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Dogsledding on the North Glacier
Juneau, Alaska

  • Juneau is Alaska's capital & the third largest city in the state.
  • Population approximately 29,251.
  • There are 32 goldmines in the area.
  • Glaciers cover nearly 25,000 square miles of Alaska, which is 128 times more area covered by glaciers than in the rest of the United States.

 

The helicopter - before takeoff
helicopter

 

ready to go,
and then some!

Karen Duquette in floatation vest, digital camera, print camera, video camera, sunglasses to prevent "snow glare" and lots of layers of clothing-- Did she forget anything?

 

View of glaciers from helicopter
It rained on and off during flight

 
Ice chunks split from glaciers and fall into the sea or river, a process called calving.
Glacier ice often appears blue to the eye because it absorbs all the colors of the spectrum except blue, which is scattered back.

 
Rain on the windshield of the helicopter

 

View of Juneau, ships, and glaciers as seen from the helicopter

And now the fun really begins.............

 
Lee & Karen Duquette exit the helicopter on The North Glacier to begin their dogsledding adventure.

 

Arriving on The North Glacier.
Lee Duquette filming the glacier and dogs 200 dogs on the glacier, each with its own tent. The bigger tents in the background are for the mushers, 3 to a tent.
   
If you aren't the lead dog, the scenery never changes!
   
2 dog sled teams, 8-9 dogs per team, 2 sleds, a musher and 3 riders, gives you an idea of the size of the glacier when you see how tiny each team looks here.
   
Lee Duquette, Lee Basil and her daughter Cindy Evans with their team
   
Matt the musher
Karen & Lee Duquette
   
Small, lean, strong mush dogs - fed 3 times a day, 10,000 calories a day & they burn it off! Lee Duquette gets a doggie kiss from Toe, the biggest dog on the glacier.
   
Black Toe & Cheese - The dogs loved to be petted after they were done with their work
   
The dogs, tents, & mushers - NO running water or electricity - they all stay on the glacier, day and nght, for two weeks at a time.
   
Karen Duquette and Matt, the musher
   
Matt lives 1,000 miles north of this glacier in a "bare-bones" log cabin by himself - NO running water or electricity,
 
He mushes his dog sled team 35 miles from his cabin to the nearest town for supplies.
 
Matt works 2 weeks each summer doing these dogsled tours and earns $200 per dog, which pays for his dog food the rest of the year.