HOMER — In the past 10 years since fat bikes have become popular for riding on beaches and snow in Alaska, people have regularly ridden them from Anchor Point to Homer or into the snowy backcountry of the Caribou Hills. On Saturday, Homer couple Kim McNett and Bjørn Olson finished taking their fat bikes where no one has ever ridden before, about 450 miles in a 24-day trip from Point Hope to Utqiagvik, much of it on Arctic beaches.
On what Olson calls The Roof of the Arctic trip, they used pack rafts to make river and bay crossings, but the bikes with wide tires that can ride on sand and softer snow proved perfect for traveling the barrier island beaches of the northwest Arctic coast.
“It was by far the most incredible trip I’ve done,” Olson said on Monday after returning to Homer. “This one had so many elements wrapped together — one of them this uncertainty it might not be possible.”
Read the rest of the story here.
248;rn Olson, Alayne Tetor, Kim McNett and Daniel Countiss. (Photo courtesy Bj&
Kim McNett paddling by the Skull Cliffs south of Barrow. (Photo courtesy Bj&
248;rn Olson)
Kim McNett looks at a stretch of beach that has run out. (Photo courtesy Bj&
248;rn Olson)
The group heads north on a firm beach — perfect riding conditions for fat bikes. (Photo courtesy Bj&
248;rn Olson)
Daniel Countiss pauses before heading down a hill. (Photo courtesy Bj&
248;rn Olson)
Kim McNett pushes her fat bike up a hill on the up-and-over portion in the Lisburne Hills. (Photo courtesy Bj&
248;rn Olson)
The group’s campsite along the coast. They used floorless, lightweight nylon tents with mosquito netting around the bottom. (Photo courtesy Bj&
248;rn Olson)
