Arctic Man Competition
Alaska has a sort of... reputation... there is a wildness, an extreme mindset. Oddly enough, most of us up here live an ordinary-ish life. We drop our children off at school, we go to work... and yet, we still have these opportunities to touch the crazy-side of Alaska. The wilderness surrounds Anchorage and winds its way through it in the form of salmon bearing streams, greenbelts and parks... these green zones are the highways for bears, moose, beavers and fox which turn up in the darned-est of places.
Anchorage (Los Anchorage to some), the joke goes, is only 5 minutes away from Alaska. So, from my ordinary life in the city, opportunities to stray into an "Alaskan myth" present themselves at regular intervals. This week, that opportunity comes in the form of the "Arctic Man" competition. Alaskan?... oh yeah... Crazy?... oh yeah... Fun?...oh yeah! 5 minutes? Ummm.... no. It's a bit further than that this week.
The Arctic Man is a race, with a twist. Skiers start at the top of a mountain and race down at top speeds where he/she grabs onto a tow rope and their "partner" on a snow machine races to the top of the next slope where the skier lets go of the rope and skis down again. This might not seem too crazy to you... unless you realize that the top teams are averaging about 80 miles an hour throughout the journey.
Now, if I were to tell you that you can go witness the event simply by driving to Mile 196 on the Richardson highway, you might think that you'd go, on a lark, and being so far away from any kind of accommodation, you might think you would be among the few spectators there. But you would be wrong-o-Mary-Lou! The Arctic Man has a firm following. People break their campers out of winter storage and head up in droves. Some liken it to Woodstock or a Grateful Dead concert in its popularity. Of course, you have to take that with a grain of Alaskan salt... but crowds WILL be there and fun will be had.
Go you crazy Arctic Men!
