Woof, woof! We're off to Nome!

The time of that Great Alaska Institution (GAI) was here last Sunday. The time for the Iditarod race, Anchorage to Nome. "Over 1150 miles." says the blurb on the Iditarod web site, or say 1800 Km. A long way to go by dogpower! So the restart is within walking distance of my house, say a mile and a half or two klicks away. A nice Sunday walk. John and I walked. Driving exposes you to the utter madness of parking, and then getting out of there. We were not the first people there.
There is a certain festive air about the thing, sort of like an Alaska Woodstock without the hippies. The hippies find it a little too cold for comfort. Temperature? Oh, about -5C at 1400 -- that's 2PM for those challenged by 24-hour systems.

People bring snacks, chairs, tents, and of course the inevitable snow machines. Sometimes it seemed as if there were more snow machines than dogs! The ceremonial start to the race is at Anchorage, the day before. As I understand it the restart is in order of arrival at Wasilla. But Wasilla hasn't enough snow for a decent restart, a victim of the Urban Heat Island effect, or UHI. So the Iditarod has officially moved to Willow as the restart point, much to my benefit.

After about 20-25 minutes after the restart time (1400 hours) the contestants start to appear. Here's the very first to appear:
Followed by Number three, with a huge team:

As I count it, he has 8 pairs of dogs. This is a lot more than you need to get to Nome. But attrition is an important factor. There are a number of mandatory stops along the route. At each stop, the dogs are examined by a veterinarian. If the vet says "this dog won't go" the dog goes no further. Do not worry about the dogs; they are flown out to comfort by the "Iditarod Air Force," a bunch of volunteer bush pilots who fly (among othe things) lame dogs out to safety. Pity the musher: out one or more dogs.
Here is number four. Can't tell the player without a program and I had none. He is also running a huge team, 16-18 dogs. Smart. You might ask, "what's in that sled?" Glad you asked. There is mostly mandatory equipment. Emergency rations. A firearm, in case an enraged moose attacks your dogs. Please do not laugh. it is no joke, out there in the boondocks (from the Tagalog bundok, the wilds). Moose and dogs just do not co-exist. And if your dogs are tromped by moose, then you are out in the bundok with no recourse. Also they must carry some form of stove and sleeping equipment.

John took his video camera with him and got extensive footage. He will edit it, and do a production. When it reaches maturity, I will post it or a link to it, anyway. So stay tuned. Videos of the woofies! Marvels of high-tech. In the meantime, woof!

Ready, set, woof!

Time for that great Alaska Classic, the Iditarod. I have posted a lot on this, but this year I did something completely different: I skied out to it! I discovered a shortcut via the frozen village pond. So off I went on skis. I carried a backpack with a thermos of tea and a spare vest in case I got really cold. Over the pond, through a clearing, gap in the trees, and you're there! Half an hour after I left home, I was there. The usual snow machine (Satan Sled) folk festival was underway.
The race goes from Anchorage to Nome. But they truck everyone up to Willow for a restart; they used to do it in Wasilla but this city has urban-heat islanded itself out of business. In spite of my prejudices against Satan Sleds, these people were very nice and offered me some very nice smoked salmon with cream cheese and crackers!

Restart was at 2PM. Thanks to my friendly neighbors, who had a program, I knew ahead of time who was who. The first musher through was the legendary Deedee Jonrowe, won twice, overcame cancer, wears a trademark pink parka.
We all cheered! She waves back; as any good star, she values her fans! One of the problems I had in this episode was the camera. It worked perfectly. But I cleverly put the sun at my back. No sun in my lens! Yes, but I had great difficulty seeing the screen. Sun at my back, sure enough. On top of this I had to take off my gloves to operate the darn camera. Hands froze. It wasn't that cold, maybe -5C, but that will still freeze your hands, and I kept pressing the "off" button instead of the shutter. But there are some good shots.
The dogs look happy, don't they? They seem to love to pull. These are huge teams at this stage, because attrition will set in; no substitutes allowed in this game. One more musher shot...
And then it's time for the clown act. One musher stopped right in the middle of the track and gave his dogs a snack.

Well, maybe he forgot to do it in Willow! Who knows. Dogs really appreciate the snacks; they are burning up an enormous amount of calories.
Note the leader. He (or she) let his/her snack go on the ground and is nibbling around it! And so it goes. One last musher shot, this one with elegant pink booties on the dogs.
Then there was the musher from Jamaica. A most unusual origin for a musher. That was one of shots where I pressed "off" instead of the shutter. I plead cold hands, your Honor. We all cheered him on. And the guy on a bicycle! Really fat tires, too. Tracking along with the dogs. Wonder if he goes all the way to Nome?

OK, time to go home. An hour's ski all told, my usual daily workout; but the middle of the workout was most unusual.

In the old days it took 20 days to get from Anchorage to Nome. Nowadays they do it in a little over eight! 1,600 Km, circa 1000 miles. Part of the reason is that now there is the "Tin Dog" Iditarod, Anchorage-Nome on Satan Sleds. They pack the track, so the going is much easier on the dogs. Don't approve of it, but it is out of my control.

Mush! No snow? No problem!

Many people in Alaska enjoy driving dog teams in the winter. Indeed, when the famed Iditarod race is going on, nobody pays any attention to anything else. But dogs must be trained, starting right now. And there is no snow on the ground! What's a musher to do? Ah, no problem:
Simply hook your team to your ATV (or 4-wheeler, or quad bike) and you're set to go. This ingenious Alaskan solution to the no-snow problem could become a fad, come to think of it; you could even find an ATV with a bad engine on the cheap. Excellent gas mileage, too; but you do have to clean up after the dogs. Not recommended in urban areas.

The dogs, by the way, are started, steered, and stopped with voice commands. "Gee", "haw", "whoa", "let's go" will get you left, right, stop, and start.

More on dog racing will come later.