#Iditarod Trail

[petnews2day]

Tributes, jokes and celebrations as mushers pick starting order

New Post has been published on https://petn.ws/YbHpD

Tributes, jokes and celebrations as mushers pick starting order

People line Fourth Avenue in downtown Anchorage and cheer on Fairbanks musher Riley Dyche after he and his dog team crossed the ceremonial start of the Iditarod on Saturday, March 5, 2022. (Emily Mesner / ADN) Mushers and Iditarod superfans gathered Thursday evening for the race’s first in-person banquet and bib drawing since March 2020, […]

See full article at https://petn.ws/YbHpD #DogNews #AlaskaSledDogRace, #Anchorage, #Ceremonial, #Champion, #How, #HowLongIsTheIditarod, #Iditarod, #IditarodInsider, #IditarodRaceUpdates, #IditarodStartOrder, #IditarodTrail, #IditarodCom, #ItSCool, #LanceMackey, #MostRecent, #Musher, #Name, #Restart, #Results, #SledDog, #Standings, #Start, #UglyDogs, #WhatIsTheIditarod, #Where, #WhereDoesTheIditarodEnd, #WhereDoesTheIditarodStart, #WhoIsRunningTheIditarod, #WhoIsWinningTheIditarod, #WhoWillStartTheIditarod, #Willow, #Winner, #Won

[darkwood-sleddog]

ngl i am side eyeing iditarod officials a bit for them penalizing dallas seavey for not "properly gutting" the moose the he shot to protect his team. the rule about gutting downed animals does not define what "properly gutted" means. He gutted the moose and i myself would have also eschewed "properly" gutting a dead animal to ensure my dogs were okay (especially relevant knowing Faloo was critically injured, but is now home safe).

i understand the spirit of the gutting rule (saving meat for surrounding communities and in general low/no waste of resources), but it needs to be weighed against providing dog care which imo of this situation should absolutely take precedence.

[sea-salted-wolverine]

In honor of the moose/Iditarod rule 34 chaos post reaching 1000 notes and then Dallas Seavy winning the Iditarod here are all the unhinged stories and things I know about that race

They changed the rules and schedules so you can't do this anymore, but there was a subset of mushers who would race the Yukon Quest and the Iditarod back to back. That's a 1000-mile race followed by another 1000-mile race through some of the harshest terrain on earth in late winter. And the Yukon quest doesn't even finish where the Iditarod starts. To do this required putting dogs in a plane OR having another team of dogs waiting in anchorage and someone to deal with both teams of dogs.

The first woman to win the Iditarod was Libby Riddles in 1985.

Only to have her finish promptly blown out of the water by Susan Butcher who won the race in 86', 87', 88', and 90' while setting speed records the whole way.

Susan did race in 85' but she ran into a moose early and it killed two of her dogs and hurt the rest so she scratched. Dallas got lucky this year.

She was also the first person to mush a dog team up to the summit of Denali, the tallest mountain in North America. This is not what dog teams are intended to do, I don't know why she even wanted to, other than to prove it was possible. I don't think anyone has since.

The race now requires GPS trackers on all the racers and you would not believe the bitchfit everyone threw over those. Mushers can either hop between checkpoints or camp on the trail and it may surprise you to learn that these are the kind of people who have secret camp spots in the woods that they don't want anyone to know about. So now, everyone has acquiesced to the tracker requirement but you must have an account on the race website if you want to see them.

The race has 2 paths that alternate even and odd years with different checkpoints but every year includes a section of race that crosses the sea ice, approximately 50 miles from Shaktoolik to Koyuk. so forget landmarks. point the sled north and hope you're going the right way.

the race is in honor of the 1925 Serum Run and the diphtheria outbreak, but the trail itself is the old freight route which is almost twice the length. also, it's a freight route for hauling freight which means the the racers are going at more or less lightspeed as compared to the intended use.

the most effective way to avoid frostbite on your face is a fur hood and duct tape on your cheeks and nose. Cold-related injuries are rare but far from unheard of. The average number of toes and fingertips among mushers is lower than that of the general population.

