Checkpoint Pelly Crossing

Yuka Honda (Yukon Quest 300) and her dogs arrive 

at the finish line in Pelly Crossing 

Allen Moore - first musher to arrive in Pelly Crossing

Feb 4th at 1:24am

Pups resting for the next leg of the race

Quest Vets check on the wellbeing of all pups

Traffic jam in Pelly - two teams 

(Christina Traverse a few seconds behind Randy MacKenzie in red)

 arriving at Checkpoint Pelly Crossing

Susan Rogan spends a few seconds with each of her

dogs moments before departing Pelly

Normand Casavant convincing his pup to eat

Normand Casavant hands out snacks

Markus Ingebretsen arrives at Checkpoint Pelly 

Putting on booties

Quest volunteers staying warm by campfire

waiting for next team to arrive

Darrin Lee arrives in Pelly

Volunteers check his gear

Dropped from race

Dyan Bergen and her team prepare to depart Pelly

Tamra Reynolds (YQ 300) arrives at finish in Pelly

Exhausted pup in bag

Time for a snooze

Welcome to Checkpoint Pelly Crossing - the fourth official stop in this year's running of the Yukon Quest.  Allen Moore was the first to arrive at 01:24am on Feb 4th.  

Mushers, upon arrival, are greeted by a team of Quest volunteers who check to see if each sled is equipped with a sleeping bag, food for musher and pups, snowshoes, an axe, the vet book, and other basic gear.  Time deductions are handed out to any musher failing to have the required gear.  Vets also take the opportunity to check on the wellbeing of all the pups.  Those injured or too exhausted to continue are dropped from the team - the handlers will then look after the well being of those pups.

Mushers are offered a hot meal as are the pups - mushers take hot water to thaw chunks of meat, fish and other goodies added to kibble.  Once the pups have eaten, they will rest for a few hours on a bed of straw.  Many mushers provide blankets and 'hand warmers' for their team.  Some of the mushers also elected to catch up on their rest while their team snoozes in Pelly.

At one point we had nine teams in the 'dog yard' - close to 140 sled dogs in our small village.  

Pelly is also the finishing point for those racing in the Yukon Quest 300 - a 300mile journey from Whitehorse to Stepping Stone and Pelly.  This years winner was Michelle Phillips who arrived 8 secs ahead of Aliy Zirkle.  The YQ300 is a qualifying race for those wishing to run in the 1000 mile Yukon Quest race.

Stayed tuned for images from the Dawson Checkpoint.

More images from Checkpoint Pelly are available on my flickr account

Good night,

Cheers

Claus

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Return of the Aurora

Aurora dancing over the Pelly River, Yukon

Good morning from the Yukon!

At long last the northern lights have returned to our skies.  It has been months since we were last treated to such a show.  Lovely to see them back.

Keeping my fingers crossed for a repeat performance tonight.

Hope all is well in your corner of the world.

Happy Valentine's Day.

Cheers,

Claus

Photo info:  Photographed with a Nikon D800 and Nikor 14-24mm f/2.8 lens - shot at f/3.5, 15-18sec, 800ISO, cable release.

Congratulations to Allen Moore

Allen Moore and his team departing Whitehorse

February 2, 2013

Congratulations to Allen Moore and his team for winning this year’s Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race.  Allen and his eleven dogs crossed the finish line in Fairbanks, Alaska at 6:54am Alaska Time – his official time was 8 days, 18hrs and 57 mins.  Hugh Neff, the defending champ, finished a close second when he and his nine pups crossed the finish line at 8:10am.

Shortly after his winning, Moore joked with media officials stating that "I trained my team to run 26 seconds faster" in reference to his loss to Neff last year by the slimmest margin in the history of the Quest.  Moore, and his wife Aliy Zirkle (who came within 8 seconds of winning this years Yukon Quest 300 in Pelly Crossing) become the first husband and wife team to each win the Yukon Quest.  Zirkle took the title in 2000.

Congratulations to all.

And, they are off....

And they are off - the 30th annual Yukon Quest

Sat Feb 2nd, 2013 -  Whitehorse, Yukon

The official start line - Whitehorse, Yukon

Musher Rob Cooke and his pups, from the UK, 

are the third team to depart from the start line

The defending champ, Hugh Neff, hugs each of

his dogs shortly before the start of his race

Lance Mackey departs

Misha Pedersen and her team depart Whitehorse

Excited pups

Darrin Lee and his team

Ed Abrahamson's team

Scott Smith's team departs Whitehorse

One pup who did not make the race

My choice for the winning team

The last few days here in the Yukon have truly been remarkable ones.  A week ago yesterday, with temperatures approaching the zero degree Celsius mark, twenty-six dog teams departed Whitehorse for the 30^th running of the Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race.  The 1000-mile journey retraces the historical Gold Rush sled dog route that once connected Whitehorse (Yukon) with Fairbanks, Alaska.  The course follows the frozen waters of the Yukon and Pelly Rivers, crosses over four mountain summits, and travels through some of the harshest yet most pristine wilderness imaginable.  In the past mushers, and their dogs, endured minus 40-degree temperatures and horrific blizzards, treacherous ice conditions and unexpected obstacles such as open water.  The first of the mushers usually crosses the finish line some ten days later.

