Sixty-Three Dog Night | An Alaskan Adventure
Twin sisters battle the harshest of elements in Alaska to conquer both nature and the internal limitations we all set for ourselves.
This episode in the Towing Adventure series continues its focus on beautifully shot short films that tell the story of B&W through the people who live a lifestyle of outdoor adventure.
This is a story of two sisters who grew up on a farm in Wisconsin and decided to pick up and move to Alaska. The dog-mushing twins are unique characters in a unique setting, living the dream.
Script:
These are silver salmon that have spawned in the streams and we collect them. Fight over them with the bears. Ha.
TITLE SEQUENCE
It’s feeding time at the zoo.
I think people are surprised when they find out what we do. We race sled dogs. What do you do? No, that’s what we really do.
Kristy: We have 63 dogs. All our dogs have their own personalities, and their own nicknames.
Kristy: I’d like to think that we are in tune with the dogs as we are with each other.
[howling]
Anna: The dogs have a whole album of songs, and I think it kind of makes us feel like a family when we all sing together.
[howling]
Andy Pohl, Kristy’s husband
Kristy and Anna are twins, and best friends, and sisters, and family all in one. And that is something that is very special.
Kale Casey: Anna and Kristy don’t just look alike. They definitely share a unique passion about what they do and the way they do it.
Kristy: We race sled dogs together. We do everything together.
Dog mushers are incredibly committed. They’ve left something behind to do this. They’ve left some sort of a semblance of a normal life by caring for 40, to 50, to 60 dogs in minus 20 conditions year around with different challenges. In the summer it doesn’t get dark. In the winter it’s always dark. A dog musher’s life is its own unique thing.
Kristy: These aren’t just working animals. We call them our fur children sometimes because they’re so important to us. Just to raise them, and to hold them when their hours old still wet behind the ears to watching them finish their first race, it’s like graduation day. And at the end of some of the races when you see these puppies that you’ve raised and raised their parents, it’s, it’s really touching and emotional. And every year I get that moment of, I’m so proud of you.
NATS of hitching up the truck
Kristy: This weekend is the first race of the season. It’s a short, // Anna: By short we mean 65 miles, that’s one way.
Kristy: We start when it’s dark and we end when it’s dark.
Natsound – snow machine, start of the race
Anna: I think mushing at night is a magical feeling. Other people are in bed sleeping and we are living the dream.
Kale Casey
Alaska will make you fall in love with it. The outdoors will make you fall in love with it here. It, the moon is bigger, the sunsets are longer. The light is spectacular. Alaska is adventure.
I see it all the time that folks come up here, they leave what they have behind, and they start a new life.
People get inspiration. Something in their spirit, or their soul, or some, some bucket list, or something kicks in when they say, you know what, I want to go and immerse in this. I want to cross that line of almost no return. It’s a big leap into a new life.
Anna: if you’re willing to take to risk, the risk to find what you want in life, then you go for it. But some people,. Their whole life is like, well, I want to be comfortable, I want things to feel nice and be good. And sometimes being uncomfortable, it’s ok.
Kristy: The rewards are extraordinary. You, you discover more about yourself. You discover more of what else you may want.
It’s humbling, and it’s rewarding, it’s breathtaking. It’s everything.
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