January 21,2005

Hi, there. What I thought I would do, is answer your questions first and then give you some more information about my kennel and my dogs.

1. What is the largest amount of dogs you can use during the Iditarod?

In the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, the maximum number of dogs I can start with is 16. Along the trail, if a dog gets injured, or is sick, I can leave the dog with veterinarians at a checkpoint. I, then, must continue down the trail with one less dog. I can't put another in his place. A team must have at least 5 dogs at the end of the race.

The injured dog is flown to Anchorage by the "Iditarod Air Force". My handler, usually my sister Kaz, picks up the dog, takes care of him and pampers him. (I use him as a generic dog. Many of my dogs are female.)

2. How long did it take you to finish the Iditarod?

Last year I finished in 11 Days 2 Hours 4 Minutes and 44 Seconds.

3. How long does it take you to train the dogs for the Iditarod?

This is actually a difficult question to answer. I begin training the dogs on August 1, with them pulling a 4 Wheeler ATV, but they are trained all year long with walks. We start out running less than 2 miles. Right before the race, we usually run an 80-mile run.

The second half of that question is that they are trained from the time they are puppies. At 5 weeks, they go on "adventures" around the yard and the area. As they get bigger, the longer and faster the walks become until I ride on the 4 Wheeler just to keep up with them. At 5 or 6 months, they begin pulling in a team, just like adult dogs.

4. Can you come to visit our class after the Iditarod is over?

Just days after the finish banquet in Nome, Alaska, I begin running trips for clients up north of the Arctic Circle. I am actually only home for 3 days before going. We take all the dogs and most of the puppies up to a small town called Bettles Field and take people on week long to 10-day trips into the Gateway to the Arctic National Park, the Brooks Mountain Range and up the North Slope of Alaska.

5. Where do you get the dogs from?

Most of the dogs I run are born and raised in my kennel. My kennel line is a out of a "village" dog named "Fats" from Allakaket, along the Koyukuk River. He comes out of Sprint Mushing Legend George Attla's dog "Lingo". His son "AJ" is our main stud right now.

Other dogs I buy are usually from the villages, not from big name mushers like Swenson, Butcher or Swingley. I find I get excellent dogs at a fair price from Athabaskin mushers from Huslia, Hughs and Allakaket.

6. How do you get all the food you need for your dogs during the Iditarod?

For a race, I put all of my dog food, people food, extra dog gear, extra gloves and socks and anything else I might need into "Food Drop Bags". They are then sent out on the race trail to "Checkpoints", where you can pick up supplies during the race.

7. What kind of food do you bring on the Iditarod Trail to eat? How do you keep your energy up?

I bring a wide range of people food to eat on the trail. I have packets of meals wrapped so I can put them in hot water to heat up. This year, I packed a noodle sausage dinner, frozen quiches and a sesame chicken and rice dish. I also have a few dehydrated meals, like the packets you can bring when you go camping.

For quicker foods, I bring Snickers Bars, Power Bars, Nuts, M&Ms and the ever important (my favorite) Combos. These I can eat going down the trail.

It is very important to keep hydrated while on the trail. This can be difficult because EVERYTHING freezes (including the Snickers and Power Bars). I always have a water thermos and I send out little boxes of juices to all the checkpoints. The juices I can melt in the hot water that I use to cook the dog food.

Keeping up my energy means I have to eat and drink. Sometimes, when I am so busy taking care of the dogs, I forget to do this.

7. How much money do you spend on your dogs to prepare for the Iditarod?

A lot. Just to give an example, I feed two and a half to three 40lbs bags of dog food a day. Each bag cost around $30. That doesn't include the meat or fish that is mixed into each meal. Then, of course, there are Veterinary Bills and basic kennel bills as well. It is not a cheap sport!!

8. Is running in the Iditarod a career or a hobby for you?

I am a professional dog musher. It is my career to run sled dogs and sled dog races. I work usually 80 to 100 hours a week pertaining to the kennel and the dogs. It is my life.

9. Do you only use Husky dogs when running the Iditarod?

The type of dog used predominately in sled dog racing is called an Alaskan Husky. They are the mutts of the north and they definitely don't look like the sled dogs in movies like "Snow Dogs". They have many different types of dogs mixed in with the traditional Siberian Huskies or Malamutes. The latest into the mix is hounds, hunting dogs.

One of the most important things about Alaskan Huskies is the double coat they have. They have a soft, thick undercoat that keeps them warm and a thick overcoat with what is called guard hairs that protects them from wind and bitter cold. These dogs are most comfortable at about -20 F.

Someone once tried to run Standard Poodles in the Iditarod. They didn't have the double coat and the dogs got very cold and wet. It is now illegal to run them in the race.

10. Do you run the same dogs in each race or do you use different dogs each Iditarod?

Many of the same dogs race through out there lives from age 2 to 7 or 8. There are always younger, inexperienced dogs as well as the hard core veteran dogs in a team

11. During the Iditarod do you have to stand on the back of the sled the whole time?

I do. Some people have built in seats on their sleds for long, flat sections of trail, but you can only use them at times. A musher has to drive their sled to get it around trees, over bumps and down the trail.

