The Yukon Quest Trail: 1,000 Miles Across Northern Alaska and the Yukon Territory, by Helen Hegener, will be published by Northern Light Media in December, 2014.
With over 180 full-color photographs by the author and by photographers Eric Vercammen and Scott Chesney, this book tells the story of the race, the mushers who run it, and the country they travel through. An added bonus is Trail Notes for Mushers, detailing the trail in both directions, compiled by two-time Yukon Quest Champion John Schandelmeier.
The Yukon Quest Trail: 1,000 Miles Across Northern Alaska and the Yukon Territory, text and photos by Helen Hegener, additional photographs by Eric Vercammen and Scott Chesney; also included: Trail Notes for Mushers by two-time Yukon Quest Champion John Schandelmeier. Published December, 2014 by Northern Light Media. 151 pages, 8.5″ x 11″ format, bibliography, indexed. $29.00 (plus $5.00 shipping and handling) after December 12, 2014.
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Sorry, this DVD has sold out again! The film is available to watch on YouTube at this link.
The award-winning 1979 movie Spirit of the Wind is based upon the early life and rise to prominence of the legendary Athabaskan trapper and dog musher George Attla, Jr., who won the Anchorage Fur Rendezvous World Championship race an unprecedented ten times between 1958 and 1982. All profits from the sale of these DVDs goes to support youth programs for future mushers.
The film, now on DVD for the first time, tells the story of young George Attla growing up in the interior village of Huslia, being diagnosed with tuberculosis and spending several years away from home in a Sitka hospital. Upon returning to his village he struggled to rejoin the cultural fabric, and fast sled dogs became his saving grace, taking him to ten World Championships. He also won eight championships in the Fairbanks Open North American Championship race, and in 1973 he ran the inaugural 1,000-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, placing fifth even though his experience was in sprint racing, and not long-distance mushing.
With dramatically beautiful photography and a haunting musical score, Spirit of the Wind won the Best Picture Award at the 1979 Sundance Film Festival. It was an unexpected hit at the Cannes International Film Festival the same year, and was hailed by the New York Post, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle and many others as a stunning achievement in cinematography.
Spirit of the Wind
• Released in December, 1979 • Running time 1 hour, 38 minutes • Directed by Ralph Liddle • Produced by Ralph Liddle and Kent Gibson • Written by Ralph Liddle and John Logue • Music by Will Ackerman and Buffy Sainte-Marie • Cinematography by John Logue • Edited by Mark Goldblatt • Cast: ~Pius Savage as George Attla ~George Clutesi as George’s father ~Slim Pickens as Obie ~Chief Dan George as Moses ~Rose Attla Ambrose as Mother
Sorry, this DVD has sold out again! The film is available to watch on YouTube at this link.
Spirit of the Wind
• All profits from the sale of these DVDs goes to support youth programs for future mushers
• Released in December, 1979
• Running time 1 hour, 38 minutes
• Directed by Ralph Liddle
• Produced by Ralph Liddle and Kent Gibson
• Written by Ralph Liddle and John Logue
• Music by Will Ackerman and Buffy Sainte-Marie
• Cinematography by John Logue
• Edited by Mark Goldblatt
• $30.00 plus $6.00 Priority Mail
$36.00
Sorry, this DVD has sold out again! The film is available to watch on YouTube at this link.
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“People say I’m crazy- but I’m not the only one…” — John Lennon
The 2015 Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race will start February 7 in downtown Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, and travel 991 miles (1,594 kilometers) to Fairbanks, Alaska. This is the 32nd annual running of the Yukon Quest, an event which has become known as a true test of long distance sled dog teams and a tribute to the ancient bond between men and dogs. This is a race which fosters the traditions of northern travel by dog team.
From the Yukon Quest website: “A maximum of 50 mushers can enter the Yukon Quest. Yukon Quest mushers must be at least 18 years old by the race start date and must have demonstrated their ability to successfully complete a 200-mile and a 300-mile sled dog race within the previous 42 months to enter the Yukon Quest.”
