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I absolutely cannot believe that my last post was in July!?! It did seem like a while and I knew things were over due but holy smokes.
SO, a couple of weeks ago I took a trip to Dawson...
And then of course, what goes up must come down. The next day I returned back to Whitehorse...
This is River Quest Week - 2009. It is a very intense week for volunteers and organizers and racers alike. Here are some pictures taken at Registration on Tuesday, race start on Wednesday and Thursday at the Check Point in Carmacks.
I have recently started uploading some of my images onto Picasa on-line. If you click on the image below it will open up a series of photos that summarize the race from registration to Carmacks.
Unfortunately this year I could not go to the finish line in Dawson City. The full race results can be viewed at www.yukonriverquest.com . I heard today that Texas won, finishing just a few minutes ahead of Dene.
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| River Quest 2009 |
The night of February 14th I had the pleasure of volunteering for the Yukon Quest. I drove out to Braeburn, an hour or so north of Whitehorse, at around 9:30 p.m. After making a quick stop at my cabin along the way, I arrived at the check-point just before 11:00.
The sky was crystal clear with the stars twinkling bright. It was minus 31 celcius with not a breath of wind.
When I arrived the first few teams had already arrived. Actually the first team was in at around 9:00 p.m. when I had figured they would begin arriving about two hours later. The trip from Whitehorse was fast since the trails was packed and cold.
Although I volunteered for the Quest two years ago in Dawson City, this was a different experience. This time I was kept very active outside. I helped check teams in as they crossed the check point finish line, helped guide the dogs to their resting spot, gathering the prearranged food into a sled and taking it promptly to the respective musher, and best of all, updating the standings board in the Lodge and calling the same results to Fairbanks for the web update. I was kept busy and warm and involved. It was a great experience.
The pictures here were all taken near the end of my shift at 10:30 a.m. just as the sun was coming up. Anything that my camera would have taken throughout the night would have been disruptive to the teams with a blinding flash, and I wouldn't have captured anything.
A few weeks ago I spent time in Montreal. The juxtapositions of old and new, English and French were striking to me.
A visit to Dawson would not be complete if a stop was not made to Bombay Peggy's. It is currently an Inn and Pub, although during the gold rush of the late 1800's it was a brothel. The restoration has been beautifully done, the artwork inside is incredible, and the ambiance is lovely. Check out their website at Bombay Peggy's.
The signage photographs were taken back when I was there in February with some friends. We stayed in a gorgous room (every room is unique and incredible) above the pub. The martini photographs were taken two nights ago.
Today I returned from Dawson City. I went there for work meetings. The weather was beautiful = crisp and cold. The arctic sent some air on down and chilled things a wee bit. Although it is now warming up, the temperatures were down to minus 31 celcius over the last couple of days. Just the way I like it.
Last week work took myself and my coworker to Yellowknife, N.W.T. This is not to be confused with going to Whitehorse, Y.T., which is where I am on a daily basis. Many southern folk get the two place names confused. I think this is because each word has 10 & 11 letters in it, they are both the capital of one of the territories, each are a northern city, and both of these proper nouns begin with a colour. 
To add to the confusion, Ottawa, the capital of our country and also is the centre of the universe (next to Toronto), in bureaucratically ignorant wisdom, has gifted each province and territory with a two letter acronym. These letters are used when using snail mail, federal tax forms, etc.
Northwest Territories went from NWT to NT, while the Yukon Territory went from YT to YK.....? We already had two letters and they just switched them to two unique ones. AND if those little elves on Parliament hill had lifted their heads and asked someone up here, they would have known that YK = YELLOWKNIFE, and cannot successfully be associated with the Yukon!
I regularly hear of snail mail that makes its way to Yellowknife instead of Whitehorse... I have no doubt it is the YK - YK confusion...
To get to Yellowknife we boarded a charter flight with Air North. Air North is one of my favourite Yukon companies. They began from scratch back in the 70s and have slowly built themselves up. The people who work the front lines provide excellent customer service. The company is the sponsor of countless community events. I think I love that this growing company has a large human component inside and out; it is real rather than just a corporate facade. 
This is a picture looking out of the Whitehorse Airport restaurant window at our plane.
Although we were there for only two days, we managed to check out the shopping.
The temperature was warmer than here at home by about 10 degrees Celsius but the wind was HOWLING! Instead of -48 it was only -36 with a fierce wind. It was absolutely CoLd. 
There is a chocolateire... lovely and delicious... 
Beside the chocolatier there was an art gallery. In it I could see a large picture that I think was painted by a Whitehorse artist named Nicole Bauberger. I really, really like her art. She uses beeswax and pigment as her medium. I have one small piece she painted for me while I took in one of her workshops. It is on my wall at work. Her visuals of ravens, I find satisfying. 
Dawn Oman is a Yellowknife artist. While walking around we passed her studio.
There is nothing like having a large responsibility to lift one out of a slump. Even if the lift is temporary, it is a good thing.
The Yukon River Quest recently completed its 9th annual race from Whitehorse to Dawson City. By my account, and I am sure those of others, it was an extraordinary year for the race. We managed to attract an all time high participation in terms of teams and racers, there was a new record set for voyageur time, the most voyageurs ever at ten boats, and this year saw the most international teams ever travel the globe to join our race. Canadian and Yukon teams were joined by Australia, Israel, South Africa, United States, Germany, ….
Personally I cannot recall spending a week amongst such a wonderful group of people. The racers, their support teams, and all volunteers were kind, generous, and fun to be around. Some of these people are repeat, three-peat or even four-peat to the Quest, some are young and some are older, but all come with the same composition. Everyone there had safety and kindness at the forefront, followed by excited and happy. All of these qualities enabled the summary of a lovely and memorable event.
And then....
there were none.
Here is a shot of the manditory layover at Carmacks' Coalmine Campground and also one of the voyageurs boats.
