Anchorage-Barrow and back again
 

For those of you who aren't familiar with travel in the Last Frontier, it's somewhat different once you leave the relative comfort of Alaska's largest cities, including Juneau, Fairbanks and Anchorage.

I traveled to the "Top of the World" hotel in Barrow last week. I've taken our inbound Rotary exchange student on the trip for two years now. It's always an eye-opener.

First off, the plane is one of Alaska Air's last remaining relics: one of their 737-200s. These are the combi freighter/pax planes with the movable partitions. I've traveled to Nome, Kotzebue, Dutch Harbor, Dillingham, Bethel, Cordova, Prudhoe Bay, Fairbanks, Wrangell...and a few other places on these noble birds. Before Alaska flew them, MarkAir operated them. Before that, Wien Air Alaska flew 'em--and actually cooperated with Boeing on the unique design which features a huge cargo door on the forward port side--with room enough to load a cargo bin onto the front deck.

We still board the aircraft using the rear fold-up air stairs. In cold climates like Barrow and Prudhoe Bay, they actually have lead-weighted curtains which do an OK job of keeping the limited heat in the cabin during the boarding process. Needless to say, it's all "first class" seating. Or "last class". I guess "single class" is the appropriate term. These planes have been hauling fish up in the forward cabin for years now...so packing sardines in the back is no problem. HA!

So we made it on our Anchorage-Fairbanks leg without issue. We remained on the plane and took off for Barrow. About halfway there, just as we were crossing the lovely Brooks Range, the young man leaned over to me and said, "I forgot my coat".

Um...I didn't know what to say. Then, a rush of punchy, pithy phrases came to mind--all of which would be "lost in translation" for my new Mexican friend. I simply said, "Son, you're going to be very cold."

During our two-day stay in Barrow, it never got above -7F. It was crystal-clear. A glorious Spring weekend for Barrow residents who were getting ready for their Spring whale hunt. The village of 4,500 people is allocated 22 bowhead whales--and as near as I can tell this is the major industry in the town. I mean--there's a big post office, a power and desalination plant fueled by the H-U-G-E natural gas reservoir beneath the town itself. There's an arctic research station, a hospital and a native corporation that is raking in multiple billions of dollars each year from their "8-A" biddding preference for government contracts around the world. Oh, and they hold the lease on Prudhoe Bay and all the other oil-producing lands on Alaska's north slope. So--even though most of the houses are one step up from shacks, there are plenty of new snowmachines in town--and I saw many polar bear hunters with some pretty fancy guns.

But they hunt whales the old-fashioned way: with a handthrown harpoon from a sealskin/driftwood boat that they paddle out stealth-style to the hunting grounds.

We finally managed to find our young man a jacket from the hotel. Apparently there are many travelers who underdress for the harsh climate. We had an ocean-front room, where we could look over the frozen icebergs. Quite an experience.

I recommend the trip for any visitors to Alaska. Alaska Airlines sells the one- or two-day tour on their website.

As for the 737-200? It's a fine bird. It's being phased out by some retrofitted 737-400s which will have a fixed partition and more overhead space. I'm looking forward to that.

Happy trails--and we'll see you in the Land of the Midnight Sun.

Thanks for the trip report. I'd always wondered what it was like to fly on one of those 737-200s that AS has.

We did a three day trip to Barrow in August 1997, we landed on a sunny day and wandered around. It was grey the rest of the time. The next day we ended up joining the Barrow annual polar bear swim and were awarded honorary polar bear status. :) After the second day, we became regulars at the espresso place and they thought we were Borough contractors. Hah!

Did the top of the world tour with many Alabamanias who were doing the cruise ship circuit. For us it was fun, TH had been in Barrow in 1972 and both of us had worked with Chukchi sea data, so it was cool to see Pt. Barrow.


I would definitely recommend the trip to those who have never been to the Arctic.

I was bummed we didn't see any ice. We kept on checking the ice charts, but no dice.

lala

I actually thought about making a trip up to Barrow sometime in the future... I'm sure not many Hong Kong people can claim that they have been to the top of the world... just curious about the hotel you stayed in... I'm sure there are not that many, and wanted to read a review of it as well..

I was pleased to stumble onto this thread for a trip down memory lane. I spent two summers (1982 and 1983) in Barrow working on archaeological excavations there. The modern town of Barrow is built on top of the Inupiat village of Utqiagvik, which has been there for hundreds and hundreds of years because it is a strategic location from which to intercept bowhead whales during their migrations along the coast.

I rode in the 727-200s with the movable partition from Anchorage several times- definitely an interesting plane. Back then Wien Air was running day and overnight tours. They had a school bus that they used to drive the tourists around town, and they had colorful, imitation native parkas for the tourists to wear (you need them, even in summer most of the time). Our archaeological excavations were a favorite stop on the Wien Tour (along with the dump to look for polar bears), and we called the colorful tourists piling out of the school bus "Wieny Birds".

The only hotel then was the Top of the World Hotel - I don't know if they still call it that. There was one or two restaurants - Pepe's North of the Border was the most notable. I wish the espresso place had been there then!