The finish line is a massive burled arch in the middle of main street in Nome. There is not a lot going on in Nome at any given time and this time of year is the exception. Every racer who finishes the race gets the same reception, which is everyone in town crowding into the finish chute to cheer them on and the city fire siren going off. The last racer in gets the Red Lantern Award which means that they finished dead last but didn't scratch.

the 2020 race had started and was fully underway when the pandemic lockdowns came into place. as far as social distancing goes, you really can't do much better than being isolated 100 miles into the middle of frozen nowhere but the checkpoints are itty bitty villages with no medical infrastructure and the finish was reportedly terrifying because instead of a crowd to cheer at the burled arch, it was just the siren going off in a ghost town.

there is no way I can tell this story that doesn't sound like I'm making it up as I go. The sign says no sniveling and they fucking mean it.

no really, click that link. here's the YouTube vid (non-graphic, after-the-fact interviews)

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

How would a caregiver stop an Andalite toddler from trying to eat whatever they step on? Do they have a 'get that out of your hoof' phase?

2. Yes.

Booties. Like the dogs wear on the Iditarod Trail. Given how much human toddlers object to wearing shoes, this goes about as well as you might expect.

[tonichelleak]

Dallas Seavey at the Ceremonial Start and ReStart of Iditarod 52. Dallas. Seavey. The kid that believed he was on a trajectory for an Olympic career and not a dog mushing one. Oh, sure, he was like many others of his generation who not only grew up in the presence of many great mushers - all the while helping his dad build a successful racing kennel - but one who watched Iron Will and tried to recreate many of the scenes from the movie... but as he often told tourists - he had no desire to make it his life like his dad had.

Then injuries sidelined his Olympic wrestling dream (was on his way to making the 2008 USA team) so he came home and continued helping his dad build monster teams.

After a while running the puppy team just wasn't enough. Puppy teams are competitive and if you know Dallas even a little bit you know the dude is extremely competitive.

He studied like he was working on a Masters Degree. No one knows the science and stats of the race more than Dallas. Guarantee it.

He won his first title in 2012, then again in 2014, 2015, 2016... took a break after his second place finish in 2017 (we won't rehash the whys) and came back in 2021 to win it again (granted the shorter "Gold Loop Trail" - thanks Covid - but he battled the Rainy Pass Pony Mafia so it still is a huge accomplishment). His '21 race meant he tied for most wins, sharing that record with the legendary Rick Swenson. Swenson was one of Dallas's childhood heroes... and Dallas had broken or tied just about every record Rick had.

This year, Dallas won number six. He is the winningest Iditarod Champion.

It wasn't easy. In November he and two of his handlers took teams out on a training run. His handler running many of Dallas's top dogs was hit by a snow machine. Dogs were killed, some injured with career ending, life altering injuries. The mushers were physically all fine, but mentally... mentally it took a while to feel "normal" on the runners.

Dallas borrowed dogs from his dad to make a competitive Iditarod team, it wasn't ideal - but he'd done it before. The Ceremonial Start and ReStart seemed to go on without an issue. Crowds cheered the musher on and he quickly slipped into the routine.

Monday of race week rolls around. Dallas' birthday. Early that morning an aggressive moose plowed into Dallas' team, the only thing for the musher to do was dispatch the moose. If you've followed the race you know what happened next. Dallas did not properly gut out the moose, one of his dogs was injured but it wasn't noticeable right away (dog is fine now), he was penelized for the improper dressing out of the moose. Dallas was not going to win.

Then things changed in the second half of the race. Teams who decided to try to outrun Dallas who was already dealing with time penalties pushed too hard, too long, too soon. Dallas caught up. And then Dallas did what Dallas does.

And now Dallas Seavey is the only six time champion in the history of the race.

That's a wild ride. (see what I did there? no, oh, well.... you can find out what I mean here.)

To view high quality photos, or purchase, click here.

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[teafourbirds]

Just Ollie Queen, singing the classics no matter the situation.

Smashing medieval alien monarchies:

Green Lantern (1960) #92

Perry Como and The Fontane Sisters - Hoop-Dee-Doo (1950)

Serving some time in jail:

World's Finest Comics #275

Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen - African-American spiritual dating back to the early 1800s, but here is Louis Armstrong in 1962:

Burying the hatchet (at least temporarily) with an antagonistic teammate:

Justice League (1960) #145

The Happiness Boys - Show Me the Way to Go Home (1925ish)

Stranded and making his way home via dogsled:

Green Arrow (1988) #8

Alaska's Hobo Jim - The Iditarod Trail Song (1982). This one would have been quite modern at the time!

Overcome by the musical he and Dinah just saw together:

Green Arrow (1988) #57

Gene Kelly - Singin' in the Rain (1952)

[solidsnakecake]

Things I learnt about Solid Snake from his MGS1 profile:

1. He owns 50 huskies and wanted to partake Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race before Campbell messed up his day (it was said in the game briefings as well)

2. He has a close friend who is Yupik and taught Snake their language (that's how he knows the tongue and speaks a word with Sniper Wolf)

3. He loves blueberries and salmonberries

4. He suffers from hallucination and PTSD but having dogs helped a bunch

Source: Metal Gear Solid handbook by Konami

[celticjade13]

Does everyone know what's happening in the Iditarod this year?