12. What did you win when you won the Yukon Quest? Did winning the Quest help you participate in the Iditarod?

Good Question. I think I should explain a bit about the Quest before I answer it though. In dog mushing, there are two big time events. One of course is the Iditarod and one is the Quest. This is the 19th year for the running of the Yukon Quest. It is a 1000 mile race (just like the Iditarod), stretching from Fairbanks, Alaska to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Canada. It takes the same dedication and finances to run the Yukon Quest as it does the Iditarod.

This year, the prizes for the Yukon Quest start at $30,000 for 1st Place. Second is $24,000 and 3rd is $18,000.

Running in the Quest definitely helped me in running the Iditarod. There is a lot to learn about the different trails and it is nice not to have to learn how to camp out and how to run a 1000 mile race as well as learning the trails. Winning the Quest just gave me better ability to find sponsors.

13. What made you want to be a musher?

After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, I took a position in the small arctic village of Bettles as a biologist for U.S. Fish and Wildlife. About 50 miles north of the Arctic Circle, Bettles, population 35, can only be reached by airplane, boat during the summer, and snow mobile or dog sled during the winter. During my first winter, I began exploring the vast wilderness first on a snow machine and then on a dog sled. My first team was a mix of old trap line dogs and green village dogs, and my six four-footed friends and I traveled far and wide. Several years and thousands of miles later, I entered my dog team in a village Christmas race and got hooked.

14. How many dogs do you have in your kennel?

I have about 30 training adults, 13 puppies under a year and 6 retired dogs.

15. Do you have another job besides mushing?

I work once a week at the restaurant/lounge up the street so I can talk to people instead of dogs for a while. Mushing is my full time job.

16. During the Iditarod, what kind of equipment do you take?

Required equipment is an ax, a sleeping bag, snowshoes and a food cooker. Anything else I bring is dog related. Some people bring CD players or tape players, but I don't. I pretty much just bring the basics, food, water and gear.

17. How much food do you take for yourself and your dogs during the Iditarod?

I must send at least 60lbs of food and equipment to each checkpoint. That to me is a lot of food!

18. How far is your house from the nearest town? And how do you get there?

I leave about 45 miles from Fairbanks, Alaska. There is actually a very nice paved road, so I can drive. The just re-did it about 5 years ago.

19. Have you ever had an accident while mushing?

Anything can happen on the trail. I was knocked unconscious once when I fell and hit a rock with my head.

20. Have your dogs ever fought with another dog team during a race, like the Iditarod?

No. Fighting is unacceptable in my kennel. They are also too busy to do things like that on the race.

21. Do you do the Iditarod because it's fun for you or do you do it for the dogs?

I do it because I love to do it and my dogs love to do it. It is amazing covering trails that people or animals have been using for thousands if not millions of years.

22. How fast do you go when you are on your sled?

At the start of the race, my team is usually going about 14 miles per hour. By the end, they are going about 8 or 9. That's an average. Sometimes going on straight-aways or down hills, we can go as fast as 20 miles per hour.

23. How do your dogs survive the cold during the Iditarod Race? How do you take care of the dogs if they get sick or injured during the race?

Good questions! As I talked about earlier, the dogs hair protects them from the cold. I can also put coats and blankets on them to help dogs with shorter hair. The dogs would rather be in -40F than they would like being in 60F or 70F.

The Iditarod has a system of 22 Checkpoints where a group of veterinarians are located. If a dog gets sick or injured, I take care of them with my own extensive doggie med kit until I can get them to the Checkpoint. There I can work with the Vets. Sometimes, with a little love and care, the dog can continue down the trail. If he can't, he is flown out to my sister, who takes care of him in Anchorage or in Two Rivers.

24. Please tell us about your special dog "Skunk".

Skunk was a very special dog. He was the first sled dog I ever had. He was trained to be a trapline dog, which means he knew his commands on a dime. He taught all of my first group of puppies how to run. He taught me so much about dog mushing. He was 17 when he passed away.

25. Is it hard to control the dogs on the sled?

That is what the training is all about. The only controls a musher has on the sled are the brake and the drag. The brake is for hard stopping or steep hills. The drag slows the team down. There are no reins or steering wheel. Everything is done with voice commands. "Gee" means "right", "Haw" means "left" and "whoa" means "we are going to stop". With my team, "whoa" means I am about to hit the brake. The dogs will not stop on their own. A trapline team would do that, but a racing team is trained to go, not to stop.

26. How long have you been racing?

I have been racing for 10 years.

27. How cold does it get when you race and what do you do to prevent getting too cold?

On the Yukon Quest, it tends to be colder than the Iditarod. It was less than -45 F at one point during the race in 1999. The coldest the Iditarod usually gets is -20 F to -30 F.

The clothing I have is specially designed for cold weather. The hardest things to keep warm are my hands and my feet. I am trying a new pair of boots this year and a friend's mother made me a warm pair of beaver mitts.

Thanks for all the great questions. I hope I did them some justice. Enjoy following the race.