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Audio Slideshow: Arctic Man 2008

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Photo by John Wagner

HOODOO MOUNTAINS — A week before Friday’s Arctic Man Ski and Sno-Go Classic, race organizer Howard Thies put an uncommon plea on the race Web site: “Stay positive and hope for snow.”

The weather gods appeared to be listening. With more than a foot of powder falling in the past week, the snow-starved Hoodoo Mountains were blanketed in the days before the one-of-a-kind competition. It was enough to postpone the start of the race for about two hours Friday, while race officials waited out poor visibility and steady snow flurries.

“I’m just glad it’s over,” Thies said, sitting wearily on a snowmachine after the race. “I had my doubts.”

The main Arctic Man event features an unusual format — a snowmachine intersects with a skier or snowboarder on a downhill course, then tows them through a canyon at speeds near 90 mph. Through the final leg, the skier lets go of the tow rope and flies across the finish line solo. In all, the team travels 5 1/2 miles through a harrowing mountain canyon trail.

The heavy snows slowed the fastest times by about 15 seconds from previous years on Friday, but didn’t diminish the star power behind the event. Truckee, Calif., resident Marco Sullivan, the second-ranked member of the U.S. National Ski Team, grabbed the top unofficial time of 4 minutes, 19 seconds with snowmachiner Tyler Aklestad of Palmer.

After finishing second in 2007, the team was thrilled to return with a bigger run this year.

“You just want to nail it,” Sullivan said. “There’s a lot of places where you could mess up, and we seemed to handle those pretty well.”

They were followed by Eric Heil of Anchorage and Eric Quam of Eagle River, who posted a time of 4:38. Quam is a rookie in the event, but has some serious snowmachine credentials after winning the Iron Dog this year. Heil has run the race 18 times, with four victories.

Photo by John Wagner

There’s no place to practice the Arctic Man run other than the Hoodoo Mountains, so Heil and Quam had to develop chemistry quickly after racing together for the first time last Tuesday. Quam said they had their best tow rope handoff during the race, but Heil said dealing with the slow course was a frustrating experience.

Other competitors agreed that the snowy course added a new dimension to the race.

Snowboarder Ryan McDonald of Entiat, Wash., figured the course added 20 seconds to the time he posted with snowmachiner Chet Williams of Anchorage. They still grabbed the top spot in the men’s snowboard division, with a time of 4:53.

“It’s just the way the course is,” Williams said. “It’s different every year — that’s Arctic Man.”

Competitors in both women’s divisions grabbed the top prize after being the only teams to complete the course. Candice Drouin of Alberta and Julie Thul of Side Lake, Minn., took the title in the women’s ski division with a time of 4:53. Michelle Locke of Alberta and Regina Daniels of Soldotna took the snowboard title with a time of 6:01.

Locke was making her first trip to Arctic Man, after hearing for years about the legendary high-speed race. When her chance came, she said it was well worth the effort.

“I wasn’t nervous at all, probably because I don’t know any better,” Locke said with a laugh.

The top competitors will split a purse of about $33,000 this year, Thies said.