For those following the race, whether by vehicle or from the comfort of home, the Yukon Quest website has several helpful links, including the above mentioned Distance Chart which shows the miles (and kilometers) between checkpoints, a Trail Map which also provides elevations, a good breakdown of the best Locations to Watch the race along the route, a very detailed Mushers’ Guide to the trail, and a good explanation of how it all comes together and works called The Race in Action.
There’s much more to the Yukon Quest website, and many more resources for planning how you’ll enjoy this year’s race, including the wonderful videos produced by Mark Gillett and his Suitcase Media:
“They were new dogs, utterly transformed by the harness. All passiveness and unconcern had dropped from them. They were alert and active, anxious that the work should go well, and fiercely irritable with whatever, by delay or confusion, retarded that work. The toil of the traces seemed the supreme expression of their being, and all that they lived for and the only thing in which they took delight.”
Read The Call of the Wild, by Jack London, free online at Project Gutenberg. Published in 1903, the story is set in the Yukon during the 1890’s Klondike Gold Rush—a period when strong sled dogs were in high demand. The novel’s central character is a dog named Buck, who is living on a ranch in California as the story opens. Stolen from his home and sold into the brutal existence of an Alaskan sled dog, Buck is forced to adjust and survive, relying on his own instincts and the lessons he learns.
Jack London lived for most of a year in the Yukon collecting material for the book. The story was serialized in the Saturday Evening Post in the summer of 1903, and a month later it was released in book form. The novel’s great popularity and success made a reputation for London. Much of its appeal derives from the simplicity with which London presents the themes in an almost mythical form. As early as 1908 the story was adapted to film and it has since seen several more cinematic adaptations. (Edited from the Wikipedia entry.)
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We’ve developed an Amazon Store which sells not only our own books and DVDs, but also a wide selection of sled dog-related books, DVDs and videos, plus gifts, posters, pictures, collectibles, postcards and other items relating to long distance sled dog racing, Alaska/Yukon history and related subjects. Our goal is to provide a convenient way to find whatever you’re searching for, so if there’s a book or a DVD you haven’t found yet, email us and we’ll try to locate it, whether through Amazon or any of our many other sources!
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“It dates from about 1910 and until some time in the 1980s it was part of the Alaskan Cigar Store in the building that was originally the old Arctic Club. Two companion stained glass pieces are still there, but they are less interesting.”
With that bit of information, sent via email in reply to an inquiry, the search was on for the history of the compelling image of a sled dog team created in stained glass which once graced the entryway to a renowned Seattle hotel. Over the span of several years, the author researched the era, visited the site and the museum where the stained glass dog team is now housed, and eventually pieced together a fascinating and little-known part of the history of Seattle, and of Alaska.
The story involves two social organizations, three hotels, and peripheral forays into the Klondike gold rush, the 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, and Seattle’s Museum of History and Industry. With dozens of photographs and images, the patchwork history comes together to offer a fascinating look at the unique forces which helped shape the city of Seattle and the futures of Alaska and the Yukon Territory.
The Stained Glass Dog Team, by Helen Hegener, (Northern Light Media, 2014). 90 pages, full color, ISBN-13: 978-1500498443, ISBN-10: 1500498440. $16.00 plus $4.00 shipping.
• Order via PayPal or Credit Card: $16.00 plus $4.00 postage and handling (via USPS; U.S. addresses only). To order, click this image link:
• To order via check or money order, mail to Northern Light Media, PO Box 298023, Wasilla, Alaska 99629.Please remember to include your mailing address.
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Due to thinner than normal ice, the 2014 start was not on the Chena River as it usually is, but a block away, on Second Avenue. The street was covered with snow which had been stashed from the winter’s parking lot plowings, much like Fourth Avenue in Anchorage is covered each March for the Iditarod. After so many years of starting down on the wide open river, the tall buildings gave the start a somewhat surrealistic canyon-like feeling, and there were interesting juxtapositions of dog trucks and traffic signals and gift shops. The snow was deep and made walking a bit sluggish, but most people were moving slowly anyway, snapping photos and visiting with friends.
