This year's Yukon Quest, even more than most, has got me upset about the kind of people that will seek a semi-suicidal "adrenaline rush," or personal glory, or merely the reassurance that they have balls, on the backs of their dogs.
Ever since I moved to the Yukon in 1993 I've listened to thoughtless couch-potatoes saying to me, "Oh, you've got sleddogs -- are you going to enter the Quest?" And ever since I started looking at this thousand-mile long distance race up close, I've been appalled at its callous disregard for ordinary human -- and humane -- values. I wouldn't touch it with a ten-foot pole. It's promoted as "the toughest dogsled race on earth." Nobody would argue with that assessment. That's not any kind of recommendation in my book!
Let's look at the qualifications of this big tough race:
Doesn't that sound to you like a situation to be avoided, if you care anything about your dogs? Well, guess what -- that's exactly what it is! But many of these guys don't care that much about the dogs. Every spring and summer in Whitehorse we see a series of newspaper classified ads in which "Quest veterans" are offered for sale or even given away. Quest dogs are cannon fodder; a dispensable commodity; a means to an end.
This year's incident on Eagle Summit in which several teams were trapped by whiteout conditions and one Quest 300 musher lost his team trying to get off the mountain, was just another example of the uncontrolled, uncaring nature of this race. Quest officials literally had NO IDEA where TWELVE TEAMS from the two races (Yukon Quest and Quest 300) were, at one point. High winds had grounded aircraft. Snowmobile patrols turned back. Experienced mushers like Hans Gatt and Bill Kleedehn came in saying they were glad just to be alive, and that someone could easily get killed up there. And when they WERE able to send out search planes, there wasn't a single Quest vet on any of them. Everyone is just lucky that the 2006 Quest didn't generate a real tragedy.
In this experienced dog driver's humble opinion, the Yukon Quest is sheer exploitation of sleddogs. It's one thing to be an "extreme sports" practitioner, one of those people who really don't care if they live or die as long as they can get that adrenaline fix that is their main reason for existing. If they kill themselves, who the hell cares! BUT THE SLEDDOGS DIDN'T VOLUNTEER FOR THAT KIND OF DANGER AND MISERY, PARTICULARLY AT THE HANDS OF A DRIVER WHOSE JUDGMENT IS IMPAIRED. (As it arguably must be for anyone to voluntarily subject himself and his dogs to the Quest.) Extreme sports should not involve animals. Dog mushers reflexively close ranks and form a defensive circle like muskoxen when the humane aspects of a race are questioned. They would do better to clean this race up, find a permanent trail for it that avoids the river and the summits, and get rid of the extreme-macho adrenaline-freak aspects of it, before something happens that will generate so much negative publicity it kills the race permanently.
Long distance racing, sensibly organised, could be fun for dog drivers of a wide variety of age, ability and experience -- if the extreme-sport "toughest race on earth" bullshit could be got rid of. The Quest started its existence as an alternative to the Iditarod Trail race for mushers who could not afford the expenses of that race, and was conceived as an event that would be enjoyable for its drivers. Why should it not be possible for drivers to get enough sleep? Why not have enough checkpoints to keep sled loads reasonable? Why not a permanent trail that avoids really dangerous situations? WHY SHOULD A LONG DISTANCE RACE NOT BE FUN AND SAFE FOR DRIVERS AND DOGS?
Posted by ditkoofseppala at February 14, 2006 04:30 PM