The 1,150 mile Iditarod started on March 7th.From yesterday, March 9th, on Iditablog:
Leaving Finger Lake and heading into Rainy Pass is the thing nightmares are made of - regardless of how much experience you have. Multiple drops along Happy River, combined with hairpin turns and tricky switchbacks put veterans and rookies on a level playing field. It was on this section that in 2007 some of the most tested mushers, DeeDee Jonrowe and Doug Swingley (4 time champion) were both forced to scratch, DeeDee broke her hand, and Swingley broke some ribs. Once checked in at Rainy Pass Lodge mushers can look forward to soon reaching the highest point of the Iditarod, they’re in the middle of the great Alaskan Range.Going from Rainy Pass into Rohn isn’t a walk in the park either, the checkpoint is at 1,800ft elevation and before reaching Rohn (about 40 miles away) they will hit 3,160ft and they highest elevation of the race. After this point they are considered to be in Interior Alaska. After reaching the summit, the trail quickly goes downhill and the nightmare from the run before isn’t over if warmer weather is a factor. There is a steep 200-foot hill drop running into a Gorge and, running along “Dalzell Creek”. The trail jumps from side to side of Dalzell Creek (at a few point the Canyon is just barley wide enough for both the trail and the creek). There is always open water on the creek with snow and ice bridges for the mushers to cross. In colder weather the bridges hold better, but going faster is always better to avoid getting wet!
Read Bruce Lee's blog on Iditarod.comMP3: Abner Jay - Woke Up This Morning