Dogsled racing across a frozen ocean

What fuels a dogsled race across the Russian tundra? Booze, anger, and desire

dogsled team
(Image credit: ThinKStock/Stockbyte)

HOW DO YOU see what the mushers see? You mush. Turn in an application to the Beringia, a dogsled race stretching 685 miles over Russia's easternmost tundra. In March, make your way to the village of Esso, in the remote Kamchatka Peninsula, nearly 5,000 miles from Moscow. Meet your competitors; check your dogs' harnesses one last time; lift the toothed snow anchor that was holding your sled in place; mush.

If you're not a musher, you can still make it across those 685 miles of snow. You just have to figure out how. Here's my advice: Live in Kamchatka's capital city. Speak English, write articles, and be patient. One morning you'll find you're in the right place at, finally, the right time — the race leader says you can accompany the crew as a writer. Get your sleeping bag, ski mask, and pens. Get to Esso.

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