Every four years a caravan of bold adventurers sets off on a driving event like none other on Earth. The Alcan 5000 Winter Rally takes participants on a 5,000-mile trek to the shore of the Arctic Ocean at the coldest time of year. The rally departs from Seattle, Washington and heads north through British Columbia, the Yukon Territory, and the Northwest Territories. It takes about 5 days of solid driving to hit the Arctic Circle, and you reach the beach at the town of Tuktoyaktuk, NWT. Tuk, as it's known to the locals, is located at almost 70 degrees north latitude, and is the most northerly place you can drive to in Canada. Visiting Tuk is an achievement, but along the way, participating teams get to live through a range of adventures that few people ever get the chance to experience. Yet heading north at this time of year is not for everyone, and every participant in the Alcan rally has a personal reason to go.

"I always wanted to drive to Alaska because my dad drove up there in 1950 or so," says Marcus Neff. "He drove up there on the Alcan highway when it was gravel. He worked up there for a while, and he talked about the adventures he had. He had all those stories, so all my life I wanted to go. When I found out about this rally I said, why not?"

Most who go questing to the Arctic choose the kind of vehicles you'd expect: four-wheel-drive trucks and SUVs. But Neff and his daughter Jennifer Holland had a different idea; the duo preferred Neff's 2007 Mercedes-Benz E350 Sport 4MATIC for this journey.

"I had the car, but I struggled a little bit because I was concerned about the ground clearance," Neff recalls. "Pretty much everyone said it would be a problem on the Dempster Highway. They told me I wouldn't make it! But I like the feel of the car, being down low when you're going around turns and in icy conditions. It's so much more comfortable than a pickup, and you feel more secure in the Mercedes. I figured most of the roads would be plowed, and that car is so amazing in the ice and the snow. So I decided to take it."

Preparing for the journey

Heading to the Arctic in winter is serious business. Warnings of danger are real and the consequences of poor planning can be dire. Weather can change rapidly and strand travelers at any point. Consequently, teams prepare their vehicles carefully for reliability and capability. With just a few key upgrades, the E-Class did its job.

"We put a block heater in the car," Neff reports. "The steering was a little heavy first thing in the morning, but once it warmed up it was great, but I tried not to put too much pressure on it when it was cold. We also put a set of Nokian Hakkapeliitta R9 studded winter tires on for the trip, and carried two spares."

"The tires were amazing," Holland states. "We didn't have a problem the whole time. But we did learn a few things about going to the Arctic. The taillights got totally iced over, so I'd recommend an extra brake light higher up on top of the car, and extra fog lights mounted way down low. We hit one blizzard where we could barely see the road. You also need a good down jacket!"

Tackling the northern wilderness

The Dempster Highway is the ultimate challenge of the Alcan Rally. It's about 458 miles of unpaved road trailing northeastward from Dawson, YT up to Tuk. Along the way travelers cross the Arctic circle at one of the most remote places in North America. Travelers leave early from Dawson to make it up the highway to the next night's lodging above the circle in the city of Inuvik, NWT. Conditions were extreme on the Dempster in the last week of February, 2020. Temperatures at the Arctic Circle registered -20F, and down to -40 or lower in Tuk.

"We were the first people onto the Dempster Highway that morning," Neff says. "We pulled onto the highway and started going through snow drifts with quite a bit of snow coming up over the windshield at times. Then we hit a snow drift with a bit of a slant to it on the road. It was long and we ended up stopped. We had to dig the car out, and by the time we finished the snowplow showed up and helped us push it through. Then we were going over and through the snow drifts, and finally we came to one as high as the hood of the car. I stopped because I couldn't see how wide it going to be. I stopped in front of it and waited for the plow - it took a while because the plow had gotten stuck in the same place we had been stuck! The plow eventually came along and we pulled in behind him, and we were moving pretty good. We were just going up and down the drifts, using momentum to get over the tops. Sometimes the Mercedes would have to dig its way through."

"It was kind of extreme snow and ice," Holland agrees, in a dramatic understatement.

After visiting Tuk, Neff and Holland chose the optional visit to Aklavik, NWT. This tiny settlement is accessible only via the McKenzie River ice road.

"The ice road was one of the biggest surprises of the whole trip," Holland relates, "because we didn't know what to expect. We thought it would be big enough for one car or maybe two. We weren't expecting a whole freeway landing strip!"

The ice road is plowed to allow several large Semi trucks to use it at the same time. As such, it makes an attractive place to test any vehicle's traction and stability controls.

"I was surprised how unobtrusive the stability system was," Neff states. "It would let the car slide a little bit but not too much. We drag raced a Ford Raptor on the ice, and it was about even until about 25 MPH, then the Mercedes pulled away."

Arriving at Aklavik with temperatures still hovering near -40, Neff and Holland bought ice cream at the town store. 

"It's funny to get an ice cream, and when you walk out the door it's colder than it was in the freezer," Neff laughs.

The things you see

A visit to the Arctic in winter delivers bragging rights, but from the first day Alcan participants experience a part of our continent that most Americans will never see. From the volcanic mountains of British Columbia up to the tundra fields of the eastern Yukon, northwestern Canada holds as much wildlife and beauty as any more temperate zone.

"One of the biggest surprises of the whole trip was the variety and amount of wildlife we saw," Holland says. "It was way more than I would have thought. You might expect to see a moose, but we saw mountain sheep, reindeer, bison, wolves, and even a bobcat on the way back. The variety in the scenery, the animals, and the cultures makes you feel so small, and it was a great way to spend some time with my dad. If someone has the opportunity, go do it! It's the adventure of a lifetime and it's one that you might not think should be on your bucket list, but you're so glad it is."

A podium finish for Mercedes-Benz

Did we mention that the Alcan rally is a competition? Most days, participants either run a timed course striving for precision average speeds, or run a timed slalom on ice. Reaching remote destinations like Tuk and Aklavik also count towards competitors' final scores. Neff and Holland made it to the end of the rally and finished 8th overall out of 37 teams, and claimed second place in their competition class.

"It was challenging, but it was as serious as you made it," Holland says. "You could ignore the competition and still have a ton of fun. It was more about the experience and less about the competition. It was just all part of the fun. You get to laugh about your mistakes and learn from them. You can challenge yourself in a different way."

"It was about sharing time with each other and enjoying the scenery," Neff agrees. "I really enjoyed it, but I would probably take something with more ground clearance next time. Maybe a G-Wagen?"

If all this sounds like your kind of adventure, there's another winter Alcan rally coming in 2024, and a summertime event heading to Yellowknife, NWT in July of 2022. It's not too early to start your planning for either of these adventures. Visit www.alcan5000.com for complete information.