Kristy Berington Bib #38 in Position #41 out of OPHIR as of 7:43pm
Next checkpoint: CRIPPLE

The thermometer was showing nearly -30 below this morning as the teams make the long run through the heart of Alaska towards the Yukon River portion of the Iditarod Trail. As expected, the leaders in the race continue to shift like loose snow blowing across the landscape, and although there may be a few teams that are further in front than others at this point, it is too early to give definition to the true leaders at this point.

The section of trail that both Paul and Kristy are now traveling through is undoubtedly the most isolated portion of the race. There are no villages or residents that call this region home throughout the year, so the section of trail that they are on is one that is put in just for the race. The checkpoint of CRIPPLE is nothing more than a collection of wall tents planted in the snow, marginally heated by small woodstoves. Since the race alternates routes on even and odd numbered years, this “northern route” that the teams are on for the 2010 race, took a juncture at the checkpoint back at OPHIR. Now, instead of heading towards the ghost town of Iditarod, and over through Shaguluk to reach the banks of the Yukon River at Anvik, they are driving north, to hit the flank of the mighty Yukon in the hills near RUBY.  Twice Paul has been the first dog drive to reach the Yukon River checkpoint first, and although he didn’t lead the field in there this year, he is moving with a highly competitive pack of mushers up the trail.

Because of the distance, the longest segment between checkpoints in the whole race, Paul and Kristy will stop their teams along the trail to “camp” – effectively breaking the 112-mile run into a series of shorter ones. Without the benefit of a full moon to illuminate their chores of heating water to mix with the dog food, changing booties on the dogs, putting ointment on the dogs’ feet and hopefully getting a bite to eat themselves during the stop, they will use the headlamp that is affixed to their head by a strap or Velcro.

This photo illustrates very much what the scene would look like when a couple of teams would stop together. The reflective tap on the harnesses can be seen, as can the glowing eyes of the team, reflected by the headlight. You can see a couple of pieces of equipment in this shot that are both mandatory as well as essential to the mushers. One is round metal pot. This is actually a “cooker” that is a modified container with holes drilled along the bottom edge, that has a place where a fire can burn inside. There is another pot that seats above the flame, which has the capacity to hold several gallons of water. You can see one of those to the right of the cooker that is sending a plume of exhaust into the air. The fuel source of this contraption is that little yellow bottle that you see sitting on the snowbank. For those of you in northern climates, you will recognize that as a bottle of automotive “HEET” that is used to rid your gas tank of water and ice. This alcohol based product provides the ideal fuel source for the mushers as it burns extremely hot as well as burning entirely away. Paul can fill the upper pot with snow and have boiling water in 10 minutes. 

The mushers heat the water to mix with the dogs’ food – creating a soup of dry kibble mixed with various meats, fish, and especially when the weather is cold like this – fat.  A working sled dog will burn between 10,000 and 26,000 calories in a 24 hour period, and in the extreme cold like they are experiencing on the trail now, providing those calories will be the difference in a dog maintaining good body weight. Equally important to balance those critical calories is the hydration. By adding the water to the food, not only do the dogs benefit from having a more digestible meal (and think about how nice it feels to have warm soup on a cold day!) they also have the added fluid that they need. Hydration in extreme cold is every bit as important as been properly geared up for it, be it canine or human.  Paul and Kristy have both water and the small foil juice packs made by “Capri Sun” that they drink to keep themselves hydrated. Paul’s rule of thumb is one juice for every ten miles of trail.

But how do they keep these thawed out at almost -30 below you ask?  One way is to drop them into that pot of water that they are already heating for the dogs’ meal. Prior to the race, they spent hours packing these into vacuum sealed bags for just this reason. Along with their own personal food that is also vacuum sealed, they will drop the package right into the water and it will thaw and warm without impacting the contents inside.  Once thawed, it is then a task to keep them from freezing so that they can drink them when they are traveling along the trail.  The other is through using their own body heat to keep them warm. You can see by the inside of Paul’s jacket that he has a series of small pockets sewn inside. These are used to hold these thawed juices, as well as serving to keep the foot ointment pliable that he will use for the dogs along with spare headlamp batteries that function better when warm. You would be amazed how heavy that jacket is when it is “filled”.

As far as the comfort of the musher in these frigid temperatures, having the right gear is vital. Both Paul and Kristy are wearing Northern Outfitters parkas. Over the 13 Iditarods that Paul has run, he swears by this gear. It is really an innovative design that isn’t so bulky that he can easily move. They layer it underneath with polypropelene long underwear. For hands and feet, Paul swears he will never ever leave a checkpoint without having Grabber warmers in his possession. He uses these religiously in his boots and gloves. On the hoods of the parkas, having a natural fur ruff is also there for more than appearances. This is a very functional addition that serves to filter the bite of the wind and cold away from their face. You will often see these become completely encased with frost just from the musher’s own breath. When the photographer asked to take this picture of Paul for Alaska Magazine, his response was “go ahead, it is so frozen I can’t take it off right now anyway!”

The dogs on the other hand, have built in insulators provided by nature. They are northern breed dogs and their fur is designed to both insulate and protect. To enhance this, Paul and Kristy have custom jackets that the dogs wear to keep them warm, with different variations suited for both the male and female dogs on the team. When the team stops to camp, they also have the straw to bed down on top of as another layer of insulation and comfort. In an earlier update, I noted the neoprene wrist wrap that Paul would use on the dogs when he would stop to keep their wrists warm. He also carries specially designed jackets that fit around their shoulders and front legs that he will use when he stops. These have internal pockets that house more of those marvelous Grabber handwarmers that is like putting a warm water bottle directly on the joint for the dogs. When Paul first started using these “shoulder jackets” he piqued the interest of the race vets, who thought it was ingenious. Now these are used by many mushers.  Mickey’s Custom Sewing near Soldotna crafted them for us, along with those wonderful dog jackets.  And I am sure that with the mercury settled so far below zero on the trail right now, the dogs are thanking her as much as Paul and Kristy are!

For those of you that took advantage of buying a subscription to the Iditarod Insider, you should check out the video of Kristy that was posted yesterday. It is a beautiful, clear interview with our favorite Rookie Musher, while her team was resting at a checkpoint. She notes the challenges of driving an eager dog team over rough trail, and how the trip through the Dalzell Gorge was a piece of cake for this talented sled driver.

Both Paul and Kristy have dropped a few dogs. I do know that from Kristy’s team, two of the three she had dropped were the borrowed dog from the Seavey kennel named SABLE as well as one of the youngsters named GIBSON. The only two I know for certain that Paul had dropped previously were DUKE & RECON, but he did drop two more – quite possibly PHYSCHO & QUEEN, although I could be wrong on that. Our good friends at “Team Janssen” in Anchorage are caring for our dogs as they return back from the trail there until we can get them home, and Scott the “mushing mortician”, does a great job of communicating with me when any dogs come in off the trail. As soon as we are able, we will get them back home to the kennel here with the rest of the dogs that Kristy’s twin sister, Anna, is helping to care for while the rest of the mushers around here are off on the trail.

The teams will have another mandatory 8-hour layover that they are required to take at one of the checkpoints along the Yukon River corridor. They have the discretion as to which location they prefer to do this at, but it does have to be a full 8 hours taken at a single checkpoint.

Until later…. Life is a journey, enjoy the ride!  Evy

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