Quick refresher course: The Iditarod is a 1000-ish mile (1520 km according to Wikipedia) sled dog race held annually in Alaska. It's not abusive to the dogs, the dogs love to run. Most of the problem comes from getting the dogs to stop running.

Dallas Seavey is a 5-time winner, going for his record 6th win. A musher on the trail before him encountered a moose and punched it in the nose. (There is no more information than this.) Dallas encountered a moose (possibly the same moose) that injured a dog on his team. He was forced to shoot the moose.

Iditarod rules state that if a musher kills an edible big game animal, they have to gut it. No other mushers can pass while they're doing this and they're supposed to help gut the animal. The meat goes to the nearest town in Alaska to be eaten, so the moose is going to feed a lot of people.

The race officials, after picking up the dead moose, determined Dallas didn't do a good enough job gutting it and penalized him 2 hours. Everyone has a mandatory 24-hour rest period that they usually take right about now, and he has to wait an extra 2 hours before going back on the trail.

How does one go about gutting a moose? No idea! What makes a moose gutting job not good enough? Also no idea! Is this something Iditarod mushers learn before they go out on the course? Apparently not! But it makes for tons of fun for those of us following online. 😂

Also, most importantly, the dog that was injured was treated and is on her way back home.

[petnews2day]

Tracking dropped sled dogs, a trail conditions update and a rookie’s lifelong dream

New Post has been published on https://petn.ws/WxPBR

Tracking dropped sled dogs, a trail conditions update and a rookie’s lifelong dream

Musher Dan Kaduce gets a paw from his dog Eggroll on Wednesday, March 1, 2023 at the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race headquarters in Wasilla. Kaduce has run the race four times, placing as high as 4th in 2022, the same year he won the Leonhard Seppala Humanitarian Award. (Loren Holmes / ADN) As the […]

See full article at https://petn.ws/WxPBR #DogNews #AlaskaSledDogRace, #Ice, #IditarodDogTracking, #IditarodRookies, #IditarodTrail, #IditarodTrailConditions, #Snow

[csny]

Alaska: Igloo, Kodiak bear, Iditarod sled dog race, Denali

Hawaii: pearl harbor, pineapple

washington: Space Needle, apple, mt st helens, rainier national park

oregon: roses, lighthouse, crater lake, oregon trail, hiking

california: redwood tree, white water rafting, gold, golden gate bridge, silicon valley, yosemite national park, wine country, sierra nevada mountains, hollywood, joshua tree

nevada: silver, las vegas strip, hoover dam

idaho: gemstones, potatoes

montana: rocky mountains, glacier national park, grizzly bear, bison

wyoming: yellowstone national park, old faithful geyser, bucking bronco

utah: great salt lake, zion national park, skiing

arizona: lake mead, grand canyon national park, montezuma castle, turquoise, saguaro cactus

new mexico: pueblo, yucca plant, carlsbad caverns

colorado: rocky mountain national park, columbine flower, elk

north dakota: oil, wind energy

south dakota: crazy horse memorial, the badlands, mount rushmore

nebraska: chimney rock, bald eagle, train

kansas: tornadoes, dodge city, sunflower

oklahoma: tomato, wheat, osage shield

texas: cattle, prickly pear cactus, oil refinery, the alamo, NASA Johnson space Center

Minnesota: lake of the woods, wolf, deer

iowa: prairie grass, corn

missouri; Hog, gateway arch

arkansas: razorback hog, banjo

louisiana: crayfish, mardi gras, jazz music

wisconsin: dairy

illinois: Willis tower, tractor, lincoln

michigan: copper, iron ore, automobile manufacturing, motown

indiana: Car

ohio: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, tires

pennsylvania: street mill, liberty bell

new jersey: constitution

maryland: blue crab

virginia: mount vernon

north carolina: wright brothers national memorial, tobacco farm, great smoky mountains national park, appalachian mountains

south carolina: fort sumter

georgia: peanuts, peach

florida: oranges, kennedy space center, alligator, everglades national park

alabama: cotton, civil rights movement

mississippi: magnolia

tennessee: country music

kentucky: horse racing

west virginia: coal

new york: apple tree, financial market, statue of liberty

massachusetts: american revolution

vermont: maple syrup

new hampshire: fall colors

maine: acadia national park, moose, lobster

And don’t make me repeat it!!!!!!!

