From the start in Willow, there was always a lot of fresh snow on the 2012 Iditarod trail. The gamble that a team in first place makes, is that it must break trail through all of this fresh snow and use a lot of “dog energy” doing so. Then, the rest of the teams have somewhat of a “beaten path” to follow and perhaps use less “dog energy”. But, if you are not in the lead…. well, quite simply…. you are not in the lead. So, when Aliy left Nikolai following her race schedule, it also happened to be in lead.
In this video, the dogs in lead (Quito and Beemer) are often stepping into snow drifts that were 6 inches deep. The wheel dogs (Viper and Bonita) had 14 dogs in front of them packing down a trail and you can still see how deep their paws sink in the snow.
Each segment is more incredible than the last.
Thank you so much for sharing these videos with all of us.
Heather
Wonderful video. Thank you. Every year I try to imagine what it's like for you guys out there on the trail and this is the best perspective I've ever seen.
Thanks again!
Reminds me of watching my dogs in the back yard right now during break up .. and they aren't racing!
" .. the trail is pretty challenging, but from what I understand, the Iditarod Trail is supposed to be challenging!" I love it when Aliy's sense of humor comes out.