A lack of snow is irrevocably changing an historic Alaskan sled-dog tradition

Independent

01-03-2025

The Iditarod, the world's most famous sled dog race, faces its longest course ever due to a challenging lack of snow across the Alaskan wilderness.
This year, mushers and their dog teams will tackle a route exceeding 1,100 miles, over 100 miles longer than the traditional course.
This year's starting line has been moved to Fairbanks for the fourth time in the race's history, a decision prompted by insufficient snow cover near Anchorage and along other sections of the trail. The ceremonial start will still take place in Anchorage on Saturday, followed by the official race start in Fairbanks on Monday.
The challenging conditions have also impacted participation, with musher numbers tying the all-time low set in 2023. Despite the hurdles, the race is set to go on, with the winning team expected to reach Nome, the historic Gold Rush town and race finish line, approximately 10 days after the Fairbanks start.
Here is a by the numbers look at the race:
33
Only 33 mushers will start this year's race, tied with 2023 for the smallest field ever.
The largest field ever was 96 mushers in 2008.
This drop in participants raises concerns about the viability of the iconic race, which has suffered from inflation, pressure from animal rights groups and climate change.
53
The first Iditarod was held in 1973, making this year's race the 53rd.
The inaugural event had 34 mushers start the race, only one more than the smallest fields in 2023 and 2025.
Sled dogs were once the main form of transportation in Alaska. Dog teams hauled freight, brought people to other villages and even provided transport for the Alaska Territorial Guard, or the famed Eskimo Scouts, which patrolled the western coast against Japanese attack in World War II.
Dog teams were supplanted by snowmobiles in the 1960s, but interest was growing to honor Alaska's traditions as the 100th anniversary of its purchase by the U.S. from Russia neared in 1967.
Dorothy Page and Joe Redington Sr. conceived the idea of a long-distance race to honor the Iditarod Trail, a freight-and-mail route from Seward to Nome, which eventually led to the first Iditarod.
This year the Iditarod will honor another famous route: the 1925 Serum Run, in which sled dog teams saved Nome from a deadly diphtheria outbreak.
396 to 528
That's a lot of dogs.
Each musher must have at least a dozen dogs to start the race, but throughout the course, they can have up to 16, meaning there could be up to 528 canines on the trail.
It won't be that crowded in Anchorage, however. Mushers are limited to eight dogs each for the ceremonial start, or a total of 264 tail-waggers.
1,128
The Iditarod is typically called a 1,000-mile race as mushers and their dogs battle the most challenging elements an Alaska winter can throw at them.
However, that mileage has always been approximate.
Organisers alternate between different routes most years to allow more villages in rural Alaska to serve as checkpoints. In odd-numbered years, the race goes 998 miles along the southern route. In even-numbered years, the race's mileage drops to 975 miles on the northern route.
This year's event will set a record for the longest Iditarod: 1,128 miles. Organisers had to reroute competitors around a stretch of trail without snow.
A lack of snow this winter in the state's largest city also has curtailed the ceremonial start. Usually the teams course through 11 miles of Anchorage streets. This year, it's less than 2 miles .
The Iditarod's four-legged athletes will go through a total of about 100,000 booties during the race. They help protect the dogs' paws from snow, ice and frigid temperatures.