Soft Spring Snow Doesn’t Slow Down Alaska Trapline Musher
LAKE MINCHUMINA, Alaska – Weather reports from Fairbanks sounded terrible on Easter weekend.“Clear, highs of 45 degrees…50 degrees … 55 degrees …”At home, 150 miles to southwest, afternoons had barely warmed enough for minor melting, with nights well below freezing. I had been putting miles on the dog team almost…
Local Washington Newspaper Recounts Steves’ 2012 Iditarod
Jan Steves is stuck. Going nowhere. A tiny speck in the largest state in the union.It’s well below freezing and Steves is deep into the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, the famous 1,100-mile trek across Alaska from Anchorage to Nome.More than a dozen huskies are barking their displeasure at this…
Jim Lanier: Pathologist and Iditarod Racer
At first glance, being a pathologist and running sled dogs competitively in Alaska would seem to be completely different pursuits. But Jim Lanier, MD, a retired pathologist and career-long member of the ASCP who was the first musher to reach the halfway point in this year’s Iditarod race, sees some…
2013 Iditarod Teacher On The Trail Announced
Linda Fenton, Waupaca, Wisconsin, has been selected as the 2013 Iditarod Teacher on the Trail™. Linda is the 15th Teacher on the Trail™ to join this program that began in 1999.Currently teaching 3rd grade at the Waupaca Learning Center, Linda has been using the Iditarod in the classroom as a…
Texas A&M Student Forecasted Weather for Iditarod Racers
Texas A&M meteorology student Stephanie Stevenson’s work extends beyond the desks of an Aggie classroom into the icy tundra of the Alaskan wilderness.The honors student helped two sisters make history in the Iditarod Sled Dog race. Stevenson forecasted for twin mushers Anna and Kristy Berington, the first pair of sisters…
Junior Iditarod Racer Bailey Vitello Brings His Sled Dogs to Charlton Middle School
Strong leadership and a team that pulls together, succeeds. That was the lesson recently imparted to Charlton Middle School sixth-graders when local teen musher Bailey Vitello visited to share his story, his sled dogs and a ride. Bailey, 14, of Brookfield is a Tantasqua Regional High School freshman, who was…
Pam Flowers To Appear at Blowing Rock Museum on April 20th
Well-traveled explorer and children’s author Pam Flowers will cap off her visit to Blowing Rock on Friday, April 20, with an appearance at BRAHM at 5:30 p.m. Admission is free, although donations are appreciated.In 1994, Flowers became the first solo woman to complete the 2,500-mile trans-Arctic “Fifth Thule Expedition” on…
Dryland: Missoula’s Suzanne Reed Has An Urban Transportation Plan
I’m standing on the narrow asphalt road that runs north from Fort Missoula, watching 58-year-old Suzanne Reed drag a shiny metal cart attached to a kick-scooter across the platform bolted to the top of her small red pickup truck. Bursts of cold wind bite into my face. It’s starting to…
Northern People: Michigan Musher Takes Alaska by Storm
Ken Chezik may have been an underdog, but his dogs finished before everyone else’s to win the gold in the 2012 Anchorage Fur Rendezvous World Championship Sled Dog Race.”In sprint racing it’s the biggest race in the world,” said Chezik, 53, whose win at the “Rondy” in February puts him…
Fairbanks Musher Ken Anderson Captures Kobuk 440
Veteran Fairbanks musher Ken Anderson crossed the finish line in Kotzebue at midday Sunday to capture the Kobuk 440, the last race of the season for distance racers.Despite a top prize of $12,000 from a purse of $50,000, the race attracted just 10 teams, one of the smallest fields in…