Aliy Cam Iditarod 2020: Episode 7

These Aliy Cams are a fun and interactive way I try to share my team’s experiences on the Iditarod Trail. In the 10 days, 7 hours, 28 minutes and 30 seconds that we traveled the trail I tried to capture the real images from the wilderness, the weather and the trail.

My dogs are the center of the videos. The race revolves around them. Their individual positioning in the team varies throughout the race. I moved them around depending upon their moods and energy. Their positioning also depended upon the trail and weather conditions or other random influences. The dogs on the team are: Amber, Bruno, Chevie, Cloud, Dutch, Decaf, Five, Jefe, Junior, Kodiak, QT, Rodney, Spark, and Violet. If you watch closely, you’ll get to know their gaits or their ear “bobs” or their little quirks.

Kathy asked what the differences are between Amber and Violet. I look at them not as the twins that appears in wheel in many of these Aliy Cams, but as vastly different sisters. This is what I see:

Amber is short and squat. She is a small dog @ 40 pounds. She has no neck and short legs. But Amber has a large chest and uses it to push into her harness with power -she’s like a mini bulldozer. I feel like she dozes her way down the trail. Amber’s features are all pointy: pointy ears, pointy nose and pointy forehead. She is physically very talented but sometimes puts a little too much effort into her job and gets tired. That’s okay and she knows it. She doesn’t get upset with herself and I don’t get upset with her. She will take a short break in pulling and then get after it again. Amber always does the best she can. The best thing about Amber is that she thinks that she is the greatest dog on the planet much less this dog team. She has true confidence and will strut her stuff to anyone: Dutch, Commando, Spark, Chipper… anyone. Ironically, Amber is shy around human strangers.

Violet is also a small dog (about 40+ pounds) but her body structure makes her seem taller and thinner. She has a long neck, longer legs and a well-proportioned body. She is almost bouncy with her movements. She seems to float down the trail with ease. Violet is generally more rounded than Amber: her ears flop over, her nose is longer and wider and her forehead is round. She is physically very talented as well, but doesn’t seem to get tired. In fact, she has that strange habit of grunting whenever the team slows down to climb uphill. I’m not sure if she is pissy because she thinks the team is going too slow or the grunts actually help her pull harder. (You should hear her when the team is going up Eagle Summit!) Violet doesn’t really care about being the best or greatest. She is uber upbeat all of the time to everybody – canine and human. She is that annoyingly happy friend who never stops smiling. Violet LOVES everybody and will jump in their lap for kisses.

2020 Aliy Cam Episode 7 – “Camp Spot”

I am speaking very quietly during this video. I tried to turn the volume up as far as I could while editing but I know it is not very clear. As you see, the dogs are sleeping nicely, so I don’t want to do anything to wake them. Therefore, I am not moving fast or speaking loudly. I was hesitant to even open the cooler with the dog food because that usually signifies: ‘Time to Eat!’. You can see my kitchen area and my sleeping area. I set my bed next to Violet and Amber and just beside my sled. I slept for about an hour whereas the dogs slept about four hours. They love to camp in the sunshine!

This camp spot is much closer to the race trail than I like. I had looked for a spot for about 30 minutes before finally stopping here. You can see that we are using a snow machine track that goes parallel to the main trail. Those old or secondary trails were the only way we could make a reasonable camp set up this year. The snow was about 5 feet deep and if I had tried to “walk” farther away from the this camp spot, I would have just floundered in up to my chest. The dogs would have followed me but the would not have enjoyed that. I also knew from the looking at the Race Stat Sheet just prior to leaving Cripple that only two or three teams would pass me while we were resting. The dogs did wake up as they passed but they didn’t get out of their beds.

The race took my dogs and I over 10 days to complete. In total, I recorded only one hour of video. So these Aliy Cams are only a tiny segment of that experience. I also did not video during the most challenging trail or the worst blizzard conditions. I was too busy clinging my handlebars or navigating hazards. I also never recorded a video when I felt like it would intrude in our personal space.

Here is a map so that you can follow along.