Yukon Alone: The World's Toughest Adventure Race

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Twelve dogs, a sled, and your wits versus 1,023 miles of danger, snow, ice, and wilderness. The Yukon Quest is possibly the toughest race on earth. Held earlier, farther inland, and at a more northerly latitude than its famous cousin, the Iditarod, mushers on the Yukon Quest routinely experience temperatures dropping to 40 below zero, with 50 below not uncommon. Winning isn't everything; just finishing is an achievement in itself. John Balzar tells the story of the Quest, the dogs, and the mushers in Yukon Alone.

Balzar, a roving correspondent for The Los Angeles Times, volunteered to act as the press liaison for the 1998 Yukon Quest. As such, he traveled the length of the trail, sharing cabin floors with resting mushers, shivering as temperatures dropped to 50 below, and becoming somewhat delirious from sleep deprivation. Balzar does an excellent job of capturing the frozen feel of the race:

The visibility worsens and now Bruce cannot see his leaders in the swirling merger of snowpack and wind. He searches anxiously for a glimpse of a wooden stake that will tell him that his dogs have not wandered off the trail, perhaps to the edge of a cliff. Bruce is not conscious of time or of distance, but only of the wind in his face. The dogs appear to be moving forward, but there is no way to measure progress.

He also paints warm portraits of the mushers--men and women like Mike King, a 37-year-old biker with a Harley-Davidson patch on his sled bag and a tattoo of the Quest trail covering one third of his back; William Kleedehn, who finished seventh in the 1998 race despite his prosthetic leg; Aliy Zirkle, a rookie musher who recovered from losing a dog to finish the race.

FROM OUR EDITORS

In YUKON ALONE: THE WORLD'S TOUGHEST ADVENTURE RACE, writer John Balzar tells the story of the 1998 Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race between Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, and Fairbanks, Alaska. An annual race founded in response to the "commerciality" of the famous Iditarod race, the Quest, as it's called by mushers and Alaskans alike, takes place under conditions that are much more extreme. The Quest boldly tests the endurance of both humans and dogs in a setting "where the snow underfoot is so crystalline hard it rubs like sandpaper, and every incoming breath burns like fire because the sting of deep, dry cold feels much the same as a flame."

John Balzar is a journalist who has spent a decade in the Far North. He's lived with Eskimos, gone whaling in the Beaufort Sea, paddled boats as a wilderness guide, and led backpack trips throughout the state. Reading his prose you understand why a lean and sparse style much like Jack London's surfaced in these stories. As Balzar puts it, ballpoint pens and ink both freeze. Pencils work, but writing is difficult with three-inch thick gloves. Therefore, be concise.

One of the most poignant elements in YUKON ALONE is the story of the dogs. A variety consisting mainly of huskies, the sled dogs are bred and trained mostly by the mushers themselves, who develop a close intoxicating relationship with the dogs. The team of dogs must work harmoniously together on the trail. Speed, temperament, endurance, and zeal are essential qualities. A good sled dog, it is said, knows what to do at rest stops: rest. "As important as these qualities is the intangible called 'head'," writes Balzar, "which is really a combination of guts and drive: the fortitude to run 12 or 14 hours of every 24 for 2 consecutive weeks."

You won't need to be a Jack London fan to enjoy Balzar's story. If anything Balzar has reconfirmed the veracity of London's tales of the Far North with one stranger-than-fiction addition: After seventeen years of the Quest, the people, the elements, and the desire to race remain wholly intact.

Kevin Giordano is a freelancer based in New York.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

The Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race is one of the most challenging sporting events in the world. Every February, a handful of hardy souls spends over two weeks racing sleds pulled by fourteen dogs over 1,023 miles of frozen rivers, icy mountain passes, and spruce forests as big as entire states, facing temperatures that drop to forty degrees below zero on nights that are seventeen hours long.

Why would anyone want to enter this race? John Balzar-who moved to Alaska and lived on the trail-treats us to a vivid account of the grueling race itself, offering an insightful look at the men and women who have moved to this rugged and beautiful place. Readers will also be fascinated by Balzar's account of what goes into the training and care of the majestic dogs who pull the sleds and whose courage, strength, and devotion make them the true heroes of this story.

John Balzar, a roving correspondent for the Los Angeles Times, was awarded the Scripps Howard Foundation Prize for human interest writing. Balzar has worked as a river boatman in Alaska and sailed across the Pacific. He lives in Portland, Oregon.

FROM THE CRITICS

Tom O'Brien - USA Today

In Yukon Alone, Balzar brings the contest alive in stirring prose that sends tingles up your spine.

Publishers Weekly

Enthusiastically communicating his love of Alaska's captivating landscape and his attachment to the rugged eccentrics who make it home, Balzar introduces readers to the rigors of the Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race. The Quest, as it's natively called, is colder and more dangerous than the more renowned Iditarod. Covering 1023 miles and taking more than two weeks to complete, the Quest offers Balzar a vehicle for exploring the varied richness of Alaskan culture. Along the way, as he profiles trappers, bush pilots and others who come to test their mettle in the race, he returns to the question of what makes these people mush. He hitches along not only for the adventure of a lifetime but for a taste of an earlier, primordial state of being. Between profiles of the racers and others associated with the Quest, Balzar muses on what it means to pursue a wild life at the end of the 20th century. "The trapper and the vegan," he writes in a passage about fur trapping, "both live in constant awareness of animals and their suffering. The rest of us worry about getting rain spots on our suede jackets and complain because the people who package hamburger meat these days are always trying to make you buy a little more than you need." Throughout, Balzar remains somewhat of a detached observer. He enjoys the company of the mushers he meets, but he is always somewhat apart from them, too much a part of the civilized world even as he celebrates the ways people can, at least briefly, separate themselves from civilization and follow their own demons wherever they may lead. (Nov.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

An account of the 1,023-mile Yukon Quest dogsled race from, Whitehorse to Fairbanks, this is truly a detailed and fascinating epic. While the author himself did not participate in the race, he spent many months acquainting himself with the racers and their all-important dogs. One learns many facts about the care and feeding of the sled dogs as well as how their various talents are utilized. Balzar's descriptions of the cold and conditions the racers endured are particularly vivid. The maps that will be included in the finished copy will help readers follow the route. Highly recommended for libraries with avid readers of outdoor adventures. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 9/1/99.]--Robert F. Greenfield, formerly with Baltimore Cty. P.L. Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Anthony Lappe - Details Magazine

Yukon Alone comes down to a classic turtle-versus-hare showdown—a battle of wits between a stoic rookie and a wily veteran who has always placed but never won. The ending is thrilling. But it also has a melancholy edge. There's a sense that this race—and this way of life—has seen its last days. No doubt soon to be replaced by the Excite.com Race for the Riches.

Cahill - The Los Angeles Times Book Review