When we dogsledded and skied from Siberia to Alaska 20 years ago in our effort to help re-open the U.S.-Soviet border in the Bering Strait, little did we know that the project would someday be memorialized in a very unusual way. But this week we got a call from Alaska Airlines to tell us that the Boeing 737 jet with which they had flown our team, sled dogs and supporters to the Russian Far Eastern Arctic on March 1, 1989, to launch the “Bering Bridge Expedition” was being retired to serve as a star attraction at the Alaska Aviation Museum, complete with our expedition name and logo still painted across it’s side. we’ll be providing museum staff with photo and film footage to help tell the expedition story at the jet exhibit near the Anchorage airport.

Gorbachev & Paul Schurke

On that 1,200-mile, 2-month trek, our team of six Soviets and six Americans including native Chukchi and Inuit from the region traveled the ancient trade route that for centuries had connected people of Siberia and Alaska via the Bering Strait, but whose timeless contacts had been completely severed during the Cold War era.  By drawing attention to the close cultural and blood connections between communities on both sides of the Strait, we hoped to foster a thaw in Soviet-American relations.  Since the 1930s, the narrow 50-mile waterway that separates our two countries had been closed to passage by armed guards stationed along the border which was dubbed the “Ice Curtain.”

Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 with Bering Bridge Logo

The Bering Bridge Expedition, led by Wintergreen director Paul Schurke and his Russian colleague Dmitry Shparo, resulted in a National Geographic TV special “Thawing the Ice Curtain” and Paul’s best-selling book, “Bering Bridge.” Most importantly, the project caught the attention of both U.S. President George Bush and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbechav who sent personal commendations to Paul and Dmitry for the success of their project and who, in September 1989, signed an accord re-opening the US-Soviet border in the Bering Strait.

Bering Bridge: The Soviet-American Expedition from Siberia to Alaska

The expedition included dogteams from both countries and the book recounts many dog stories from the trek.  One of those involves Kohojotak, a Wintergreen dog that was seriously injured after an attack by a pack of unfriendly Russian dogs.  His stomach had been torn open and his bowels punctured. With no veterinary care available in the Siberia village where the incident occurred, his prospects for survival seemed nil. But a villager offered to look after him while the team camped nearby.  Three days later, the villager returned Kohojotak who –to the team’s utter amazement– was completely recovered without any apparent scars from the gaping wounds.  It defied belief for us — but not other natives in the area who told us the man was a gifted shaman. All we know for sure is that Kohojotak continued to pull in harness just fine through the rest of that expedition and for his many years that followed here at Wintergreen Dogsled Lodge.

You can enjoy driving your own team of our Canadian Inuit dogs, including some of Kohojotak’s descendants, by visiting us at www.dogsledding.com.

Related posts:

1. The Most Amazing Sled Dog in Polar History