| Page 2 of 3 < > |
Dog-Sledding, Like Climate, Heating Up
|
TOOLBOX
   Resize
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Who's Blogging  |
Alaska's famed Iditarod, a 1,150-mile race widely considered one of the world's greatest endurance tests, has drawn a record 111 mushers this year who will compete for nearly $1 million in prize money, said race spokesman Chas St. George.
St. George said more than a third of this year's racers are younger than 30, which he called an indication that dog-sledding is growing in popularity with a new generation. About 4.3 million people visited the race's official Web site last year.
Globally, 40,000 people competed in races in 2003, the most recent estimate, said Sally O'Sullivan Bair, an official with the International Federation of Sleddog Sports, a rise from 25,000 in 1997.
Norway and Sweden have traditionally been Europe's most active dog-sledding nations, followed by France and Germany, said Lars Svanfeldt, president of the European Sled Dog Racing Association, which has clubs in 19 countries. The fastest growth has been in Poland, the Czech Republic and other Eastern European nations.
But changing climate conditions bedevil the sport. Poor snow conditions have forced the Iditarod's organizers to modify the race course in seven of the past 10 years, St. George said. Unreliable snow cover has forced cancellation of up to 40 percent of the International Sled Dog Association's competitions in recent years.
Svanfeldt said the growing emphasis on dry-land events is largely because of climate change. Other people respond by moving farther north, to places where snow and ice are more reliable.
One such place is this town, famous for its canine majority -- 630 people, 700 dogs.
Jukkasjarvi is one of the northernmost villages in Sweden. Elderly people push sleds loaded with groceries and walk with ski poles. It is surrounded by dog-sled trails crisscrossing frozen lakes and forests filled with pine and birch trees.
Leissner, an experienced musher in Jukkasjarvi, stood at the back of his sled one recent day and guided his huskies down narrow trails as gusting winds drove the chill deep. Even at midday, the artic winter sun cast a weak, bluish-gray light; by about 3 p.m., it would be fully dark again.
The dogs pulled the sled at about 20 mph, with no sound save for the sled's skis gliding over crusty snow. Leissner, 26, had no reins and steered simply with his voice -- using "haw" for left and "gee" for right, directing the dog team with the traditional Alaskan commands.
Cutting through the vast forest, where elk tracks occasionally crossed the trail, Leissner said people are sometimes surprised by the look of his dogs. They expect them to be Siberian Huskies, which have the classic blue eye most commonly associated with the breed.
Alaskan Huskies come in brown, black and yellow and white, and are smaller and faster than Siberians, he said. "Siberian Huskies are bred to look like sled dogs," he said. "Alaskan Huskies are bred to be sled dogs -- we don't care what they look like."
