SUPERDOGS: MARTIN & KATI DAGENAIS
2009 IFSS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM OF MARTIN & KATI DAGENAISIn the last couple of years we have had the great privilege of being visited at our kennel by the top open class mushers in the world including: Buddy Streeper, Egil Ellis and Helen Lundberg, Ross Saunderson and Rudi & Marlies…
ARCTIC TRAVELER: NORWAY
I have to admit I didn’t expect it. It was just a subtle invitation and I felt quite humbled reading it.Without hesitation I pecked the words out on the keyboard, “Yes, I would be honored to speak at the seminar in Norway.” And I thought that would be that; Andrea…
BEGINNER BASICS: TRAINING FOR FIRST RUNS
Lack of control is one of the most frustrating problems a beginning musher faces, so before and during your first sled runs, work on training your dogs individually and as a team.Pay close attention to each personality, because the most effective way to train a dog is to tailor the…
2009 ASPA DRYLAND RACE
Apparently the surest way to get a good dump of September snow in Fairbanks is to schedule a dryland skijoring race! Despite several inches of sloppy snow and below freezing temperatures, sixteen competitors, twenty-eight dogs, seven volunteers, two photographers and an unknown number of spectators turned out for the Alaska…
DRYLAND BASICS: NO SNOW…NO PROBLEM!
Over the past couple of years, we’ve received quite a few emails and calls from excited would-be mushers, who want to know how to get involved in our sport. We decided to add a second “Beginners” column to the magazine which focuses on how the average person, with the average…
KEN ANDERSON’S 2009 IDITAROD JOURNAL TELLS IT LIKE IT IS
Fairbanks dog driver Ken Anderson pulls no punches when it comes to telling his Iditarod story. That is to say, he writes an honest account and isn’t necessarily sharing his plight to make any friends or boost any egos but rather gives his readers—dog musher or not—a brief yet detailed…
MONTANA’S RACE TO THE SKY: 25TH SILVER EDITION: FEBRUARY 12-17, 2010
About 66 years ago, you could hear the howling of dogs and the sounds of a military camp just outside Helena, Montana, during World War II. Camp Rimini War Dog Reception and Training Center was organized in November 1943 and was a haven for enlisted dog mushers and dogs. It…
JOHN BEARGREASE: SLED DOG MARATHON
Leaning forward, his blue eyes seeming to blaze out of his head with scary intensity, Doug smacked his coffee mug down on the lacquered hardwood surface of the table hard enough that I thought it would surely crack and said, “The Beargrease is the toughest race I’ve ever run!”This powerfully…
ALASKA DOG MUSHERS ASSOCIATION HOSTS ANNUAL SYMPOSIUM
The 2009 Alaska Dog Mushers Sled Dog Symposium was kicked off this year with a special free showing of the new digitally enhanced Spirit of the Wind, now renamed Attla. The story of George Attla growing up in the village of Huslia who went on to win the Anchorage Fur…
IDK, MY BFF LANCE? SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES BRING DOG MUSHERS AND FANS TOGETHER
(Pre-story note: all of the following interviews were conducted via facebook.)Facebook, the social networking site which is now several years old, is being used by even the surliest of dog mushers these days. And many of those dog drivers live off the grid, but still manage to update regularly to…