Heritage Month: Chistochina Culture Bearer Lena Charley
Culture Bearer Lena Charley at an Anchorage Cultural Fair where she was selling artwork. (Photo, Country Journal) Lena Charley Born To D...
https://www.countryjournal2020.com/2021/11/heritage-month-chistochina-culture.html
Culture Bearer
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| Lena Charley at an Anchorage Cultural Fair where she was selling artwork. (Photo, Country Journal) |
Lena Charley Born To Drive Dogs
Lena Charley, matriarch of the roadside Athabascan village of Chistochina, has pretty much set the standard for everyone around her.
A veteran dog musher, she was still running teams after she became a grandmother. Lena Charley raced in the grueling midwinter Copper Basin 300 Sled Dog Race, which runs through Chistochina.
Her competitors were often big, strong men – from all over the world.
Lena Charley, without comment, demonstrated to them how an over-50 year old Ahtna woman could plow her way through deadly stretches of open water, extreme cold, and just plain misery – with grace, poise and complete confidence, her dogs stretched out in front of her.
Her small, swift village-bred huskies were happy to be out on the trail with Lena as she rolled into the checkpoints, bundled up from head to toe, a smile on her face.
Lena Charley, culture bearer of Chistochina, was born to drive dogs.
This is a story by the Copper River Country Journal celebrating Native Heritage Month, 2021. It's for everyone in the Copper Valley, but especially for members of the Charley family of Chistochina.
