Extreme cold in Alaska makes the race even more challenging – and dangerous
Guest essay by Paul Driessen
This winter’s record Midwestern freeze made any outdoor activity a real challenge. It also made us appreciate modern housing, heating, transportation and hydrocarbons – and what our frontline troops have endured in the Aleutians, Korea and Afghanistan. I’ve been in minus 20-50 F weather, and it is brutal.
The nasty weather reminded me of the Iditarod racers and spirited sled dogs I met last summer in Alaska. Trekking 1,100 miles from Anchorage to Nome, across Sam McGee’s wilderness in the dead of winter in nine to twelve days, is not for faint-hearted humans or canines. It’s equivalent to jogging from Chicago to Tampa or from Washington, DC to Kansas City – with temperatures ranging from a “balmy” 10 or 20 degrees F (-7 to -12 C) above to a bone-rattling and deadly minus 50 (-46 C) or lower for the entire trip.
It helps explain why far more people have reached the summit of Mt. Everest than have finished the annual Iditarod race.
This difference: some 4,000 to Everest’s peak versus around 900 individual dogsledders, many of whom are the same hardy men and women racing year after year. About 2,550 dog teams of 16 dogs each have competed since Dorothy Page and Joe Redington, Sr. launched the Iditarod dogsled race in 1973.
Rick Swenson has entered the race 33 times and won it five times, logging more than 82,000 miles in training and racing. DeeDee Jonrowe has started 27 races and finished 25, including 2003 when she began three weeks after finishing chemotherapy for breast cancer! (Go here for still more Iditarod trivia.)
“The coldest I’ve ever been in during the Iditarod was minus 60, and I actually camped out on the trail that night with the dogs,” Rick Casillo told me. “It’s by far the coldest I have ever been. I went to sleep after taking care of the dogs, woke up two hours later and was starting to get hypothermic. I had to get out of my bag and get moving fast. When you’re dealing with temperatures like that, there is no room for error. You have to plan and execute each step perfectly.” Jack London’s “To build a fire” comes to mind.
Rick and his wife Jennifer operate Battle Dawgs Racing, Aurora Heli-Expeditions and the Knik River Lodge west of Palmer. But Battle Dawgs is not just their dog kennel. By partnering with Alaska’s Healing Hearts, they’ve made it a wounded veterans rehabilitation program that enables military personnel and their families and loved ones to experience wild Alaska, restore their souls, and meet kindred spirits through hunting, fishing, mushing, flying, hiking and snowmobiling.
James Hastings, director of operations for AHH and a retired U.S. Army veteran, says their goal with Battle Dawgs is to have a year-round camp with cabins and facilities that can accommodate warriors in wheel chairs. Adds Jennifer, an Air Force veteran and reservist, aircraft mechanic and chopper pilot: “For a wounded veteran, the true battle often begins when they get home.” That’s why the dogs are important. “The healing capabilities of canines are legendary,” Rick says. “You can’t spend time with these men and women, and not want to help out by offering them some life changing experiences.”
Some of warriors will actually be members of Rick’s “pit crew” during dog races. One will be on his sled for the “ceremonial” portion of the 2014 Iditarod, from Anchorage to Eagle River, where the teams regroup and start the actual race. Few can imagine what goes into this race.
Pre-season racing is like pre-season football, Rick says. “You use it to gauge younger dogs and give them valuable racing experience. I’m looking for attitude, recovery time, eating habits, drive and desire. These dogs are all born to run, but I need dogs that can do these runs over and over, willingly and happily.” Usually he spots these characteristics by opening day, but sometimes there are surprises.
“The toughest situation I was ever in was easily in 2007 when I was going up the Alaska Range from Rainey Pass,” Rick recalls. “The temperature was minus 30, with 40 mph winds – making it feel like minus 71 – and we were climbing in a complete whiteout. My goggles froze up solid and were useless. I was forced to take them off. Minutes later, frostbite set in on my nose, cheeks and eyelids. Sometimes I had to walk in front of the team to find the trail. All of a sudden, an 18-month-old dog started demanding to be up front, leading. Normally I would never rely on a young dog in a situation like that, but Grisman was jumping five feet in the air, howling to go. So I gave him a chance. Once I put Gris in lead, he never balked once. Not only did he take us up and over the range. He continued to be one of best dogs in that race and went on to be the best dog I have ever run.”
