I have carried a hand held video camera on the race for years now. Honestly, I don’t always think “Gez, this is gorgeous… I need to take a video!” But, I really did try to capture some amazing portions of the Iditarod Trail this year.
There are 13 videos in the ID: AliyCam 2016 Series.
Yippee. I don’t often get a video of the gorge because we go through it during the night. But, the fast paced trail enabled me to get footage just before sunset Monday night. It is a little dark, but entertaining all the same. Notice the tremendous effort that the volunteers have put into building ice bridges and routing the trail around the enormous holes in the sometimes not frozen river bed. The team zigs and zags with enthusiasm. The dogs enjoy this kind of trail even though they might look over at the open raging river and “Gulp” now and then. (Maybe that was me?)
In the end of the video, the team pops out on the Tatina River. As this happens, I don’t know if you can understand me. I am saying “Alright. Alright. Alright. Yow! One piece. One Piece. And I got it on video. Where are we going now?” This pretty much sums up my astonishment of making it through the gorge in one piece.
Quadruple WOW!!!
Amazing that you usually go thru this part of the race in the dark!!!
In awe!!!
WOOF WOOF WOOF
What a team!!!
Finally to see the Gorge was a heart-stopping thrill, thanks so much, Aliy!!!
I absolutely LOVE these longer videos this year. Obviously parts of Alaska I am never going to be privileged to see and what a wonderful glimpse into life on the Iditarod trail. I have even more admiration for Aliy and Allen. I can see myself in future years playing these again as I watch the tracker and think "this is where they are now". Thank you so much for all your efforts to make us feel a part of your experience.
Peg
Wow!!!! That is all I can say – great work dogs and Aliy!
Not sure if I sent in my initial "Wow" comments about this spectacular video, as the mail had just arrived with Chena's dog tags and a lovely note from her.
Back to Dalzell Gorge: Might add a "gulp!!!" as your magnificent 15 x 4 legged team churned its way up and down and around well marked but albeit pretty scary to us urban folks, trail!!! A matched set of awesome Red Team wheel guys!!!
And you usually do this in the…dark of night??? OMG!
A thrill a minute!!!
WOOF, woof, woof, woof!!!
Omg Aliy!! Almost as tough as "The Steps" video from a few years back! Surely a testament to your exceptional training skills that the leaders got everybody through there "in one piece"!! Wow!
Sindy in Michigan
Wow! As fans, we read and hear about the gorge, steps, pass and can only imagine what it's like to actually be out there behind the dogs. Thank you so much for filming and sharing your experiences with your beautiful trusty teammates on the trail. I am in awe of your training and skills – both you and your wonderful dogs!
Man, this video is "something else"! You know, one of the reasons I became interested in the Iditarod was the relationship between the musher and his/her dogs!!! It is NOW, after watching Aliy Cam in this particular section of the trail, I really sense the amazing bond, unique bond, survival bond between a real, (as real as they come) musher and her dogs!!! Now I can see why mushers do the Iditarod year after year!
And there's more, the "forbidding" Dalzell Gorge, has an immense beauty!!!
Thank you Aliy! You are great and so are your pups!!! 💖💛💚❤️💙
That was really, really, really awesome! Wow! Love these videos. Thanks for sharing your run on the famous Dalzell Gorge. And you normally do this at night!?!?. Double Wow!
That was just Wow! So glad you have video of that, I've read about it and wondered what it was like. You and your are so awesome.
Great run!! Makes me want to do itt…!
Thanks for sharing!
Herb Hughes
Great video! Watching it I thought a few things:
1. Fun trail! I enjoy sections/trails that require actual driving and usually so do the dogs (obviously yours were having a good time).
2. Looks tough on the joints. All the little mogules and coming off of ice can be jarring and that was a decent length of time to be knocked around like that. If nothing else, it can be tiring!
3. I'm impressed that you could hold onto the camera pretty steady for the whole thing. I have a point-and-shoot camera that I have to hold but usually set it down for technical sections of a trail (and always have the wrist strap on). Kudos.
Thanks for the video! It was fun watching your teams this year.
That video was amazing! I could feel every high and low!
As I watched, my doxie was sitting next to me, I told him "that could be you" well, maybe not but he can dream!
Jeezum Crow!! I was dodging trees and once again yelling "easy now, easy" at the screen like that would help the descent down the gorge! OMG!!! Unscathed at that! Awesome driving skills on the runners there my friend! WOW!! Incredible….did you see that tree….it was like right there next to you as you flew past! What a difference this run must have been compared to the last time you ran the gorge in 2014!!!
