One More Day

This was the weather statement for the area around the Mile 101 checkpoint for today:

The Winter Weather Advisory is now in effect until 6 am akst
Saturday.

* Location… Steese Highway summits.

* Winds… southwest gusting to 40 mph.

* Wind chills… 50 below.

* Visibility… near zero in blowing snow.

* Snow… several inches accumulation.

Fortunately things will calm down before tomorrow. Oh, the checkpoint is at the mile 101 marker on the Steese Highway between those summits.

There will be new snow for the start, which is not a given in Alaska. It doesn’t really snow all that much during the winter … it is too cold.

The MSNBC link to a decade long study on the physiology of sled dogs is still good, and a useful primer for anyone new to the sport.

It is useful to remember that the musher is the equivalent of the coach in most team sports, and this is a team sport. The musher doesn’t create a lead dog, lead dogs are selected by the other dogs, then the musher has to build a rapport with them.

Silver, Brent Sass’s veteran lead dog probably won’t be running on the Quest. Brent wants Silver to lead the team in his first attempt at the Iditarod. In any case, if Silver does run in either race, it will be his last as he is 9 years old. Although Brent has never won the Quest, Silver is such a great lead dog, that the award for acts of heroism by a dog in the Quest is named for Silver. Silver is nearly unique in that he can not only lead his own team, he can command the respect of other teams. Silver led two teams out of weather much like that reported today for Mile 101 on American Summit in last year’s race. Brent has Silver’s face tattooed on his shoulder.

Sled dogs are not pets; they are team members. The biggest potential problem for the dogs is warm weather. Their coats are so good at trapping body heat, that at temperatures just above freezing they start to have problems with the heat, the same problems that humans experience when the temperature gets over 100°. They have evolved to live in the Arctic, and they do it very efficiently.