Winter Recreation

Whittier declares winter dead, but snow fans have options

Just a couple days short of the start of June, winter in Southcentral Alaska finally died on Thursday -- at least at sea level.

CRAIG MEDRED

Think mushing to Nome is tough? Try pedaling it

Kathi Hirzinger-Merchant didn't even warrant a mention on Sports Illustrated's silly list of the toughest athletes in sports, but she'd kick your butt any day.

Poll Who's the toughest woman in Alaska?

Girdwood skier ready to show extreme moves

Jake Young isn't suffering any adrenaline shortage.

Ski champ Randall faces a genetic threat

The blood clot that threatened the life of World Cup skier Kikkan Randall may have been caused by a hereditary condition.

PDF: Read about Factor V Leiden in Circulation, the journal of the American Heart Association

Blood clots send skiing champ Randall into hospital

Arctic Man is wide open

When Howard Thies started the Arctic Man Ski and Sno-Go Classic in 1986, he wasn't sure if anyone would show up to watch snowmachines pull skiers in a race high in the Hoodoo Mountains.

Photos: Arctic Man

North Face Masters tour
continues today

Alyeska Resort will continue to be a busy place today as the North Face Masters big mountain snowboarding tour holds its second day of competition.

Snowmachines and sled dogs

With one dog dead in the Iditarod and another seriously injured in the All Alaska Sweepstakes after being hit by a snowmachines, it might appear that conflicts between snowmobiles and dog teams are on the upswing. Probably not.

Mackey dog's nerves damaged

CRAIG MEDRED

Clinging to winter

A trek on the Arctic-to-Indian Trail along the creek to Indian Pass and then down to the community of the same name along Turnagain Arm is an Alaska spring classic.

Coach enters no-contest plea

A biathlon coach accused of pulling a 14-year-old girl's pants down while training her at the Kincaid Park shooting range last year pleaded no contest Thursday to a misdemeanor count of harassment.

Iron Dog winner intrigues Leno

Officials of the Tesoro Iron Dog race are abuzz about the interest one of the nation's best known motorheads has shown in the world's longest, toughest snowmobile race.

Slide show: '08 Iron Dog

Gallery: Meet the drivers

McKenna, Quam dodge carnage for Iron Dog victory

Snowshoe racing isn't the winter sport of choice in Alaska

While cold parts of the Lower 48 embrace snowshoe racing, here in Alaska -- where there is no shortage of snow or winter -- the sport languishes.

Cold warrior

Just as for many transplants to Alaska, Jill Homer's move here in 2005 was meant to be an adventure.

Blog: Up in Alaska

Iron Dog standings get major shakeup

Out on the windswept surface of the frozen Yukon River in the dark of Thursday night, the competition in the Tesoro Iron Dog snowmobile race got blown to pieces.

Palin takes spectacular tumble in Iron Dog

Tesoro Iron Dog snowmobile racers Todd Palin of Wasilla and Scott Davis of Soldotna were back on the trail Friday night after a crash that rattled the duo and sent a minor tremor across the state.

Slide show: '08 Iron Dog

Gallery: Meet the drivers

Section: '08 Iron Dog

Minnick, Olstad overcome penalty, gain ground

The first day of the second half of the Tesoro Iron Dog snowmobile race started badly for the race leaders in Nome, but they didn't show any sign that a little thing like a 20-minute penalty would keep them down.

Young duo are no amateurs

WASILLA -- Experience -- i.e. age -- tends to be the key trait shared by winners of the 2,000-mile Tesoro Iron Dog snowmobile race, which begins today on Big Lake.

Racers prepare for today�s Iron Dog start

Speed freak's 117 average wins Alcan 200

FAIRBANKS -- There's not a better feeling in the world than racing a snowmachine down an empty highway in the middle of the Yukon territory at 140 mph, according to the man who does it better than anyone else.

Snowmachiner owes rescue to technology, caring people

A combination of newfangled technology and neighborliness led to the helicopter rescue of an uninjured Wasilla snowmachiner stranded in deep snow near Hatcher Pass.

Going with the flow

Joe Stock knows all too well the dangers of climbing ice when it's too warm out. During a climbing trip many years ago, the day warmed up to the 40s and a chunk of ice fell away from the ice face, breaking his leg.

Photos: Ice Climbing along Turnagain Arm

Snow's arrival greeted warmly

With 31 snow guns painting the slopes white, the Alyeska Resort in Girdwood salvaged a perfectly seasonable Christmas holiday from the wreckage of Southcentral weather patterns gone haywire.

Tubing park slides away as focus turns to skiing

Less than three years since Alyeska Resort unveiled its Glacier Tubing Park, the resort's new owners have decided the thrill is gone.