Imagine a frozen ocean

November 28, 2012 8:16 PM

"Entering into one of the fiercest competitions in existence, I found art."

Sixteen mushers. 120 dogs. An adventure across one of the longest mushing trails in the world: the Beringia, a dog sled race stretching 683 miles across eastern Russia. Twilight on the Tundra

Italicized quote at the top of this post is from an essay by the author at the Fulbright Russia website.

For more from Julia Phillips: From November 3, 2011 - August 13, 2012 she kept a blog at The Moscow Times: The Kamchatka Observer. (That's a link to her first entry. Main page is here.)

posted by zarq (8 comments total)

While it's a fairly long trek, the Iditarod is nearly twice as long. As a result the exact measured distance of the race varies from year to year, but officially the northern route is 1,112 miles (1,790 km) long, and the southern route is 1,131 miles (1,820 km) long. The length of the race is also frequently rounded to either 1,050; 1,100; or 1,150 miles (1690, 1770 or 1850 km) but is officially set at 1,049 miles (1688 km), which honors Alaska's status as the 49th U.S. state. (From Wikipedia)
posted by Ideefixe at 8:21 PM on November 28, 2012 [1 favorite]

*nod* She calls the Beringia "the longest mushing race ever" in the Twilight essay, but I knew that was no longer true. At best, it's the longest in Eurasia.
posted by zarq at 8:24 PM on November 28, 2012

There's also the Yukon Quest but it sounds as if the Beringia presents it's own unique challenges.
Great read.
posted by islander at 9:04 PM on November 28, 2012

The highest compliment I can give a post: This is what metafilter is for.

I really enjoyed this and for 30 minutes I was transported to a place I never imagined. Really well written, very entertaining. Thank you, zarq, and thank you Julia.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 10:01 PM on November 28, 2012 [2 favorites]

Susan Butcher came to our high school when I was a teenager. We gave her polar fleece booties for her dogs. She was as gracious as she was bouncy. That is all.
posted by clarknova at 1:22 AM on November 29, 2012 [1 favorite]

If this interests you, I recommend Winterdance by Gary Paulson, which is a book length essay on running the Iditarod.
posted by OmieWise at 5:02 AM on November 29, 2012 [2 favorites]

From my perspective this is very good writing--was going to scan but I got hooked. good writing and fascinating story. Thanks
posted by rmhsinc at 9:56 AM on November 29, 2012

Was surprised how many female mushers there were. Really cool.
posted by cthuljew at 10:36 PM on November 29, 2012