2013 Arctic Expedition – We’re Back!

Posted on April 28, 2013 by alaskanarcticexpeditions

Hello, everyone! The team and I have arrived home safe and sound and I’d like to extend my deepest gratitude to our expedition sponsors, past and present, for their support. Because of you, our expeditions have been a great success, especially the 2013 expedition which was one of the most challenging yet successful expeditions I have ever conducted. And of course, I want to thank my wife, Andrea, for enduring my absence for the coldest three months of winter and taking care of the dogs I left at home because they were either retired or too young to partake in the expedition. Also, I feel very blessed and thank the good Lord for another opportunity to travel with such a fine team of dogs. They did a fantastic job!

During the 2013 solo expedition the team and I experienced one of the heaviest snow falls on Alaska’s North Slope that I can recall in the past 30 years. With snow depth ranging between 2 and 5ft, the 23-dog team and I traveled for three months into areas of Alaska’s Brooks Range where never in recorded history has a dog team traveled in winter, proving again that a freighting team can be trained to break trail in unlimited snow depth while pulling seemingly impossible loads. I saw incredible country and I am still struck by how vast, rugged, and untouched the Brooks Range is, even after exploring the area for almost 3 decades. Also, I discovered and documented some new geologic features which will hopefully result in a published report for the State of Alaska.

During the expedition I took a total of 4,500 digital photos of both landscape and dogs, so I have quite a job ahead of me sorting and categorizing them. In the meantime, here are a few statistics from the 2013 Expedition that I thought would be interesting to share:

Temperatures (with wind-chill)
Above 0°F (40 days)
0°F to -25°F (15 days)
-26°F to -50°F (26 days)
-51°F to -75°F (19 days)

Blizzard days
9

Incidents of frostbite
Zero

Sunlight
For the first 7 days of the expedition, the sun never rose above the horizon.

Number of times I put a harness on a dog
Approximately 2000+ times (thank goodness they don’t require booties!)

Miles traveled on an established trail system
Zero! As always, we make and break our own trail as we go. There aren’t any trails out there anyway!

Snowshoes worn out beyond repair
One pair

Number of people/signs of human activity observed during the expedition
Zero

Number of food drops or resupplies
Zero

Range of ages of the 23 dogs on the 2013 Expedition team
2.5 to 12 years old

Males
15 (all intact)

Females
8 (1 spayed) – Note: the females went into season almost one at a time which lasted for 5 consecutive weeks. Needless to say, the males howled for 5 weeks straight. No joke.

Number of injuries/casualties (dogs)
Zero

Number of injuries (Joe)
Zero

Amount of kibble consumed
35 lbs/day of kibble mixed with oil. For 23 dogs, that’s 1.5 lbs/day per dog. I attribute their relatively low food consumption to good metabolism maintained through a carefully managed breeding program. They stayed healthy and actually gained fat over the duration of the expedition.

If you can think of any other statistics you’d like to hear about, please feel free to leave a comment and I’ll address it. In the meantime, I’m going to demobilize, decompress, and get some time in with my two favorite girls.

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2013 Expedition Has Begun

Posted on January 13, 2013 by alaskanarcticexpeditions

Yesterday, Joe and 23 of our malamutes departed for the 2013 Arctic Expedition. They left just before 1am on Saturday morning and traveled safely up the Dalton Highway to their starting point. We are so thankful for Merrill Powers and his family for all their help getting Joe’s sleds and gear to the starting point each season. We couldn’t do this without their logistical support.

It was –25°F and windy when Joe got up there yesterday afternoon, but by mid morning today, it was 25°F above and looked like a little storm might be moving in. It always takes Joe a few days to organize his gear and pack up the sleds once he makes it up north, so he plans to start breaking trail with the team either tomorrow or the following day.

This is the first year since I’ve known Joe that he hasn’t traveled with a satellite phone. It’s already weird not to be able to hear his delayed, tinny voice on that phone at least once a day, but the good news is that he is traveling with a DeLorme inReach tracking and communication device, so we can text each other. Let me tell you, I already love the DeLorme! I tracked his progress on the road yesterday and it worked like a charm. I can’t wait to see how well it holds up in the extreme cold.

Stay tuned for more expedition news!

*DeLorme provided the inReach device, but as always the opinions shared on this blog are our own.

The Forgotten Ones

Posted on January 6, 2013 by alaskanarcticexpeditions

There is a group of men and women that have been overlooked in Arctic exploration history. They were hardy folks that didn’t seek fame or fortune and weren’t backed with enormous budgets by the royal family or the government. They didn’t dine with the king or queen, or the president, nor were they glorified for discovering a new land. They weren’t honored with large memorable sites after their deaths like many of the popular explorers were, and in fact, some were just buried in a wooden box built of ship lumber and placed on the frozen tundra only to be visited occasionally by a wandering Arctic traveler a century later.

