Iditarod 2014: "Aliy Cam" A Tour of my Dog Sled

As I was traveling down the trail between Nikolai and McGrath during Iditarod this year I remember thinking "I bet folks would like to see what the view looks like from the back of my sled." Well… here you go.



I talk a little about my handlebar headlight, snow hooks, ax, surf board leash, ski poles and drinking thermos with a straw. Then I show parts of my sled: my brake and drag matt. You can see the foot pads that I stand on for miles and miles. There are two pockets on the top of the sled bag. The one closest to me holds: spare gloves, human snacks, headlight and sunglasses. The one at the base holds dog snacks.

As an after thought, I mention the bright orange bootie that holds my GPS tracker: an essential piece of equipment because race fans could actually see where I was throughout the race. Also, as it turned out, the SPOT Tracker was a critical piece of equipment for some mushers who had broken bones, sleds or attitudes and needed to call for help while still on the trail. I never did open my orange bootie and see my SPOT Tracker, but I assume it was the same as every other SPOT Tracker on the Iditarod and had two separate button options to call for assistance. One says "SOS" and one says "Help!" There was one other Tracker on my sled but it had no assistance buttons and was only a GPS locator. This was an entirely new system of tracking Iditarod Mushers this year. The GPS tracker units of prior races never had any assistance buttons.
It is a new age.