Interesting Info

“Dropped dogs” are dogs that are discontinued from the race.  There are ~26 checkpoints along the way.  Mushers can drop off dogs at any of the checkpoints, either  because of their own observations or after consultation with the veterinarians.  For example, a dog might be tired and not running well, might not be eating well, might have a “bad attitude”, might have hurt its foot or leg, or might be sick.  Also, there’s strategy—it takes a lot of time to care for 16 dogs each time the musher stops.  Towards the end of the race, some mushers drop dogs just to reduce the time they need to spend on this process. 

Anyway, the dogs are taken care of at the checkpoints by the veterinarians and other volunteers.  As soon as possible, depending on flying conditions (a big variable in the winter in Alaska!), they are flown back to Anchorage (or, later in the race, to Nome).  In Anchorage, the planes land on a frozen lake—hence the description you received—and are taken from the planes, put in trucks, and taken to a facility where they are cared for. 

By the way, rural Alaskans like winter because the lakes freeze and people can get around easier.  It’s hard to go places in the summer because of bogs and lakes and swamps.  When they freeze, you can go anywhere you want.

The Yukon Quest is a race like Iditarod—it’s 1000 miles long and goes from Whitehorse, in the Yukon Territory, to Fairbanks, Alaska (or, every other year, vice versa).  It’s held in February.  You can follow it on Facebook (Yukon Quest official site)—they’ve got loads of excellent videos and interviews.  Also, you can go to the Yukon Quest website, where there’s the official statistics (in and out times from each checkpoint, distances between checkpoints, etc.).  Or, you can read the Anchorage Daily News (www.adn.com) , the Fairbanks Miner, or the Alaska Dispatch.

This year was crazy at the Quest.  Weather got really bad:  Minus 50 plus areas with really strong winds.  There’s a condition called “overflow” where the ice gets so thick and dense that it sinks and liquid water comes up over the ice.  Mushers had to go through this overflow, with water up their chests or necks, at minus 50, which is really dangerous.  One guy (Hans Gott), a very experienced musher who has won the Yukon Quest four times, got his sled stuck.  He was stuck in the water, chest-deep, and would have died in a few minutes, except that another musher (Sebastian Schnuelle) came along and saved him.  Sebastian attached his dogs to the other fellow’s dogs and, with 30 dogs pulling, got the stuck sled out of the water.  Then he built a fire for Hans so he could warm up.  Because Hans’s boots were so waterfilled, Sebastian got them off and fashioned new boots--he wrapped dog blankets around Hans’ feet, then encased them in feed bags, and then tied the whole thing together with dog harnesses and lead lines.  Eventually, he got Hans going again, although, unfortunately, Hans had to drop out of the race because his hands were so badly frostbitten.  Meanwhile, Sebastian sacrificed his chance to win (he came in 2^nd by 30 minutes) because of all the time he spent with Hans, but that’s the way it goes.  That’s how these guys are.  There were lots of other stories like that this year.