Page 44 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide 2017 - Alaska

42  INTRODUCING ALASK A

Dog Sledding

The Native peoples of Alaska’s northern regions have
long relied on dog sleds as essential survival tools in the
winter, using them while hunting, trading, or moving
camp. As other people moved to Alaska, dog sleds
continued to play an important role, delivering medicine,
food, and mail. While the practical use of dog sleds has
now been replaced by snowmachines, dog sledding,
locally called “mushing,” is popular as a recreational Historical image of Alaskan mail carriers
activity and is the official state sport. delivering mail via dog sled

Dog sleds are built on
wooden or aluminum runners, Wheel dogs, at
with an area in the front to the very back,
carry freight, passengers, or help in steering
tired or injured dogs. the sled.

Alaskans traditionally made sleds of wood, bone, sinew,
and rawhide, but modern sleds are made of wood,
steel, plastics, Kevlar, and aluminum. Here, Inupiat elder
Don Smith works on a sled in his workshop in Kiana,
near Kotzebue.
Mushers either stand on the runners
of the sled or jog behind or alongside.
The Sled Team
For mushers, dog sledding is as much an art form as a
sport. In the harsh winter wilderness, the close inter play
of human and dog is symbiotic: for the musher, the dog
team is a faithful lifeline in an exposed envi ron ment,
while for the dogs, the musher is a trusted com panion
who supplies sustenance. The dogs are directed not
by reins, but by the musher’s spoken commands to
the lead dogs, who guide the others accordingly.

Sled Dogs
Malamutes, Siberians, Samoyeds, and other
purebred huskies are popularly associated
with dog sledding, but are rarely used as sled
dogs. Most mushers prefer mixed-breed dogs
that are bred for speed and endurance.

Wind-resistant kennels provide shelter for sled
dogs at home. On the trail, they sleep outdoors on
Dog team transport, when the dogs are not hay, eating meat and fish for energy and warmth.
running, is in mobile kennels mounted on the Bred for Alaskan win ters, they perform best at
back of pick-up trucks. about -29º C (-20º F).

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