On the ice

I was following the Kobuk 440 mushing race in NW Alaska when I ran into Thomas Pungalik, a hunter from Noorvik, a village north of Kotzebue. He was out looking for caribou and stopped to watch the mushers crossing Kobuk Lake. I shot this in 2004 with my D30 and 200mm f2.8 lens, a favorite combo. The D30, the first digital EOS, was a great camera!

Mushers on Kobuk Lake, NW Alaska. The willow branches stuck in the ice are trail markers. On a snow machine you can really put the pedal to the metal on this stretch....five miles of flat ice, no obstructions! 110 mph!