Alaska Hosts World Beard Championships

On Friday, the 2009 World Beard and Moustache Championships will come to Anchorage, where more than 200 competitors from 12 countries will brandish facial hair ranging from delicate Salvador Dali-style mustaches to bushy full beards.

The Germans' 20-person contigent this year will not include Elmar Weisser, who is renowned for his ingenuity in the freestyle full beard category. In 2005 in Berlin, he styled his beard into the shape of the Brandenburg Gate. Two years later in Brighton, England, his beard formed London's Tower Bridge.

David Traver, 43, of Anchorage, has won three times in the world championships and hopes to capitalize on Weisser's absence. He's planning something special for the freestyle competition, he said, but he'll only reveal that is is "very Alaskan." Mount McKinley, perhaps? The Northern Lights?