The Dalton Diary, days 34-36, Addendum The meaning of the word, problematic.
Earlier during this trip, i posted (click here) an entry for the three days that Stefanie, Donner and I spent on the Dalton Highway, the 500-mile dirt and gravel "haul road" that runs from 80 miles north of Fairbanks Alaska to the Arctic Ocean at Prudhoe Bay, which some people refer to as Deadhorse, as if there was something romantic or intriguing about that name. I had driven the entire length of that road twice in my Defender, four times if you count both ways since many tourists are driven up but fly back and the drive back is quite different than the drive up. In 2000, i drove the return trip after a snow storm, so i was somewhat familiar with navigating the road in snow, albeit a summer snow, especially the treacherous Atigun pass that divides the North Slope from the spectacular Brooks Range. I recall driving down by straddling both the dirt road and the ditch that borders the road to retain traction under under the right tires.
Below in italics is my original posting for 2:30 p.m. of Tuesday of the diary of that three-day trip, which has now been revised. The bolded sentence, referring to the first quarter mile back down the pass as problematic, was purposefully meant to be vague because Stefanie's parents were reading my blog 8000 miles away and worried that their oldest daughter was taking unnecessary risks with a guy she had met for 10 minutes less than two weeks before on a road featured on Ice Road Truckers and still had a week more to go with this guy and his dog in his Defender. Being the consummate gentleman that i am, I did not want to worry them unnecessarily, mainly because there was no need for them to worry, so i obfuscated. Sure, problematic.
Now that Stefanie has survived the trip and is comfortably back in medical school in Germany after her great adventure in Alaska, i can now unveil the mystery behind the word problematic and provide the details. Beneath the below original posting is the revision with the added details.
ORIGINAL POSTING
2:30 reached the very peak of Atigum pass around parallel 68.10, very close to my goal. But before we started our descent to the North Slope, we got out of the Defender onto the cold, windy, snowy steep bluff and both agreed that the last few miles would be risk, so, despite being just minutes away from my goal, we turned back, agreeing that the mission was an unqualified success because of our decision. But, I have to admit, the cold that followed us up to the top of the pass turned the steep road into a sheet of ice and, let's just say the first quarter mile back down the pass was somewhat problematic. However, the Defender came through nicely, although no other vehicle would have.
GO TO PRIOR POSTING FOR REVISION
Photo below: Ed and Stephanie at the turn around point on Atigun Pass on the Dalton Highway, just 50 miles short of our goal. Page from Stephanie's journal of the trip.
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