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Mark Thiessen

Dallas Seavey, Willi Prittie, Tyrell Seavey, Brent Sass, Austin Manelick, Marty Raney, Tyler Johnson and Matt Raney (from left) pose for a photo in Alaska. The eight mushers or outdoor adventurers will be featured in the latest reality show set in Alaska.
(Photo credit: (Stewart Volland, Brian Catalina Entertainment,/The Associated Press))

Bears, glaciers: Show pits man against Alaska

Last updated Monday, May 13, 2013 - 2:33pm

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Dallas Seavey knows what it's like to mush across the wilds of Alaska. Now it remains to be seen how he survives being dropped off in the middle of that wilderness and navigates his way out without the help of a dog team.

Seavey, 26, who became the youngest Iditarod champion ever when he won the 1,000-mile sled dog race across Alaska last year, is among eight mushers or outdoor adventurers featured in the latest reality show set in Alaska.

Outdoors, Alaska, Sports, Survival, television Read more Comments

53-year-old musher becomes oldest Iditarod champ

Mark Thiessen, Rachel D'Oro The Associated Press

Last updated Wednesday, March 13, 2013 - 1:15pm

NOME, Alaska — A 53-year-old former champion won the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race to become the oldest winner of Alaska’s grueling test of endurance.

Mitch Seavey and 10 dogs crossed the Nome finish line to cheering crowds at 10:39 p.m. Alaska time Tuesday.

“This is for all of the gentlemen of a certain age,” he said on a live stream posted to the Iditarod website after completing the race in temperatures just above zero. His race time in the 1,000-mile race was nine days, 7 hours and 39 minutes.

Outdoors, Alaska, Iditarod, Sled dog racing, Sports Read more Comments

Mitch Seavey in Iditarod lead, Aliy Zirkle close

Mark Thiessen, Rachel D'Oro The Associated Press

Last updated Tuesday, March 12, 2013 - 2:05pm

NOME, Alaska — This year’s Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race is shaping up to be an exciting sprint to the finish with 2004 champion Mitch Seavey leading the race, but last year’s second-place finisher close and on the move with a faster team.

The leaders were just 77 miles from the finish in the 1,000-mile race from Anchorage to Nome early Tuesday. Seavey, 53, pulled into the White Mountain checkpoint at 5:11 a.m., just 13 minutes ahead of the 43-year-old Zirkle. Four-time champion Jeff King, who had been leading the race, was in third place with a team that had slowed considerably.

Outdoors, Alaska, Iditarod, Sled dog racing, Sports Read more Comments

Christine Roalofs prepares to rest with her dogs at the Finger Lake checkpoint in Alaska during the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Monday, March 4, 2013. (AP Photo/The Anchorage Daily News, Bill Roth)

Mushers welcome rest at Alaska wilderness villages

Mark Thiessen, Rachel D'Oro The Associated Press

Last updated Tuesday, March 5, 2013 - 3:04pm

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Imagine standing on a sled behind a team of 16 dogs, traveling mile after desolate mile in the Alaska wilderness without any sign of other human life.

All of a sudden, lights shine off in the distance, the first village to come into view in a very long time.

Whether it’s a single cabin or a booming village of several hundred people, for mushers on the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, the villages are not only checkpoints to eat, rest and recharge, but a chance to interact with someone other than their dogs.

Alaska, Iditarod, Sled dog racing, Sports Read more Comments

Police say serial killer murdered people for fun

Mark Thiessen The Associated Press

Last updated Saturday, December 8, 2012 - 10:45am

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Confessed serial killer Israel Keyes admitted he enjoyed killing people, but couldn't or wouldn't give investigators a more meaningful answer when quizzed why he did it.

Crime, Serial killer, National Read more Comments

In this June 13, 2012 photo released by Disabled Sports USA, shows Kirk Bauer, 64, a climber and executive director of Disabled Sports USA, poses in front of Mount McKinley, Alaska. He lost his leg during the Vietnam War. He is one of five wounded warriors, who by their own admission have four good legs among them, who are attempting to climb the 20,320-foot mountain in the Alaska Range. All but one lost limbs in American conflicts ranging from Vietnam to Afghanistan (AP Photo/Disabled Sports USA)

5 wounded warriors attempt Mount McKinley summit

Mark Thiessen The Associated Press

Last updated Friday, June 22, 2012 - 3:43pm

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Five wounded warriors with a self-described total of four good legs among them are gaining ground in their assault on Alaska’s formidable Mount McKinley, North America’s tallest peak.

Outdoors, Sports Read more Comments

In this photo taken Thursday, May 31, 2012, in Anchorage, Alaska, Kris Natwick with the Downtown Anchorage Partnership poses for a photo at a downtown tourism booth. Travel and Leisure poll readers have named Anchorage residents as the nation's worst-dressed. Natwick says it more important to be out doing things with friends than it is being "fashion-apropriate and savvy for every event." (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)

Poll names SLC residents second worst-dressed in nation

Mark Thiessen The Associated Press

Last updated Friday, June 1, 2012 - 11:36am

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Anchorage residents are apparently not dressing to impress.

That's the upshot of Travel and Leisure Magazine's reader poll, which put the residents of Alaska's largest city at the bottom when it comes to being on the top of style.

The magazine ran an online poll asking readers to rank 35 American cities on such things as best nightlife, best burgers, best New Year's Eve celebrations, etc.

By a three-tenths of a point, Anchorage landed just below Salt Lake City for having the worst-dressed residents.

