give some sense of the place; I apologize for any transgressions on copyrights!

The highest peaks were dusted with snow but the temperatures were in the 50s when we pulled into camp in the early evening - the only green in a valley of salt flats and multi-hued sands.



It was up before 6a.m to get our numbers and instructions from a very charismatic race director who fired us all up with news that the race would indeed be in Titus Canyon (the last 3 years had been cancelled as a result of floods, snow, and rock fall!). We even got to sing America the Beautiful...I think it was that particular song, but will remember to learn the words before next year. We were then driven up to the start, about 45 minutes drive away, out of Death Valley and into Nevada.



The start is at the edge of pavement where a gravel road leads gradually uphill through the desert toward the ridge in the background which we'll cross into Death Valley. It was a pleasant 68 degrees to get the race going - definitely warm for us Alaska types but nothing to complain about. You can see the road (if you click on the image to enlarge it) running out over the low point in the ridge on the left of the photo - still 2400 feet (that's 800 m for you metric-types) of elevation gain from the start. The start was signaled by a flash of break lights from the race director's Jeep speeding away down the course - and we were off.



Here's a picture from the race's high point, Red Pass (mile 12) looking into Death Valley with our route winding down below (click the photo again for a better image). It was a brutal 500 feet of switchbacks immediately before the pass but well worth it when we saw this view. The other reward...from here, it was downhill for every bit of the last 14 miles.



This is an aerial view of the canyon which we navigated on our descent into Death Valley. You can see the ridge we crossed in the background.



Much of the lower part of the course was meandering along the one-lane Jeep trail that runs through the canyon. The rock walls were impressive to view but there was always a need to be mindful of your feet as rocks were always there to trip you.



Finally we emerged from the canyon together with the finish only a mile away, the windows of the waiting buses glinting in the sun...it was a welcome site! We cruised down the last piece of road and were re-energized with the site of Captain and Jonny (Tawna's brothers) cheering just up from the finish. It was a real treat to have our own cheering squad in the middle of the wilderness! A scratch in the sand marked the transition between running and no more running. We bent over to remove our timing chips, but were quickly scolded by the coarse volunteers who said they had had too many people bend down and keep going! They removed them for us.



We recovered with some casual bouldering in a nearby canyon - several new ascents here!



And the evening was spent with our very own "Little Miss Sunshine" on an original Taylor Baby Guitar, making full use of her 3 and a half chords!

"O"

Well aghast as you might be that the blog is updated, it's good to be reporting in from Vegas, that's Las Vegas, Nevada.

Tawna and I are down here for a marathon...the strip seemed like a good place to warm up...

Here it is at night...gawdy and bright. It's hot though, although not for the locals who are bundled up in big jackets as we walk around in shorts!



We came to the Belagio to watch Cirque de Soleil 'O', but found ourselves enamored with the free fountain display and fancy lemon creme brule.



We both hoped to make a little money on this trip (to fund our trip home). Tawna quickly doubled our money, (on the 5c slots), but Martin gambled it all away again.



We're making friends quickly.



But now they get in all of our pictures.



We weren't allowed to take pictures during 'O', but still photos could never capture the amazing acrobatics, elaborate costumes and mind boggling set - complete with pool... oh and the live music anyway. We highly recommend seeing it.

Llamas!

A trip into the north Cascades with Llamas, Tawna, Turtle, and a retired walrus biologist! Not so fast and light as I've been doing but interesting - like rafting, but on land for those with an idea of how gear expands to fill the space provided! The scenery and weather were spectacular!

Much to Kae's chagrin, everyone thinks that Llamas spit. She says that's like a dog that bites - she eats those Llamas!

We travelled at a walk, a little slower than the 230 runners who whisked by on the morning of day 2 in the Cutthroat Lake Classic. Now there's a 10 mile run that I'll have to come back for!

The Llamas were sort of friendly in the way that a cat is - on their terms!

The hot weather made snowy lakes a great place for a swim to cool off and clean up from the dusty trail.

The alpine environment is beautiful here and not too crowded.

The trail winds around steep talus.

You can see the trail at about lower ear level