Aliy in Nikoli

So much has happened in the last day. Aliy is now in Nikoli. She ran straight in from Rainy Pass. She has dropped two dogs. She dropped Skittles in Rainy Pass. She got to Anchorage last night at about 7pm. She hurt her right front triceps. She is doing very well now. It doesn’t even look like it hurts her. She is out enjoying the sun here in Anchorage.

Aliy also dropped a dog in Rohn. I don’t have any information about that dog yet. Normally, dogs dropped there go to McGrath before they head in to Anchorage. Maybe later today I will find out who it is.

“Dropped” dogs are dogs that the musher decides should no longer be in the team. They could be hurt, sick or just too tired to continue. The vets at each check point takes care of the dogs until they can be flown back to Anchorage where the mushers’ handlers pick them up. Once a dog is “dropped”, the musher is short that dog. For example, Aliy now has 14 dogs in her team. She can not add any others.

Aliy has been running at the top of the pack. Her last two runs have been a bit slower than the fastest times, but she is holding her own. Before she left she commented on how she thought that our dogs tend to do better on tougher trails rather than faster trails. So far it seems like this trail has a little of both.

Reports from the Burn before Nikoli were that it had very little snow and was close to -40 degrees. Good thing it’s been so cold in Fairbanks for the last few weeks. Apparently, Lance Mackey arrived with only one runner attached to his sled, so the trail was definitely rough!

There has been no news out of Rainy Pass for MANY HOURS. They still have Allen in Rainy Pass when we know he probably left early this morning. There have been no updates from there.

The section of the trail near Rainy Pass has claimed two veteran top ten mushers and another top musher. Both Doug Swingley and DeeDee Jonrowe had sled crashes that resulted in dislocated and broken bones. They both scratched in Rainy Pass. Jacques Philip, a well known stage stop musher, also scratched in Rainy Pass. Eight mushers have withdrawn from the race at this point.