That experience underscores what are perhaps the six most important factors in Iditarod racing. (1) Bond and trust. “If you don’t have the dogs’ trust, you have nothing,” Rick emphasizes. (2) Mental and physical toughness, for dogs and musher alike. By the end of the race, each musher is tired, battered and cut up – attesting to the difficulty of the trail and weather, and to the need to just keep going, no matter what. (3) Logistics. More on that in a minute. (4-6) “Dog care, dog care, dog care. As the dogs go, you go.”
For UPS and Amazon, logistics are vital. “Brown” even has a jingle about logistics, and Amazon.com hires numerous veterans because of their logistical skills. But for the military and Iditarod racers, logistics mean the difference between success and failure, life or death. “We’re on our own out there,” Rick told me. “No cell phones, no communications. Careful planning and preparation are critical.”
Each dog burns 12,000 calories a day during the Iditarod, Rick points out. That’s what Olympic swimming champion Michael Phelps reportedly consumes on racing days. Rick’s dogs eat a combination of beef, horse, fish and chicken; beef fat and turkey and chicken skins; tripe and high-grade dry dog food; salmon oil and natural supplements. They wear booties to protect their feet from the cold and bruising.
Mushers are required to carry a sleeping bag, ax, snow shoes, extra dog booties, a veterinary care book, a dog food cooker and sufficient food for the dogs, in their sleds at all times. So they are hauling about 60 pounds of food and gear in sleds similar to what Inupiaq and Yup’ik Natives used for centuries. For each musher, some 3,000 pairs of booties and 2,000 pounds of food and personal gear are divided up and airlifted by volunteer flyers two weeks before the race to each of 20 check points along the route.
“We cover 125 to 150 miles a day. Our average runs are 60 miles, followed by a four-to-five-hour break to eat, rest, massage and care for the dogs – and then we do it again, and again, until we reach Nome,” Rick explains. Mushers are also required to shut down completely for two 8-hour and one 24-hour rest periods. Tough hills, rocks, swollen creeks, high winds, frigid temperatures, storms, whiteout conditions, accidents and injuries to dogs or mushers, and other adventures can slow that pace down. But somehow they need to make it to the next check point, where volunteer veterinarians examine the dogs and they can replenish their supplies. More volunteers fly any injured dogs from the nearest checkpoint back to Eagle River, where Hiland Mountain Correctional Center inmates care for them until the mushers finish the race.
The hard training and careful preparation pay off. Rick has entered and finished four Iditarod races and is now preparing for his fifth. He’s also competed in many other dogsled races. This year he plans to run at a slower pace that requires less exertion and less rest – and results in less fatigue and healthier dogs that can chew up miles. That’s a bit different from a musher who “ran” all 188 miles to Rohn with minimal breaks in the first race of the 2013-14 season. It will be fascinating to watch all the mushers’ strategies in action.
They’re all straining, sweating and freezing for the $50,000 first place prize – and smaller cash prizes for the next 30 top finishers, plus the joys and thrills of just being in this premier race. But competing in the Iditarod costs $30,000 or more in fees, supplies, dog care, preparation, training and prelims.
So follow Rick Casillo on BattleDawgsRacing.com and all the mushers, preparations, history and thrills of this amazing race at Iditarod.com. Buy some gear and DVDs. Support your favorite mushers and dogs with donations or by volunteering. And watch the race on television. It starts March 1 – and now you know enough to really understand and appreciate “the last great race,” the Iditarod.
_______________
Paul Driessen is senior policy analyst for the Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow, author of Eco-Imperialism: Green power – Black death, and a huge fan of Rick Casillo, Battle Dawgs and all they do.
Discover more from Watts Up With That?
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Ms. Glickman, I thought you claimed that greed drove the Iditarod, but here you claim that mushers can’t afford vet care. Do you see this as logical?
Also, would you care to comment on the observation that the control group of this study shows no lung damage, yet you claim on your website that “81% of the dogs had lung damage”? What do you think of the possibility that sled dogs use the accumulation of mucus in the lungs as a protective measure to deal with extreme cold?
