We arrived about 10:30 but the Fur/Pelt Auction didn’t start until 11:00am and we had time to kill. Let’s see, what could be better during Fur Rendezvous than…shopping the fur galleries in search of Mukluks.
The first furrier did not sell them at that particular location but they did have a beautiful black cherry sheared beaver jacket on sale. I looked great in it. It is still at the store. The next shop had Mukluks, just not in my size. They were willing to custom make them for me. I still had to think about it…and go to a couple other stores.
But back to the festival. By this time (11:30) we decided to step into the chowder house to warm up and have some hot chocolate. The countdown had started to the dog sled sprints at noon. Once again, all of downtown Anchorage was a-howl. It is so fun to watch the dogs. Weather was perfect for them (6 degrees) and they were ready to go!
This is where the dogs are being held back in the staging area by sno machines with the brakes on
Here we have the dogs moving up to the starting line
This is after the sprint has started and they have run about 2 blocks.
After watching the dogs take off for about ½ hour, we decided to head over to the dog weight pull. This is similar to a tractor pull in the Midwest only with dogs instead.
There are 4 weight classes of dogs and the dog that pulls the most weight in the shortest amount of time is the winner. The first pull is the empty, 200lb sled. The sled sits on an ice pad while the dog is hooked up to it. Once the dog is released, they have to pull the weight about 20 ft to have a successful pull and go to the next round. Weight is added via 30lb cement cylinders, normally 90lbs at a time. A dog can pass a specific pull anytime but he has to be successful during the next pull.
These dogs were incredible. We watched a 33lb dog pull 920lbs. He was so small up against the sled. I am still amazed he did it. We also saw a 10 year old 141lb dog who has been competing for 9 years. He knew exactly where to stop to be hooked up and how far he had to pull it to be successful. He attempted to break the world record weight pull for his weight class. The picture below is an action shot of Dude pulling 3020lbs. (Yes – three thousand and twenty pounds.) The record is 3000lbs. Unfortunately, he was about 2 feet short of having a good pull. It was still amazing.
The only "bad" part about the Dog pull was it was still cold (6 degrees) and we were sitting on metal benches. Brrrr. The final weight class ended about 4:30pm and I was ready to go home. Five hours in the sun but bone chilling cold was enough. I don't think I warmed up until Sunday - and then it was time to go back for more!
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