So what about this All Alaska Sweepstakes route, designed by creators of
the Nome Kennel Club to make for such a tough race?

Most of us probably will never get all the way up that direction, so
let’s hear a description from “The Cruelest Miles” (pp 22-23):

“For the first fifty miles, the trail ran east along the blustery coast
and up Topkok Mountain, a steep, 600-foot incline rising up over the
sea. It turned inland and climbed steadily through willow and cottonwood
bush, then across creeks & rivers to Council, a mining settlement 80
miles from Nome. The route snaked through valleys, tiptoed along
ridgetops as narrow as a sled was wide, and sloped off in half-mile-long
drops. Then, about 120 miles into the race, the trail entered Death Valley.

“If the musher had survived this far, he climbed a glacier to cross over
the Continental Divide–the boundary line separating the Pacific and
Arctic Ocean watersheds. Thirty miles farther lay the turnaround mark,
the village of Candle, which was situated near Kotzebue Sound on the
north shore of the peninsula. An exhausted and sleep-deprived driver
would have to turn around and face the same terrible 204 miles all over
again. …

“There was no other race like it at the time–as the official race
pamphlet said, it ‘easily towers above all other contests of physical
endurance, for both man and beast.’”

The 100th anniversary running of All Alaska Sweepstakes race starts at
10 a.m.-11:30 a.m. THIS WEDNESDAY, March 26.

Posted by admin on Monday, March 24th, 2008 at 8:20 pm.