Features, Poll, Utah, Fashion Read more Comments

In this photo provided by the U.S. Coast Guard, a plume of smoke rises from a derelict Japanese ship after it was hit by canon fire by a U.S. Coast Guard cutter on Thursday, April 5, 2012, in the Gulf of Alaska. The Coast Guard decided to sink the ship dislodged by last year's tsunami because it was a threat to maritime traffic and could have an environmental impact if it grounded. (AP Photo/U.S. Coast Guard, Petty Officer 2nd Class Charly Hengen)

Coast Guard cannon fire sinks Japanese ghost ship

Mark Thiessen, Rachel D'Oro The Associated Press

Last updated Friday, April 6, 2012 - 9:47am

OVER THE GULF OF ALASKA — The long, lonely voyage of the Japanese ghost ship is over.

A U.S. Coast Guard cutter unleashed cannon fire on the abandoned 164-foot Ryou-Un Maru on Thursday, ending a journey that began when last year’s tsunami dislodged it and set it adrift across the Pacific Ocean.

Coast Guard, Ghost ship, Japanese tsunami, Tsunami debris, International Read more Comments

In this photo provided by the U.S. Coast Guard, the derelict Japanese fishing vessel RYOU-UN MARU drifts more than 125 miles from Forrester Island in southeast Alaska where it entered U.S. waters March 31, 2012. The vessel has been adrift since it was launched by a tsunami caused by the magnitude-9.0 earthquake that struck Japan last year. (AP Photo/U.S. Coast Guard)

Coast Guard to sink tsunami 'ghost ship'

Mark Thiessen, Rachel D'Oro The Associated Press

Last updated Thursday, April 5, 2012 - 9:01am

KODIAK, Alaska — The U.S. Coast Guard plans to use explosives to sink a derelict Japanese ship dislodged by last year’s massive tsunami.

Coast Guard, Ghost ship, Japanese tsunami, Ocean, Tsunami, Tsunami debris, International Read more Comments

Aliy Zirkle, left, gets a hug from Dallas Seavey at the finish line of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Nome, Alaska, on Tuesday, March 13, 2012. Seavey won the race and Zirkle placed second. (AP Photo/Marc Lester, Anchorage Daily News )

Dallas Seavey is youngest musher to win Iditarod

Mark Thiessen The Associated Press

Last updated Wednesday, March 14, 2012 - 10:03am

NOME, Alaska -- Mushers always pose with their lead dogs under the burled arch in Nome, Alaska, after winning the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

Alaska, Iditarod, Sports Read more Comments

Seavey reaches Yukon first, but no feast this year

Mark Thiessen The Associated Press

Last updated Friday, March 9, 2012 - 8:34pm

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Mitch Seavey was the first musher to reach Ruby in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race but some of the fanfare was missing Friday.

Outdoors, Alaska, Iditarod, Outdoor Recreation, Sled dog racing, Sports Read more Comments

Iditarod champ couldn't quit on Native people

Mark Thiessen The Associated Press

Last updated Monday, March 5, 2012 - 10:14pm

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- It took John Baker 16 tries to win the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. He had to think long and hard about coming back to defend his title.

The 49-year-old Inupiat musher from northwest Alaska has become an icon of sorts for Alaska Native youth, and he said he couldn't retire because so many people are counting on him.

Iditarod, Sled dog racing, Sports Read more Comments

Iditarod has ceremonial start in Anchorage

Mark Thiessen The Associated Press

Last updated Saturday, March 3, 2012 - 11:15pm

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- It was all laughs, smiles and barks during the ceremonial start of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Anchorage on Saturday morning.

The fan-fest annually precedes the real start of the race, scheduled for Sunday 50 miles north of Anchorage in Willow.

"I think it's great," said Susan Chan of Little Rock, Ark. She was in Anchorage for a Rotary conference which ended just before Saturday's event.

Iditarod, Sled dog racing, Sports Read more Comments

Hailey Thompson shovels the deck of the Dues Payer II in Kodiak's St. Paul Harbor on Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2012. "It's my dad's boat, and he's out of town," she said. Three boats sank in Kodiak harbors Tuesday after rain turned thick blankets of snow into heavy slush. (AP Photo/James Brooks, Kodiak Daily Mirror)

Heavy Alaska snow causing boats to sink

Mark Thiessen, Rachel D'Oro The Associated Press

Last updated Friday, January 13, 2012 - 11:05am

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- The worst winter anyone can remember in Alaska has piled snow so high people can't see out the windows, kept a tanker in ice-choked waters from delivering fuel on time and turned snow-packed roofs into sled runs.

While most of the nation has gone without much seasonal snow, the state already known for winter is buried in weather that has dumped more than twice as much snow as usual on its largest city, brought out the National Guard and put a run on snow shovels.

Alaska, Alaska storm, Snowstorm, Weather, Winter, National Read more Comments

14-year-old Doug Hamrick shovels snow off of his family's roof Thursday, Jan.12, 2012, in Anchorage. The National Weather Service is predicting a total snowfall of 8 to 16 inches today, putting Anchorage on track to have the snowiest winter on record. (AP Photo/Loren Holmes)

Another big snowstorm hits Alaska

Mark Thiessen, Rachel D'Oro The Associated Press

Last updated Thursday, January 12, 2012 - 5:21pm

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Weary Alaskans woke up to another big dump of snow on Thursday, adding to what already has been the snowiest period on record in Anchorage and causing more headaches in coastal areas struggling to dig out.

Alaska, Alaska storm, Snowstorm, Weather, National Read more Comments