Trek Over The Top

Opa and I took part in a big Alaskan Snow machine tradition; The annual "Trek Over the Top" snow machine ride between Tok, Alaska and Dawson City, Yukon Territory.

It was quiet a trip as we encountered blowing snow, snow drifts, 80 mph winds and -40 wind chills. On the flip side, we had a lot of fun, met some new people and ate lots of wonderful food.

Our hotel in Tok the morning our adventure was to begin. As you can see from the sign, we had a hard time following directions.

As you can see, the trail didn't have a lot of colorful scenery. The top of the world highway is pretty bare in the winter. The wind piles up snow drifts and snow/ice covers most of the trees in the area. We encountered winds in excess of 70 mph. The snow was falling sideways. Our group did stop at the Alaska/Canada border for a photo shot. What a group. We had 13 trekkers this year.

Some activities around Dawson City included a snow machine trip to one of the Yukon's Gold Dredges. We stopped at historic Dredge #4. This particular dredge operated in the early 1900's and help put Dawson City on the map. Another activity was the snowmachine drop in Dawson City. The event had participants buy yard sticks ($5.00 each), hammer them in the ice of the Yukon River and watch while a snowmachine is dropped from a helicopter from 500 feet. The winner is determined by the stick where the largest piece of the snowmachine lands (or bounces).

As you can see from the photo below, not all activities were outdoors. Each night the local saloon (Diamond Tooth Gerties) put on a show to entertain the crowd. Here, one of group gets into the act. This particular event had the participants dress up and put on wooden snow shoes. This was some performance by Matt.

Opa standing on top of one of the mountains near Dawson City. From the peak, you can get a view of 5 different mountain ranges. Truly a beautiful view.

Spencer demonstrating the powders depth. (Yes, he is standing up)

Strategy Session.

Just another boring day in Alaska. The crew spent the day trying out some fresh powder in Hatcher Pass. Everyone had their own way of showing off.

 
Opa getting settled into an Alaska Lifestyle.    Didn't take long to jump on a snow machine and get into the swing of things.

Opas arrival.   Northwest Flight 393 from Minneapolis arrived 15 minutes early and Spencer was waiting at the airport to meet him.   

 

Another winter event in Alaska. Connor and I went to watch the start of the Tesoro Iron Dog Snowmachine race. This is considered to be the longest, toughest snowmachine race in the world. The racers cover 2,000 miles in 6 days covering all types of terrain while riding both day and night. Anyway, Connor seems to have the bug and wants to run the novice division when he turns 16.

As the racers would leave the starting line, they had a 2 mile run across the lake before they hit the trail. Connor would wait at the end of the starting slot and race them to the trail-head. His machine indicated a maximum speed of 78 miles per hour. That's pretty fast on a snow machine.

The track on the right is standard equipment for the Iron Dog Snow Machines, Connor will be asking for one next Christmas. Notice the metal spikes?

With the recent warm spell melting the snow, Connor has been chomping at the bit to get out and run his snowmachine. We took the sleds to the Kenai Peninsula today and let Connor try his stuff. A friend of ours, Jim Psiones, went to show us the new spot and he and Connor had a blast marking some hills and practing some jumping. Hope you enjoy the photos. As Jim said, "Just another boring day in Alaska".

Look real close and you can see Spencer's little helmut over my handle bars. Yes he is setting up straight.