Skiing with Wolves

Cross-Country Skiing Skiing with Wolves
January 13, 1990

Dennis was alone at the homestead and Susan was in Anchorage teaching when this adventure took place. In Dennis' words:

It was a perfect day, perfect for cross-country skiing. The snow was silky smooth and the poles made a squeak every time I moved them.

I was about two miles from the cabin, skiing alone. My plan was to ski out four miles and then back to the cabin. Suddenly, I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. I turned and saw three full-grown wolves, 120 to 160 pounds. They were about 100 yards away and trotting along parallel to my course. I stopped and looked closer. I could now see about six wolves. They started working their way through the sparse brush toward me. I thought this was really strange because they could see me. Usually when you see wild animals, they run away as soon as they see you. Perhaps they thought I was an animal.

My curiosity was so great that I skiied right toward them so I could get a better view. I put my ski poles up on my head like antlers and wiggled them back and forth. At that point, they started running full out right towards me. I looked to my left and saw another wolf I hadn't seen before circling around, cutting off my escape. I counted again and there were nine wolves, led by a huge black wolf that stayed back while the others advanced toward me. A chill ran up my back as I tried to figure out what to do. I didn't have a gun and there were no trees around. There was nobody within miles.

Suddenly, the leader turned his head and backed up about ten feet. All the others stopped, as if there had been some silent communication. They turned around and ran back to the leader, who was watching me carefully. I put my hand to my mouth and started howling to them. They all stopped and looked directly at me. By this time, the wolf that had circled around me was running as fast as he could to get back to where the others were. I howled several more times and they started to slowly walk off. I began skiing again in the same direction, and noticed that they were following along with me at a distance of 300-400 yards. They stayed there for the next two miles.

On the trail, I saw lots of tracks. One of the wolves had a cut foot, probably from running in the deep snow.

Note: There has never been a proven case of a wolf attacking a person in North America, although it may be unwise to pretend to be an animal! The photo shows Susan skiing near where this incident took place.