Yukon Quest 2016

[Øivind Tøien]

Last year I posted an image with in the PAW thread from the Yukon Quest dog mushing race with the comment: "This is the very first processed image, more to come elsewhere once I get through the >600 frames that I captured..." As this years Yukon quest is on again, it is timely to post the promised collection of the images (warning: image heavy). This year the start went from Whitehorse in Canada, so not practical to get any new captures this year. The Yukon Quest race is considered to be tougher than the Iditarod race with respect to cold weather, as the interior Alaska easily can get down to -50°C with a cold spell, and fewer check points. We just had a couple of days in Fairbanks with -40°C weather. It is respectable just to finish this race without scratching.

Repeat of the spectators:
#1



#2



Norwegian musher Tom Frode Johansen. He made a 7th place, very respectable placement for a rookie.
#3



#4



Most of the images I got was from the shorter 300mile version of this race, Yukon Quest 300, which also is a qualifying race for the full 1000 mile race. Here is former champion of the 1000 mile race, Aliy Zirkle with her team. She made a second place in Yukon Quest 300.
#5



#6



#7



#8



Mary Helwig seems to be enjoying herself very much. She made a 15th place.
#9



Winner of Yukon Quest 300, Jessie Holmes. Both seem to know how to keep warm.
#10



#11



Shaynee Traska's team, she made a 6th place.
#12a



Here is Giordano Tarara's team, one of the few with Siberian Huskies. Unfortunately he had to scratch at Mile 101.
#12b



....
The standings of this years 1000 mile race is that two mushers, Matt Hall with a strong lead and Hugh Neff are at Two Rivers, close to Fairbanks, so by the time you read this, the first finishers of this year's Yukon Quest might already have come in.

[Thomas Stellwag]

thanks for showing this excellent series
I never have seen before the dogs in work
and it is quite different to  a group of horses
that work parallel and well educated - the dogs seem more "wild",
how does the driver bring them back in line?

[John Geerts]

Great series, Øivind.  I like especially the light in #8 and the overview in #5.

[Jakov Minić]

Jan Anne, this has to be something for you, bro!
Lovely series of images!

[Øivind Tøien]

Thanks for the enthusiastic comments, Thomas, John and Jakov.

Thomas, a good lead dog that keeps the team together and steers it is essential for success. Several teams got problems with glare ice under the bridge. If the leader then hesitates the will of every other dog comes to effect, and they easily get entangled.
#13



Here also distracted by a photographer.
#14



The musher then has to set the snow hook (to avoid the team running away with the sled) and get up in front to get the team disentangled and straightened out. The snow hook is visible to the left of the sled below; he just got the team disentangled and is ready to pull the hook.
#15

[Akira]

Øivind, thanks for sharing.  It is always interesting to see the event that reflect the culture of the places I've never had chances to visit.  #8 and #12 are my favorites purely as photographic images, but I enjoy the whole series.

[Jakov Minić]

Amazing people. I wonder if they have any camera gear with them. Imagine how cool it would be to take photos during their trip...

[chris dees]

Beautiful action series.
Nbr. 12 (the last one ) is my pick, perhaps crop the guy on the right side out.

[Erik Lund]

Very good image series! Thanks;) Really demanding on gear and people,  participants and spectators.

[Anthony]

Great!

[armando_m]

Wonderful photos of an amazing event, thanks so much for sharing it !

[Mongo]

wonderful series to view - especially from this side of the world where this does not happen. Colourful, spirited and exciting.

Love the flat 12 engines you use on your sleds. All good images but #13 is Mongo's pick (but would crop out person on far right of frame).

[Øivind Tøien]

Thanks for the kind comments all of you.

Chris, as for image #12 #12b, I tried cropping it on the right, however I find that both dynamics of balance and depth is suffering. The inclusion of an out of focus spectator feels pretty natural for me and adds depth. I also feel this version is preferable to the tight framing in the image following, although that one is also OK , but a different image:
#16



Mongo, are you sure you want to crop out the musher in (I would not agree to that!)or are you referring to the following frame #14. [Edit: Mongeo referred to the image now renamed to #12b, same as Chris.] In the latter case In the case of frame #14, I discussed with myself about straightening the frame and removing the part of the person showing, however then one would not understand what the right hand dog is looking at and what made it confused, so I ended up keeping it for the documentation.

 

[Bjørn Rørslett]

Øivind: An enjoyable and exciting event to witness, for sure. Hadn't I developed very severe Raynaud's Syndrome in the last years, I'd love to be present and document myself. Now all I can do is envy you the opportunity.

[Øivind Tøien]

Thanks for commenting Bjørn. Although mushers and spectators are well clothed, last years start was pretty warm by Fairbanks standards. It is just that people here are more used to heavy clothing to stay comfortable, and for the mushers the wind chill is pretty strong. They also might go on well into the night as evidenced by many of them already wearing their headlamps at the start. But of course things are very unpredictable. We just now went from -40°C to above freezing in a couple of days.

BTW, this year's other long distance race, Iditarod will, after a ceremonial start in Anchorage, move to Fairbanks for the real start March 6 at 10 AM. There are some bad trail conditions on the first stretch of the initially planned route mandating this. Hard to understand as we have plenty of snow here.