Alcan highway revisited
 

With talk of a possible trip along the Alcan highway in 2012 I was googling for some info and came across these photos.

http://www.tc.gov.yk.ca/digitization...ds_hays_en.php

They were taken by a member of the 18th engineers in 1942 who worked on the road. Some nice scenery and vehicle shots. Scroll down the "browse the Hays collection".

Great website Bruce. It really gives a feel as to how austere the living conditions were for the Engineers that built the highway.

CHIMO! Derek.

roughing it
 

Yes, conditions were pretty austere. The photo of them winching the 4 ton truck full of beer out of the river shows that. I could think of better ways to cool the beer. :cheers:

Alcan Hiway
 

I live about 100 miles from the hiway and heard alot of stories when it was built .In the winter there was one person killed a day ,mostly from trucks going off the hiway and rolling over .The military tires were nogood for the snow and ice .My friend in Whitehorse worked most of his life on the hiway and told me a story about the army sending a truck and trailer from White horse to Dawson Creek to get a load of peanuts .This truck was sent with top priority over all other vehicles and the van was sealed and not to be inspected . Needless to say the truck made the trip in record time .and the boys in Whitehorse got there peanuts .George

War Stories
 

George..
While I was in Edmonton,back in '75...one of my civilian heavy equipment contractors(I was construction engineering..Mechanical systems)was telling me a s a young man he got his start on the highway..with an old truck..a small dozer and a trailer he lived in..anyway he told me of the cold and the fuel dumps along the highway and this one group of army war time draftees that were there to guard the fuel dump..It was on the top of the hill and the trucks used to refuel there..anyway as it started to get cold the troops started a fire in the bottom of the valley..and keep it going by rolling a barrel of gas down the hill into the fire every time they needed heat..he said they kept that whole valley on fire all winter long..the Troops were from the southern US and the cold was too tough on them..but what an expenditure of gas..and war time to boot..:remember :drunk: :support

Photos
 

Cant seem to access the link that Bruce posted back in October. Here's a link to a Flickr set on the Alcan Highway:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/whenlos...7622798992526/
Hope some of you enjoy them, by the way I found the link at this site:
http://6ton6x6.blogspot.com/2009_12_01_archive.html
Wishing you all the best for the year ahead
Noel

Noel,

Thanks for the link, excellent pictures!

Hanno

2012 alcan hwy tour
 

Good write up for the 2012 hwy trip in the last issue of MVPA magazine.
you pay all your own expenses, gas, oil, food, lodging etc but there is a $300.00 US registration fee for the trip. What is the $300.US for? :support

For the fuel caches.

Crazy
 

$300.00 WOW, that is crazy, When I was talking about this trip originally I was trying to get everything donated which I know I could have gotten a lot for the trip for everybody. I can't see paying 300 for fuel I will never use.

Fuel
 

Maybe their could be a official word on fuel cache, explanation
The Alcan trip is the second of a proposed 10-year convoy program.
The MVPA board io Directors approved the Alcan convoy with the stipulation that it be self-supporting-that is, the costs be borne entirely by the participants", rather than MVPA funds underwriting the operation.

On another note, Passports are required at the Yukon/Alaska border.
ww2 is over. :support

Reasonable
 

If you have never organized anything like this you might not appreciate the costs and manpower involved in setting it up. $300 is pretty reasonable for such a large exercise. The logistics of this international convoy are complex and require a lot of planning and coordination. The MVPA like everything these days is hard pressed financially and has made a reasonable decision that it be self supporting. Western Command is planning on having a convoy, too the start in dawson Creek. Vancouver Island and lower mainland to Dawson Creek about 1300 km's each way. We will pattern it after our Freedom Route Tours and stop at every Legion and military or veterans facility on the way. Once in the creek those that want to take the alaska route will and the others will Backtrack home. It's just a matter of logistics for us as it will be at least twice as long as any of our previous convoys even without the Alaska portion. It's the amount of time off most of us would have to take to participate. It would be herculean to figure we could get away with that trip in only a eek so that means 2 weeks. Then the alaska portion itself which could be 2 to 3 weeks itself.
Lots to do, lots of planning. Myself I might need a fresh motor for that trip even if i just haul it in the back.
Looking forward to it actually :)

T'is but a pittance
 

For starters, consider the distance travelled for those of us coming from Texas, and elsewhere in the U.S. which is an 11,000 to 12,000 mile round trip. Even at a conservative 10MPG we're looking at 1,100 to 1,200 gallons of fuel which works out to what?...$3,000.00 to $4,000.00? And that's just for fuel, so a $300.00 registration fee is but a pittance. As for fuel caches, which I haven't heard a thing about to date, $300.00 ain't gonna cover much.
My best guess is that the registration fee is to cover all the radios, batteries, fuel for the truck towing the maintenance trailer, liability insurance, tools, welder and welding supplies, logos, paper, printer ink cartridges, international phone calls, MVPA staff overtime, T-shirt and coffee mug for all participants, possible pre-trip recon of route, etc. etc.
As I said, t'is but a pittance.

SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL TEA PARTY!

Derek.

History lesson.
 

Entrance Fee
 

Well Sapper when you put it that way I guess 300 is a mere drop in the ocean, since I have never been to an event such as this it sounded like a lot for my poor moth eaten wallet.