Along the route there are eight official checkpoints, mandatory rest stops, and several hospitality stops where race veterinarians and officials check on the health and wellbeing of the pups.  Dogs can be dropped from the race if the vets, and or musher, deemed the dog(s) unfit to continue on.  Race officials also check to ensure each musher is equipped with food supplies, snowshoes, an axe, sleeping bag, and their vet logbook.  Penalties (both time deductions and monetary fines) are issued to any team failing to follow race rules.

 

Each team has a group of handlers that meet the mushers and the pups at each of the checkpoints.  They are responsible for taking care of the dropped dogs and for cleaning up after once the team departs.  Mushers cannot accept help at any point along the race.

Musher Brian Wilmshurst and his 14 excited dogs was the first to depart Whitehorse at 11am.  Each team thereafter left at three-minute intervals with Crispin Studer’s team being the last to depart at 12:15.

Later that afternoon, 18 teams departed on the Yukon Quest 300, a shorter race that finishes at Pelly Crossing.

The thrill of being surrounded by so many excited pups, a spirited Yukon Quest crew and a team of international volunteers carried through for the remainder of the week.  I'm already looking forward to next year's Quest!

Stayed turned for more photos from the Pelly Crossing Checkpoint in the coming days.

For more information and current standings on the Quest please visit their official website at www.yukonquest.com

More images from the start in Whitehorse can be found on my photostream on Flickr.

Year of the Snake

Milk Snake, Mud Lake (Ottawa)

Wishing you all a very Happy Lunar New Year.  According to Chinese Astrology tomorrow marks the beginning of the Year of the Snake - my namesake year.  The next 12 months promise to be exciting, especially for those born under this sign.  

Happy New Year - here's to the neat adventures that lay ahead.

Cheers,

Claus

Yukon Quest and the Yukon Quest 300

Yuka Honda on her way to finishing the Yukon Quest 300

Pelly Crossing, Feb 05, 2013

Winter greetings from the Yukon!

February has arrived and with it so have the dogs and their mushers competing in this years running of the Yukon Quest International 1000 mile Dog Sled Race and in the Yukon Quest 300.  

The last few days have been exciting with over 400 dogs travelling through Pelly.

Stay turned for more images and stories from these two events.

Hope all is well in your corner of the world.

Cheers for now,

Claus

Yukon Greetings

Totem Pole, Carcross (Yukon)

Good morning from the Yukon!

Where has the time gone??  My apologies for the lack of updates. 

In the coming days I'll be posting the highlights of 2012 and images from the Khutzeymateen Grizzly Bear Sanctuary and from my spring road trip up the Dempster and the Top of the World Highways.

Hope all is well in your corner of the world.

Cheers,

Claus

Happy 2013

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year.  Here's to a year of health, happiness, adventure and plenty of new photo opportunities.
Happy 2013!
Cheers,
Claus

Christmas Lights 

Upper Canada Village, Ontario

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

Cheers,

Claus

Winter Solstice

Pangnirtung Fjord, Nunavut

Happy Winter Solstice!  At long last the unofficial countdown to summer 2013 can begin!

Here's an article I wrote for the Nov/Dec 2005 issue of Above & Beyond (the inflight magazine of First Air).  Enjoy!

SUN DANCE

The seasonal journey of the midnight sun

In the coming days as the fading rays of the midnight sun slip below the arctic horizon, another season of polar darkness unfolds.  This seasonal game of tug-of-war between continuous sunlight and winter darkness occurs because our earth orbits the sun on an inclined axis of 66 ½^o.  As a consequence, the midnight sun, or polar night, is only observed in areas within the Arctic Circle, an imaginary boundary circumnavigating the earth at 66 ½^o N.

During the winter solstice, on December 21^st, the far north is angled furthest from the sun.  On that day, every region within the Arctic Circle is shrouded in darkness for at least 24 hours; the number of days in which the sun lies below the horizon progressively increases the further north one travels - this ranges from one day on the Arctic Circle to a maximum of six months directly at the pole.  Conversely, six months later, during the summer solstice, the opposite holds true and the same region experiences at least one full-day of the midnight sun.