1. Regarding my email address: I am consistently using one email address. The problem is with the program this blog uses.
2. In saying that the Iditarod is fueled by greed, I am saying that people and cities are motivated by an intense and selfish desire for money, publicity, and, in some cases power. Someone can be motivated by an intense desire for money, for example, but that doesn’t mean they earn or bring in a lot of money. Even if a musher with 72 dogs earns $100,000 after taxes, will he/she spend between $36,000 and $72,000 a year alone on routine veterinary care?
3. I will report what the studies say. The one I published above from Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2005 Feb;37(2):337-41 had the following CONCLUSIONS: “Racing Alaskan sled dogs have airway dysfunction similar to “ski asthma” that persists despite having 4 months of rest. These findings suggest that repeated exercise in cold conditions can lead to airway disease that does not readily resolve with cessation of exercise.”
It makes me wonder how my huskies would test compared to the “adult mixed-breed laboratory hounds” control group. Rose is a rescued sled dog, Annie has been a pet all of her life. Both love to frolic outside until it reaches about -40°F. Our beagle on the other hand wastes no time outside once it gets below zero.
It’s also interesting that the 2002 study on sled dogs show no gross long term damage to racing sled dog’s lungs, but this study notes decreased lung function. It is also interesting that this breed is able to continue to perform amazing feats of athletic endurance with decreased lung function. The dog teams that I’ve seen finish the Yukon Quest, considered a tougher race than the Iditarod and of similar distance, and often much, much colder, seem to recover normal breathing almost as soon as they stop after the finish line.
Perhaps a better control group would be dogs of the same breed from the same region who haven’t been used as sled dogs.
Michael Kinville says: @ur momisugly January 22, 2014 at 8:51 pm
….such colder, seem to recover normal breathing almost as soon as they stop after the finish line.
Perhaps a better control group would be dogs of the same breed from the same region who haven’t been used as sled dogs.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
You are of course correct.
As we have seen repeatedly ‘studies’ are used all the time by activists ‘to prove’ a pre-selected conclusion.
I have been looking at the ‘studies’ on carbohydrates. I consider under 30 grams of carbs a day as a “Lo carb” diet. Some of the studies I have seen use 300 carbs. (One teaspoon of sugar has 4 grams of carbohydrate.) so that is 75 teaspoons of sugar vs 7.5. Some how I do not see 75 teaspoons of sugar as ‘low carb’
Research has also shown questionable studies are rather thick on the ground.
How Many Scientists Fabricate and Falsify Research? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Survey Data
I agree with Margery who says
People with commonsense understand that dogs can’t run 1,000 miles over a grueling terrain without suffering greatly.
I especially agree with her because it is getting so much cooler up there, in Alaska
http://oi40.tinypic.com/2ql5zq8.jpg
Cannot we postpone this silly race by a month or so?>
because of the cold?
Ms. Glickman, I find your statement above on greed not only illogical, but it’s offensive. You solely attribute motivation to race or support the race to greed. If you look at the musher’s stories, their motivation is as diverse as their backgrounds. At the elite level, a desire to win and a need to push personal boundaries are common. Long term, highly successful mushers may earn $400k over a lifetime…hardly enough financial incentive to endure the pain and effort required. As to fame, I doubt one in ten readers of this post can name a single Iditarod musher. The other 90% of the mushers will never break even with race winnings.
As to community greed, perhaps Anchorage has cold hard cash as a main reason for supporting the Iditarod, but as a citizen of Anchorage for 13 years, I can tell you than many who live there love the city’s association with the race. I doubt that you can attribute greed to Shageluk, Kaltag or Nulato or the 13 or so other villages that the race runs through. These villages live for this race.
You look at a musher who is injured in the race who continues on as a villain, I see something heroic. You see the evacuation by air of dogs dropped from the race as criminal, I see it as the result of the care and respect for the dogs, done by unpaid volunteers flying in dangerous conditions. You see a husky’s need to pull as something exploited by callous greedy glory hounds, I see it as the beautiful culmination of 10,000 years of breeding and association with man.
