Pushing north

The day had now come to venture way north, to Utqiaġvik/Barrow. Around noon I checked out and took the hotel shuttle to the airport terminal, which was not very busy at this hour. Something that caught my attention was that an oil company has scheduled flights up north as well. Upon enquiring with the check-in agent though I learned that these are only for company staff and not open to the general public.




Check-in went smoothly, at security there was no one else in line and I got again a very friendly TSA agent.




Anchorage ANC – Utqiaġvik BAR
Alaska Airlines AS 051
STD: 14:30 / ATD: 15:09
STA: 16:43 / ATA: 16:59
B738 N546AS
Seat 26F

Boarding started 15 minutes past the scheduled departure as the aircraft had come in late from the previous flight. In the 10 rearmost rows there were only 5 passengers, so I moved from 26F to 28F, which was better aligned with the window. In the take-off lineup we had freight jumbos ahead and behind us, evidencing ANC’s important role as a cargo hub.






Mid-flight the cabin crew did a service round offering pretzels and beverages


At some point traffic crossed our path (or we crossed theirs), but otherwise there wasn’t much to see apart from a solid cloud carpet until our final approach.








Welcome to Utqiaġvik / Barrow, local temperature: 39ºF / 4ºC




Years ago AS used to have two flights a day to Barrow, so that one could fly up in the morning and return to Anchorage in the afternoon. Now there’s only one daily flight, making an overnight in BAR necessary.

Though there is a bigger hotel near the coast on the other side of town, my choice of accommodation fell on the King Eider Inn, a mere 50-60 meters from the Alaska Airlines terminal, mostly for the convenience.












The view from the room though…


Once settled in, I went to explore the town a bit. The former name Barrow was restored to the original Utqiaġvik in the native Iñupiak language following a referendum approved by residents in 2016. On my wanderings through town I couldn’t help but think that Einstein’s theory of relativity was once again being proven: while I, a child of the tropics, had four layers of clothing and would otherwise have felt relatively cold, some youths were wearing just shorts and a T-shirt, probably feeling relatively warm on a balmy end-of-summer evening.

The town’s main landmark is a whalebone arch placed near the coastline.




Up close and personal with the Arctic Ocean, and a stroll along the beach.




A taxi stand near the “other” hotel. In New York yellow cabs, in Bangkok pink Corollas, in Kodiak sturdy pick-up trucks, in Barrow SUV’s.


Unfortunately sights like the one out my hotel window were recurrent throughout town; with very few exceptions, everything gave the impression of being run-down and dilapidated. Maybe the people here have other priorities than to keep their lots straightened up. My landlord explained that if people tidied up their sites they would have to pay higher property taxes, but that reasoning only sounds halfway plausible to me.

Being prepared to try whale or walrus meat or blubber or other local specialties, I asked my landlord whether these could be had anywhere. Unfortunately, local culture forbids selling such foods, so they are not available in restaurants. If a whale or a walrus is caught, the prey is shared among the community, but not sold. Thus I ended my city tour with a pizza large enough to guarantee the next day’s breakfast as well.