There is mixed emotions here after the preventable tragedy that took place on the Iditarod Sled Dog Race in Alaskan where a drunk snowmobiler deliberately attempted to hit one team with his machine and then hit another musher's team at speeds of 80mph resulting in killing one dog (Nash) and injuring three others.
Most of us mushers have had problems with irresponsible humans while we have been mushing. They are only a very small percentage of the people we share the trails with. Being drunk is no excuse for a deliberate act of trying to hurt others. It is hoped that the authorities make an example of this individual showing that we will not put up with such lack of respect for the Nature and others.
Now on a more positive note.
The warm weather this last week has caused a major thaw of the snow here.
we have in a space of a few days lost about 60cm of snow.
Unfortunately, this has caused problems for running the dogs due to soft/punchy trails earlier in the week and then icy sections of the 4.5 mile trail making it too dangerous to run the dogs.
The puppy loop was okay on Wednesday, so we were able to get out two teams of puppies. However, the temperatures dropped below freezing and with the melt resulted in icy trails.
On Wednesday, you can see in the video that the puppies got exposed to some ice, punchy trails and water. It is important that they get exposed to these conditions when they are young so they won't have problems later if they meet these types of conditions in a race.
We have been spending a lot of time working in the kennel digging the dog houses out of the snow.
With the warm weather and the work done in the kennel, the dogs are enjoying the break from the sever weather we experienced over the last several weeks.
It looks like Spring is starting to arrive here.
Please take time to reflect on the tragedy that took place yesterday in Alaska, enjoy the Nature of the forest but at the same time respect all of its inhabitants.
Until next week.....
Most of us mushers have had problems with irresponsible humans while we have been mushing. They are only a very small percentage of the people we share the trails with. Being drunk is no excuse for a deliberate act of trying to hurt others. It is hoped that the authorities make an example of this individual showing that we will not put up with such lack of respect for the Nature and others.
Now on a more positive note.
The warm weather this last week has caused a major thaw of the snow here.
we have in a space of a few days lost about 60cm of snow.
Unfortunately, this has caused problems for running the dogs due to soft/punchy trails earlier in the week and then icy sections of the 4.5 mile trail making it too dangerous to run the dogs.
The puppy loop was okay on Wednesday, so we were able to get out two teams of puppies. However, the temperatures dropped below freezing and with the melt resulted in icy trails.
On Wednesday, you can see in the video that the puppies got exposed to some ice, punchy trails and water. It is important that they get exposed to these conditions when they are young so they won't have problems later if they meet these types of conditions in a race.
We have been spending a lot of time working in the kennel digging the dog houses out of the snow.
With the warm weather and the work done in the kennel, the dogs are enjoying the break from the sever weather we experienced over the last several weeks.
It looks like Spring is starting to arrive here.
Please take time to reflect on the tragedy that took place yesterday in Alaska, enjoy the Nature of the forest but at the same time respect all of its inhabitants.
Until next week.....
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