"dog mushing"

The revised race route is among a list of changes to the event triggered by the coronavirus pandemic, race officials say.

Hundreds of sled dogs are running across Alaska this week as the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race plays out over 1,000 miles from Willow to Nome.

With temperatures plunging deep into the negatives on Tuesday, mushers and dogs sported a coating of frost when they pulled into Nikolai, a small village about a quarter of the way into the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

“I kind of like spicy things, like chile relleno and some lasagna with a little zip in it, that sort of thing,” says Iditarod musher Linwood Fiedler.

Bethel musher Pete Kaiser’s team of eight dogs crossed under the Burled Arch in Nome at 3:39 a.m. Wednesday. Kaiser is the first Iditarod champion with Yupik roots.

Alaska is, of course, famous for its sled dog racing, but that’s never been where Geoff Carroll’s interest lies. He’s an expedition guy. In fact, his introduction to mushing was on an expedition to the North Pole in 1986: a 56-day, 1,000 mile trek over sea ice by dogsled.