Tales From the Trail

The Iditarod Trail, that is.

Tales of Trouble on the Iditarod Steps

PUNTILLA LAKE -- It's a thin margin that separates a musher's chances of having a good time on the descent from a bench above the Happy River to the valley below or having a harrowing, maybe painful experience.

Worst-case scenario: An injury or broken sled can knock a musher out of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

The three steep ramps that make up the infamous drop to the river -- called the Steps -- is one of the most dangerous sections of the Iditarod Trail.

Rick Casillo comes over the last drop as he comes down the steps onto the Happy River between the Finger Lake and Rainy Pass checkpoints during the 2014 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Monday, March 3. BOB HALLINEN — Anchorage Daily News

This year, concern over the Steps was heightened, with a hard and icy trail that made it difficult for mushers to slow down or brake even on flat ground. But whether the Steps, which come just before teams begin the climb over the Alaska Range, were a dream or a nightmare depended on the musher telling the tale.

If the musher made it without crashing, it was the best they'd ever seen the Steps, and they commended the trail grooming crew.

A wipeout meant it had been the worst.

Read the whole story at the link.