Imagine, if you will, spending the polar winter on the North Pole itself.  After months of darkness a time approaches in mid-February when a faint glow in the distance becomes noticeable.  This glow completely circles the horizon every 24 hours and becomes brighter with each passing day.  By late February the faintest stars disappear in the brightening sky as the sun tries to clear the horizon.  Finally, on March 21^st (spring equinox), the upper edge the solar disk appears for the first time in six months.   The sun continues its gradual climb until it reaches its highest point in the sky on June 21^st, the summer solstice.  Then, sadly, it begins its slow descent until it disappears below the horizon during the fall equinox in late September where it will remain for the next six months before rising again to cast its rays on the top of the world.  

©Claus Vogel

September 24, 2005

Frozen Facts:

Sunset and Sunrise times (2006) for communities on Baffin and Ellesmere Islands. 

Community	Latitude	Polar Night Begins	First Sunrise	# Days Polar Night
Pangnirtung☼	66 05 N	Dec. 21	Dec. 21	0
Qikiqtarjuaq	67 30N	Dec. 16	Dec. 27	10
Clyde River	70 30N	Nov. 23	Jan. 19, 06	57
Arctic Bay	73 05N	Nov. 12	Jan. 30, 06	79
Grise Fiord	76 25N	Nov. 1	Feb. 10, 06	101
Eureka	80 00N	Oct. 21	Feb. 20, 06	122
Alert	82 30N	Oct. 15	Feb. 27, 06	135
North Pole	90 N	Sept. 22	Mar. 21, 06	6 months

^☼  Community lies below the Arctic Circle

Winter along the Klondike

Klondike Hwy at Fox Lake, Yukon

Good morning from a very chilly Yukon (minus 50 degrees C)

Driving to Whitehorse from Pelly Crossing these days can be a very lovely and lonely four-hour journey.  With temperatures well below minus 40 degrees C., one sees more wildlife along the Klondike Hwy than vehicles.  During a recent grocery run into town we spotted a herd of elk, a mink surfing through the snow, several grouse soaking up the rays of the sun and a lynx wandering across the highway.  Not surprisingly, we only came across six vehicles throughout the 260km drive.

When we left Pelly, early that morning, the mercury had read minus 40 degrees.  By the time we had arrived in Whitehorse the temperature had soared to minus 18!!  Ahh, welcome to the tropics of the Canadian North!!

Hope this finds you warm wherever you are in the world.

Cheers,
Claus


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And the lights came back....

Pelly Crossing Campground, Yukon

It's official - another season of the dancing northern lights has begun in grand style.  Last night, despite the minus 30 degree temperatures, the much anticipated solar storm (which was unleashed by the sun a couple of days ago) slammed into the upper reaches of our atmosphere.  The result was an impressive celestial show that unfurled across the entire circumpolar north.  Folks from Russia, Norway, Greenland, Nunavut, Yukon and Alaska were treated to a spectacular display of dancing lights.  Welcome back!!


Photo Info:  Nikon D800 with a Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8 at 1000ASA, f/3.4 at 20 sec.

Driving into Autumn

Klondike Hwy, Yukon

Good morning from the Yukon!

What a splendid day yesterday turned out to be.  Shortly after 3pm the clouds finally broke free to reveal the sun and a Yukon landscape draped in its early autumn glory.  I decided at the point it was time to hop into the car and take short drive on the Klondike Hwy.  Glad I did.

The combination of the fall colours, the late afternoon sun, the dramatic clouds set against a brilliant blue sky and an open road all came into play when taking today's images – the setting was perfect for the images I was looking for.   The conditions were also right for using a circular polarizing filter, which reduced the glare of the sun on the wet leaves and brought out the textures in the clouds, the road and trees.

September has started out picture perfect – first the sandhill cranes and now the fall colours.  Wonder what today will bring.

Hope you enjoy the last full day of summer.

Cheers,

Claus

PHOTO INFO:  Images photographed with a Nikon D800 and Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 lens.  Tripod mounted, cable release attached - ISO 160, f/16 and 18, Manual setting.  Circular polarizer filter attached

Autumn's Grace and Elegance

Sandhill cranes fly directly overhead

Pelly Crossing, Yukon

Welcome back to the Yukon!
I arrived safe and sound and just in time to see the start of the fall migration season - the Sandhill cranes have returned.  Oh so beautiful!
Hope you are well in your corner of the world.
Cheers,
Claus

Photo info:  Images captured with a Nikon D800 and Nikkor 300mm f/2.8 lens attached.  ISO250, f/7.1 Aperture priority, Continuos focus set to HIGH, Vibration Reduction ON, handheld