Iditarod | Dave Higgins Photography

Hot Times – In Alaska & Elsewhere

on September 7, 2015

It may be September 7th, but we’re having an unusual heatwave in much of the US. So why not look back on some (sort of) cooling photos I created while on a ski trip to Alaska back in early March? It was also abnormally warm there at the time, which wasn’t too good for the skiing. But the warmish weather made it possible to take a glacier cruise out of Whittier and a walk on the hiking trails near Girdwood, leading to my series “Alaska – 2015.”

The abnormal warmth created more of a challenge for the start of the 2015 Iditarod, leading to the shift of the start from Willow (near Anchorage) to Fairbanks. They still put on the ceremonial start in Anchorage, but they had to truck in 350 truck loads of snow the night before to cover the route. Wandering 4th Avenue that Friday night, I encountered a couple of Bostonians; we noted the irony of Anchorage having to truck in snow while Boston had been trying to truck it out…

Fortunately, the snow held up (mostly) for the next morning’s festivities, enabling me to capture many images for my series “2015 Iditarod In Anchorage.”

2015 Iditarod In Anchorage

The winter of 2015 has been freakishly warm and dry in parts of Alaska, forcing the Iditarod race start from Willow (near Anchorage) north to Fairbanks. Fortunately, the ceremonial start proceeded as scheduled on March 7th in Anchorage. Since I was in the area for a ski trip, I spent the morning photographing the festivities.

Here’s a sampling of my photos from the day.

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Jessie Royer starts out

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Izzy the Vaccination Dog. There appeared to be numerous tie-ins between the Iditarod and healthcare – possibly because the inspiration for the event was the 1925 dog team relay to get medicine to Nome to fight a diphtheria outbreak.