Brooks Range & Atigun Pass

After the experience of last night and the Aurora display we had a gentle start to the day.

Wandered over to the café mid morning and had what could only be described as a hearty breakfast. Another cool crisp day with not a cloud in the sky.

The plan today was to head further up the Dalton Highway to Atigun Pass which is the highest point on the road. Five of us headed off about 12 and continued on towards Deadhorse which is the end of the road about 200 miles further on.

Even though we are in really remote country the road is quite busy. About 250 trucks use the road daily in the winter. Also they are currently working on transferring a fibre cable which means there are further crews around.

Our first stop was at one of the frozen lakes where we wandered out to the middle and tested our nerve by stepping through the snow down onto the

ice and jumping. They reckon they could drop a truck on this lake and nothing would move!

The road works its way alongside the pipeline. The pipeline is 50% above ground (because the warmth would cause the permafrost to melt and therefore break the line) and the technology used to make all this work is pretty impressive remembering it is 40 years old.

Pretty early on we came off the sealed road and onto the ice roads. These are basically made by spraying water on the road where it freezes immediately. They then grade it and turn it into a road. Its actually better to drive on the ice roads than the frozen sealed roads.

We worked our way up to Atigun Pass which is the highest point on the road. It is pretty spectacular and is the continental divide where the rivers run to the Arctic rather than the Bearing Sea. About halfway there we got above the tree line and there is nothing but snow covered mountains.

One of the interesting things on the pass is the way they manage avalanches. Basically they close the road and aim howitzer artillery guns at the mountains and fire. Pretty spectacular. The pass is really steep and we watched a few trucks work their way over. As I said yesterday these guys can really drive. One of the corners here is known as “oh shit

corner” for obvious reasons.

After spending some time on the pass we worked our way back to Coldfoot learning a bit more about the area as we went. Back at Coldfoot we went for a wander and then adjourned to the bar for a chat with the locals and another substantial feed. Not long out of bed after another great day.