[sergeifyodorov]

so the iditarod. any fun facts?

the Iditarod Trail as we know it was originally a mail trail. in the far north, dogs have been used as freight runners since precontact times by alaska native peoples like the inupiat (in fact, the name for the "malamute" sled dog breed comes from the name for a group of the inupiat, the malemiut who lived on the seward peninsula.

as a draft animal dogs are, pound for pound, stronger and faster than horses, and in an environment like the alaskan interior a carnivore is much easier to feed than a hay-eating herbivore. they are also much better at navigating the winding, slippery, and often difficult trails -- there are places that snowmachines can't go, to this day, but dogs can. old mail trail runners would have teams of twenty or more dogs, hauling cargo like gold and mail and people through the interior. the town of iditarod itself, although now largely a ghost town, once was larger than anchorage!

the history of the iditarod race starts in the winter of 1925 when nome, a town on the icebound bering sea, suffered a diphtheria outbreak. without serum and with no way to get it there by other means -- icebound, so no boats, and the only pilot who could make the trip was on the other end of the continent -- they organized a trail relay, seven hundred miles long. it took them six days.

fifty years later, with mushing considered a dying sport, they decided to resurrect the iditarod as a race, anchorage to nome, one musher and fourteen dogs. it's about a thousand miles long -- there's two different routes, which alternate every year.

uh list of fun trivia below the cut so i don't make this TOO long

specifying the two routes thing: the routes only diverge at about the halfway point and reconnect at about the three-quarter mark, at the checkpoint right before they hit the bering sea.

trail dogs wear little booties, not because their feet get cold but to protect them from things like fallen branches, and other hazards on the trail. mushers can go through hundreds of booties in a race.

the last musher to complete the iditarod is called the "red lantern," which is a tradition that apparently started as a joke and stuck. you may have heard of musher apayauq reitan, who made history as the first out trans person to run the iditarod? she was the red lantern in 2022!

the current general frontrunners of the iditarod are father and son mitch and dallas seavey. dallas is one of two people to have won the race five times.

four people have won four times, including susan butcher, one of the first women to win.

race times can vary HUGELY depending on year and musher. the records are about eight and a half days, but it's not uncommon for people to take two weeks. libby riddles, who won in 1985, had a winning time of 18 days!

[hasufin]

Unfortunate Numbering

So, today I found out a thing.

Now, you know about the Iditarod Trail Dogsledding Race, right? I guess this is likely pretty obscure for some folks, but it's basically the premier dogsledding race; it's basically the only one which gets any attention to speak of.

Today, it's a televised event with planes and drones and such. But it's been annual since 1972, and they didn't do that kind of thing back then. As with many overland races it's all checkpoints and legs. And it's in the Alaskan wilderness where, well, Things Happen.

Moose Things.

That is, it's entirely possible that while someone is mushing their team, they will have a Close Encounter of the Pleistocene Megafauna Kind. And they will have to shoot the moose. In fact, that is exactly what happened in the most recent race.

Fortunately, the Iditarod rules cover this. What you have to do, if you need to kill a game animal on the trail, is stop and gut the animal (for those who are not familiar with hunting, this is called "field dressing" and keeps the organs from fouling the meat). Anyone who catches up to the person who is gutting the animal must stop and assist in the gutting, and once the animal is properly gutting they must proceed in the order they arrived. Essentially the race is stopped for moose guts, and no one can use moose guts to get ahead. Then the incident must be reported at the next checkpoint. Apparently the meat is then retrieved and processed, although that step is not explicitly part of the rules.

Speaking of the rules. The Iditarod rules are actually pretty brief. The rule which covers moose encounters? Rule 34.

[zulayawolf]

March 4 - bump. Moguls on the trail through the Iditarod trail's Farewell Burn in March 2022.

[darkwood-sleddog]

Hugh Neff...at it again....

[tonichelleak]

Jason Mackey and team at the Ceremonial and ReStart of Iditarod 51. Jason is the younger brother of 4-time Iditarod and Yukon Quest Champion Lance Mackey. Lance passed away in September of 2022 and Jason took his brother’s ashes onto this year’s Iditarod trail. Jason had a rough go throughout the race and was barely able to finish, but finish he did as RED LANTERN (last place). He was also voted as Most Inspirational by his fellow finishers.

[nsomniacsdream]

I pull my sled up to the starting line of the Iditarod, with what is clearly 8 fursuit dogboys in the harness. I get disqualified after a sled behind me loses control because of the slick trail my Omega is leaving.