You are entitled to you own opinions about the Iditarod and its mushers. However, you should not misstate what I said. I have never, ever said that it’s criminal to evacuate dropped dogs by air. I think the manner in which dogs are carried in small planes is abusive. It is outrageous that Alaska law does not require pilots to carry emergency gear or food for the dogs. The small planes that carry the dogs have crashed.
I apologize for mischaracterizing what you said was “Sick, injured and tired dropped dogs are crammed into a small airplane. The dogs are not properly secured and can be injured by turbulence, to which a small plane is especially vulnerable”.
I also see that you state in bold “Aliy Zirkle’s dog Nacho injured by foxtail:” In the smaller text below (in the description of her excellent animal husbandry) “Maybe it was a foxtail.” This would appear to be a sort of slight of hand on your part.
OK. I’ll add “was very likely.” Aliy Zirkle raced dogs in the Iditarod who had kennel cough. Dogs with this disease are supposed to rest and stay warm. Many people would say racing these sick dogs is bad animal husbandry.
Aily Zirckle is a biology major, and has won the Iditarod’s Humanitarian Award twice. She is renowned for her care of her dogs. For your information, animal husbandry relates to the breeding and care of animals to support human goals. As a winner of the Yukon Quest and having placed 2nd in the Iditarod twice, clearly she is a master of animal husbandry.
While you acknowledging errors on your website, perhaps you can retract your statement that “Iditarod dog study wastes tax dollars”, as the study you reference actually is focused on maintaining the health of military working dogs under stress, an area of study already recognized in relation to the canine athletes involved in running the Iditarod?
Here’s another correction that could be made. You state “Iditarod won’t commit to punishing drug and alcohol users”.
Later, on the same page, you state “Juneau musher Matt Giblin has been stripped of his 38th-place finish in the 2012 Iditarod after testing positive for THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, race officials said Thursday.”
“An appeals board found that the veteran racer must repay the $1,049 he earned for finishing this year’s race, said Race Marshal Mark Nordman.”
The Iditarod hasn’t made a COMMITMENT to punish drug and alcohol users. A commitment is a promise to do or give something.
So actually stripping someone of their place in the race and forcing them to repay their winnings isn’t as good as “making a commitment”?
BTW, your website states catagorically, in bold no less, that “Training creates negative metabolic and physiological imbalances:”, but beneath that, in much smaller print, lets us know that the condition “…may reflect the immunosuppressive or catabolic effects of intense endurance training.”
Dr. Erica McKenzie stated in a grant application that “The cause and prevalence of this phenomenon and the specific globulin fractions affected (immunoglobulins A, E, G, and M) are currently unknown.” (http://www.akcchf.org/research/fundedresearch/0883.html#sthash.tqfsbCUG.dpuf)
Is it possible that you’ve overstated the certainty that training creates negative metabolic and physiological imbalances?
Sadly, you still don’t get it. A commitment is a promise. The Iditarod hasn’t promised to punish drug and alcohol users. I’m not going to respond to distortions of medical studies. A grant appllcation is just that: A grant application.
Ms. Glickman, I do get it. The Iditarod actually punishes drug users, but you won’t be happy until they “promise” to do what they are already doing.
As to “distortions of medical studies”, carefully look at what you have posted on your website. The study YOU posted states that training MAY have an effect on the dog’s immune system, yet you proclaim that it DOES have an effect.
Another helpful hint for your website. Under the “cruel dog training” page it states that “Dogs lost in unforgiving wilderness”, and attempts to support that claim by noting that a musher lost a dog in Fairbanks. So you know, Fairbanks is Alaska’s 2nd largest city. It may not be much by your standards, but we’re proud of it, and it can hardly be classified as “wilderness”.
Ms. Glickman, your website asks the question “How many Iditarod sled dogs died because they were tethered by the neck and forced to tread water for 45 minutes or more?”, but doesn’t offer a place to submit a guess. Allow me a chance; 0?
Allow me to help you again Ms. Glickman. Your website states “Diseased and injured mushers are allowed to race dogs in the Iditarod. Mushers are not even required to have medical examinations before the Iditarod begins. If a musher had a heart attack, the dogs would starve to death in the unforgiving wilderness.”
