2022 Across the Brooks Range (Alaska)

The Brooks Range is a mountain range in northern Alaska, past the Arctic Circle. It stretches from west to east across northern Alaska into Canada's Yukon Territory. The Gates of the Arctic, a vast National Park nested in the Range, is the least visited National Park in the United States. During the winter, except for a few small communities, the Gates of the Artic is completely deserted. The winter conditions can be extremely harsh with arctic temperature and violent storms.

In March 2022, I flew to Ambler to ski north-east across the park to Anaktuvuk Pass, two Iñupiaq communities only accessible by plane, snow machine or boat. The journey would have covered 380km (240mi) or more and should have taken 2 to 3 weeks, pulling a sled in full autonomy and alone.  Unfortunately, the unusually deep and soft snow conditions and mild weather prevented me from moving fast enough to complete the route safely. I decided to turn around and returned to Ambler.

But I will return in 2023 and, with better snow conditions, I will complete the route.

While locals have travelled through the region for generations, none of the persons I talked to knew of anyone covering this distance in the winter in the Range.