NATIONAL BRIEFING / ALASKA

David Traver didn’t expect to win the freestyle category in the World Beard and Moustache Championships. But he did. The Anchorage man certainly didn’t think he would go on to be champ of the international competition that salutes the fanciest whiskers.

Traver, 43, and a stylist worked for more than an hour to get his long beard woven into the shape of a snow shoe. Traver beat out Benjamin Juergens of Los Angeles, who took first in a partial beard category, and Jack Passion of San Francisco, who was first in the natural full beard category.