These people who assisted the popular explorers in their endeavors to explore a new land spent their lives fending off bears and ravaging wolves, battling famines, and traveling in the Arctic in their perpetual search for game. They were humble individuals, fiercely independent and self reliant residents of the Arctic. Although they may not have fared well monetarily from their struggle living in the Arctic, they were rewarded with freedom, and an indescribable strength and strong will which are two characteristics that money cannot buy. And I am certain these forgotten men and women had traveled more miles in the Arctic than many of the most popular explorers ever dreamed of. Many of these folks that the explorers relied on for assistance and guidance include local natives as well as men and women from around the world, whom for one reason or another, took residence in the Arctic.

Often, while traveling on the Arctic coast, I have found frozen in the sand many century-old artifacts, like dog sleds, ship lumber, bottles, house logs, and rusted wood burning stoves. These items are evidence of the people who lived along the coast. Further proof exists in the photographs captured by individuals traveling through the region. However, as I travel in the mountains I am surprised that the same evidence of people isn’t found there. And there aren’t many historical records of the popular explorers venturing into the mountains either, and I don’t blame them. Traveling in the mountains is tedious, slow and extremely exhausting work. You can struggle all day and cover only five miles. Yet, on a few occasions I have found old tent sites and other artifacts high on windblown ridges in some of the most inhospitable mountainous regions. It’s my guess that these Arctic residents spent their long days in spring awaiting the migrating caribou on these ridges. I find it astounding that these folks traveled and made a living in this harsh mountain country as well as along the Arctic coast. To me, they were certainly the true explorers.

Photos and captions from the US Geological Survey Photographic Library.

Dan Sweeney and Shagavaichiak. Anglo-American Polar Expedition. Canning district, Northern Alaska region, Alaska. C. 1910.

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Native Eskimo. Okalisuk and puyuk (dog). Anglo-American Polar Expedition.district, Canning Northern Alaska region, Alaska. C. 1910.

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Ernest de Koven Leffingwell, in cabin, Flaxman Island. Anglo-American Polar Expedition. Canning district, Northern Alaska region, Alaska. C. 1910.

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Native Eskimos, Sheep hunters’ camp on the Canning River. Anglo-American Polar Expedition. Canning district, Northern Alaska region, Alaska. C. 1910.

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Triangulation signal erected over Astronomical Observatory Pier at Flaxman Island. Used from KUG Station 20 miles inland. It looks eccentric but was lined up O.K. for KUG. Anglo-American Polar Expedition. Canning district, Northern Alaska region, Alaska. C. 1910.

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Pete Bernard feeding his dogs at Collinson Point. Anglo-American Polar Expedition. Canning district, Northern Alaska region, Alaska. C. 1910.

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Sledding up Canning River in April. Anglo-American Polar Expedition. Canning district, Northern Alaska region, Alaska. C. 1910.

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Ernest de Koven Leffingwell (left), Captain Ejnar Mikkelsen (center) Dr. G. P. Howe (right). Anglo-American Polar Expedition. Canning district, Northern Alaska region, Alaska. C. 1906.

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Eskimo [native] summer camp on Arey Island. Anglo-American Polar Expedition. Canning district, Northern Alaska region, Alaska. C. 1908.

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Natives at Flaxman Island. Anglo-American Polar Expedition. Canning district, Northern Alaska region, Alaska. C. 1910.

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Big Ben’s Golden Opportunity

Posted on January 3, 2013 by alaskanarcticexpeditions

Finally, after waiting his chance to join the team, the time has come for our Ben to hit the trail with the rest of guys and gals of Team Malamute for the 2013 expedition.

With paws larger than my arms and a young, hormonal body full of adrenalin to pull, Ben is a handful, to say the least, especially since he thinks my caribou fur parka is a chew toy.

Of course there’s always that smack-on-the-lips token of gratitude from a malamute for letting him join the team. I’ve got my work cut out for me this season, as does Ben. But no doubt, he will come home in the spring, a changed man.

Then and Now

Posted on December 16, 2012 by alaskanarcticexpeditions

A lot of time has passed since our last blog post, but as the expedition season approaches, we hope to post more regularly.

Thanks to everyone who has become a sponsor for the upcoming 100-day solo expedition. Your support is greatly appreciated and we look forward to presenting all our sponsors with exclusive expedition updates and photos. A portion of your contribution will go to two outstanding malamute rescues that we support. If you are interested in becoming a sponsor, please visit this link to learn more.

In a land as vast and untouched as most of Arctic Alaska, it is interesting to see evidence of just how little things have changed over the course of a century. As I was looking through some of my old photos the other day, I realized I had a perfect then and now shot.

The black and white photo below was taken by Ernest de Koven Leffingwell in 1906 while he was exploring the rugged Brooks Range in northern Alaska. One hundred years later, as I was retracing his route with my dog team, I had taken the overlying color photo unknowingly from the exact same location. Notice that my team is running exactly parallel and just a few feet to the right of Leffingwell’s tracks. Amazing!