The mood was jovial and excited, and the 15-above temperatures made it a pleasant and fun day for everyone. After leaving the start chute with their tag sled riders the teams made their way down Second Avenue to the Wendell Street Bridge, where they dropped down onto the river ice. Officials felt the ice was sufficient for the teams to travel on, but did not want to risk the weight of 2,000 to 3,000 people at the start chute. In the photos below, you can hover over the photos to see the captions, or just click on any one for a larger version. If you find any photos you’d like to have the full-resolution version of just email me at helenhegener@gmail.com – no charge, no strings, just sharing the love!
Second Street Start
Albert and Bonnie at work
Albert Marquez and Scott Chesney, two fine photographers
Bonnie Foster with her vet friends Donna and Mercedes
Second Avenue
gangline
SP Kennel dogs
SP Kennel
ganglines
Normand Casavant’s sled
Normand Casavant’s sled
Start chute
My friend Bonnie
Normand Casavant’s leaders
photographers at the ready
Brent Sass
Normand Casavant stirs the crowd
Normand Casavant
Normand Casavant, #1
Brent Sass, #2
media
Brent Sass, #2
Brent Sass, #2
Matt Hall’s dogs
Matt Hall, #3
Matt Hall, #3
Matt Hall, #3
Jerry Joinson, #4
Jerry Joinson, #4
Jerry Joinson, #4
Jerry Joinson, #4
Jerry Joinson, #4
Dave Dalton, #5
Dave Dalton, #5
Ken Anderson, #6
Ken Anderson, #6
Ken Anderson, Dawn Beckwell
Ken Anderson, #6
Ken Anderson, #6
Ken Anderson, #6
Ken Anderson, #6
Dawn Beckwell, Gwen Holdman
Mike Ellis, #7
Mike Ellis, #7
Mike Ellis, #7
Mike Ellis, #7
Sue Ellis, Mike Ellis
Mike Ellis, #7
Mike Ellis, #7
Mike Ellis, #7
Mike Ellis, #7
Mike Ellis, #7
Mike Ellis, #7
Mike Ellis, Tsuga Siberians
Mike Ellis, #7
Aliy Zirkle with Allen Moore’s leaders
Allen Moore, #8
Allen Moore, Aliy Zirkle
Allen Moore, #8
Brian Wilmshurst, #9
Brian Wilmshurst, #9
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Living in south-central Alaska, it’s a 300 mile road trip to the start of the Yukon Quest in Fairbanks. I travelled to the race this year with my dear friends Bonnie Foster and Albert Marquez, and we had a stellar trip, stopping at the Murie Science Center in Denali Park and a being quite surprised at the lack of snow for this time of the year! A few photos from the trip north – click on photos for information:
Denali from Willow
Ice alongside the road
Big Susitna RIver south of the bridge
Big Susitna RIver north of the bridge
Eagles at Big Susitna River
Alaska Range, Denali
Alaska Range peaks
Albert
Mountain above Cantwell
Peaks above Cantwell
Coming into Denali Park area
Nenana trestle from Denali Park Road
Denali Park Science Center
Bonnie and park interpreter
wolf skeleton
beaver skull
wolf skulls
caribou skull
caribou skull
wolf skeleton
Bonnie and Murie Science Center
Albert and Bonnie
Albert and Bonnie
no snow at Denali Park
Nenana River open water
Nenana RIver
Nenana RIver
Nenana RIver canyon
Nenana RIver canyon
no snow
Jack Coghill Bridge
Albert
what Albert was photographing
frosty trees
Albert’s GoPro
Nenana Bridge
Nenana Bridge
Nenana Bridge
Coming into Healy
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The Yukon Quest Trail: 1,000 Miles Across Northern Alaska and the Yukon Territory, by Helen Hegener, will be published by Northern Light Media in December, 2014.
Northern Light Media 