Again…thanks for the ride! Now I know what SPK video to replay if I need a bit of a thrill every once and a while!
Spectacular. Wow just WOW!
Thank you so much for sharing
Thanks for sharing this. If I can't be out running dogs I can at least watch videos of other people running dogs. 🙂
That looks like a technical enough trail to keep even Jeff King awake on the runners! :p
What a ride! Thanks for making sure we got to see this, Aliy!
Wow!!!! That was a blast!
In the dark??? No way. Frightening to think of it.
Another awesome ride with you and the dawgs! OMG what a trip. Every bounce and curve I was saying "eek", holding my breath, and "yikes". Great fun
Oh yeah!!! Thank you for taking us along this crazy stretch of trail!
Margaret Ditto on the quadruple WOW!
And Violet's arrived too, woohoo, thank you!
🙂 🙂 🙂
Most eyes straight ahead without time to check on Aliy, on this section of trail!!!
Except Commando sneaking several peaks to check on his Aliy, and Clyde, when I'm certain he must have thought that loud brake might indicate a sled is about to overtake him. Then both Clyde and Commando looking very concerned about you after your oomph at about 7 minutes. Your team is determined to get down that trail, but it's clear that they are watching out for you too. You have a great relationship. And your sled maneuvering skills are unbelievable!!!! This video is so impressive!
I wish there was a way for you to see their faces, cuz from the looks of Commando, they are all tongues hanging, with grins that barely fit on their faces. I imagine they are having the time of their lives, and again, they are so lucky you want to get out there and do it with them. You crazy human! LOL
🙂
Thank goodness for mountable cameras.
Absolutely LOVE it!
🙂
Holy banana sandwich that was an amazing ride. Wow! So cool you got it on video.
Wow. Absolutely amazing. I love watching these videos.
Thank you Aliy for taking us along on your ride. There are more trees than I imagined there would be.
That is the most incredible piece of video (trail run) that we've ever seen. We've watched it three times now and are more amazed each time at what the dogs and Aliy were able to accomplish. What awesome team work- truly amazing. The thought of doing that run at night leaves me speechless. Thanks so much for sharing this adventure and letting us experience what the Iditarod is really like. Hugs to all.
Ann and Tom
WOW! I've been hearing about the notorious Dalzell as long as I've been following the Iditarod and now I understand. Good grief! The old song "Going ninety miles an hour down a dead end street" came to mind. Whew. I'm tired just sharing the ride! Loved Clyde, watching and listening all the time–what a great wheeler he is. They were all running–dead out running. Man. A question: does the musher have to lean with the sled on some of those curves to try to keep control, like snow boarding etc? Just hanging on looks like one whale of a challenge. This was fabulous! Huge thanks for the share.
BEYOND COOL!!!!! THANKS SO MUCH FOR GETTING THIS ON VIDEO FOR YOUR FANS.
I may be wrong, but it seems pretty clear that the wheel dogs do not have booties on their rear paws in this simply FABULOUS Dalzell Gorge video.
My guess is that because they either a)lost them, b)don't need them on difficult part of the trail, or c)perhaps don't wear them if it isn't too cold/freezing weather?
In any event perhaps we (fans) can establish as a sub-group of the Dog Fan Club for the 2016-2017 season a "Booties Contest" with a few ideas such as: "How many booties of which of the three types are used per season – guess the numbers, closest wins a three-some of types" or "Guess which size booties your favorite dog (s) wear?"
I cannot imagine going through there in the dark! That is a true reflection on the great musher and her team. Thanks for sharing.
This video is just the most awesome!! What a ride and it looks like
you could get whip lash or go for a dive. How do you do it Aliy?
The dogs looked like they were really moving and too think you do this
at night? OMG! We are so lucky as fans to get the opportunity to see
these videos–Thanks So Much SPK!!
SO nice to see the dogs ON the Iditarod trail (even an infamous part)!!!!
i love how they turned their heads to check out if you were ok, every so often!
thanks for taking us along on the ride 🙂
WOW! Whole lot of intense steering going on in that stretch, whee!! Boing boing boing, I am sure it feels like a roller coaster ride at times!! Beautifully done!!
Simply Awesome! Thank you so much for sharing with fans of your dogs, you, Allan and the sport of dog racing.
I watched some of these sections on Ryne Olson's video; her pace was more leisurely and I could see the tall level of ice water that flowed down the gorge and then froze. Seeing you take it at full on race pace was mind blowing .. and wonderful.
Wow, wow,wow, awesome. Thanks for taking us with down the Dalzell Gorge. At least this year there was snow. I remember the year it was bare dirt. And how in the world you do it at night is beyond amazing. Thanks.