There are no roads out of Dawson City in the winter, save to Whitehorse, except during Trek Over the Top.
For the past 20 years teams of snowmobilers have resurrected the frozen Taylor/Top of the World Highway between Tok, Alaska and Dawson City, Yukon. They trace a 320 kilometre line between the two towns.
Trek Over the Top has its origins in a 1993 run made by a group of snowmobilers over the Top of the World. Eric Zalitis, at the time sta tioned in Dawson with the RCMP, thought that there was potential for this to become more.
“It was quite the scene as I don’t think anyone had done this before in such a group,” says Zalitis. “That summer contact was made with the organizers, who were with the Alaska Trailblazers from Tok. It was decided that this could work in a more organized fashion.”
Starting in 1994, the Trek included events in Dawson at the end, with Trekkers staying two nights in town. The Klondike Visitors Association opened Diamond Tooth Gertie’s for the occasion and the Dawson City Firefighter’s association held a barbecue.
“In 1995 interest was huge and we expanded from a two night stay to a three night stay,” remembers Zalitis. “We expanded to two runs and then in our heyday we had three runs. The largest group we had was 640 persons.”
After 18 years of organizing the Trek, Zalitis and his wife Laurie passed responsibility to the Klondike Visitors Association. This year it has fallen to Rachel Wiegers and Paul Robitaille to make it happen.
“I think with any event there’s always hiccups, but it’s been great,” says Wiegers. “We really enjoy working with our Alaskan neighbours and this is the biggest event we organize.”
For a city like Dawson with a population of 1,319, such an event is massive. The Trek provides an inflow of tourist dollars but economics isn’t the reason this event has lasted two decades.
“They are here for a good time and of course they spend a lot of money,” says Wiegers. But some of these guys have been on 19 treks. They create relationships in town; they know the shop owners and the entertainers by name. These are people that have a connection to Dawson.”
This connection binds through good times and bad.
“Several years ago a very good friend to all, the president of the Alaska Trailblazers, died in a vehicle accident here in the Yukon,” says Zalitis. “We did a memorial run for him and it was the largest ride we ever had.”
The cross-border Trek is made possible through a special agreement by officials on both sides. The trail grooming is also multinational. The Alaska Trailblazers groom the Taylor Highway section, while the Dawson City Sled Dawgs take care of the Canadian end.
Despite grooming efforts, wind and weather can conspire to make conditions on the trail difficult. Trekkers have been known to ride with duct-tape covering their faces in order to ward off frostbite. In 1995, a group of 20 riders, now known as the Lost Patrol, split off from the main group and became lost before they were located by a helicopter.
“There’s a section called the Terrible Terrace and it’s notorious for being windy,” says Robitaille. “We groom the trail, but it blows over and becomes a sheer-angle drop-off that even experiencedriders have difficulty with. This woman broke her ankle and had to get medivaced out. I thought, no way is she coming back. But then last year she called us and said ‘You know, my leg is healed and I’m getting married now. I want to come back and get married at Trek.’ And so she got married on the stage at Gertie’s.”
This year nearly two hundred riders will make the eight-hour trip and each rider will be greeted personally when they come into
town. The $525 entrance fee for the Trek gets fuel for the ride, accommodations in Dawson, meals and entertainment.
Klondike legend Gillian Campbell is on the bill this year, among other festivities like the Snowmobile Olympics and the Trek King competition put on by Whitehorse’s Snowshoe Shufflers.
Trek has attracted visitors from all over the United States, Canada and Europe. Perhaps the most famous rider was Sarah Palin, who did the run with husband Todd when she was still just the mayor of Wasilla.
“She also did the Sour Toe Cocktail, which never came out during her campaign,” says Zalitis. “We have a couple fellows that have done it every year and they are back for the 20th. A few years back we had three generations of one family attend. One year we asked for all those over the age of 60 to come on stage, we had 25 people up there. I think our oldest person was in his early 80s.”
Perhaps Wiegers sums it up best:
“Most of the people who go on the run are characters. They all want a ride, they all want to party. They all want to have fun.” This year, Trek Over the Top will have two runs, the first leaving on February 28 and the second leaving on March 7.