The sleds in the Iditarod, and in the Yukon Quest for that matter, are fitted with GPS transponders, and if a musher becomes disabled, race organizers would send rescue parties to the exact location of the troubled musher. Dogs wouldn’t have time to “starve”.
Here’s an informed rebuttal to Ms. Glickman;
http://healthysleddogs.wordpress.com/2010/04/18/information-from-dr-stu-nelson-and-additional-race-information/
Veterinary care of the dogs during the Iditarod is poor.
FACTS: http://helpsleddogs.org/the-harsh-reality/poor-veterinary-care/ .
In the 2012 race, one of Lance Mackey’s male dogs ripped out all of his 16 toenails trying to get to a female who was in heat. This type of broken toenail is extremely painful. Mackey, a four-time Iditarod winner, said he was too stubborn to leave this dog at a checkpoint and veterinarians allowed Mackey to continue to race him. Imagine the agony the dog was forced to endure.
Here’s another example: Veterinarians have allowed dogs with kennel cough to race in the Iditarod even though dogs with this disease should be kept warm and given lots of rest. Strenuous exercise can cause lung damage, pneumonia and even death. To make matters worse, kennel cough is a highly contagious disease that normally lasts from 10 to 21 days.
The Iditarod’s chief veterinarian, Stu Nelson, is an employee of the Iditarod Trail Committee. They are the ones who sign his paycheck. So, do you expect that he’s going to say anything negative about the Iditarod?
You are right to be skeptical of information from an employee of the Iditarod. A wise person will critically consider information with an eye for bias while attempting to remain open to new viewpoints. That said, it is poor policy to dismiss information out of hand strictly based on who is offering it.
Elsewhere on Mr. Watt’s excellent site, Mr. Andy West writes about the social phenomenon of CAGW, and discusses “motivated reasoning, noble cause corruption and confirmation bias”. Lengthy review of your website and your responses to me in this discussion leads me to believe that you have fallen prey to these mental traps
I have no doubt that there is accurate information on your website, but I find it nearly impossible to separate the nuggets of truth from gross distortions that permeate the rest of it.
Ms. Glickman, another correction for your website…
Your website is outdated, as it heavily emphasizes obsolete policy from 2005, which could be categorized as “don’t ask, don’t tell”.
Current protocol; “Immediately following the gross necropsy, the Race Marshal will notify the musher of the results and will issue a press release containing the findings and the circumstances of the death” http://iditarod.com/race/rules/
Ms. Glickman, can you assure me that you aren’t lying by omission? Your website states that “Statistics tell sad stories; Dogs who couldn’t make it across the finish line:”, and goes on to state “We are rarely told what happened to these dogs.”
For those not aware, mushers plan the composition and number of dogs they will bring to a race based on long experience. The start of the race is characterized by heavier and wetter snow than is found down the trail, and mountain passes in the Alaska Range are climbed early in the race. These factors require a larger team than is needed later in the race. Mushers drop off dogs that are no longer needed, not able to maintain the pace of the rest of the team, or are injured at manned checkpoints. Race vets are also able to direct specific dogs to be dropped due to health concerns. In an amazing feat of wilderness logistics, volunteers in the “Iditarod Air Force” fly these dogs to collection points, where they are cared for and evaluated, and if needed, treated by volunteer veterinarians. This process is normal, and unless something unusual happens it is not noteworthy enough to report what “happened to these dogs.”
I would imagine Ms. Glickman that you are aware of this. I have seen you post about dog deaths, and with no segue, list the percentage of dogs who “fail to complete the race”. Are you intentionally trying to create false assumptions?
Ms. Glickman, would you be so kind as to share the name of the article referenced on your website that quoted Dr. Jeanne Olson?
A friend conducted a JSTOR search at the Rasmussen library at the University of Alaska and searched UAF Press and didn’t find anything regarding Dr. Olson. Thank you in advance.
Here’s a great story on Mike Williams Jr., a Yu’pik musher who’s family has made the Iditarod a part of their life.
http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/01/30/juggling-mushing-and-diapers-new-dad-preps-2014-iditarod-153341