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Equipment Used On The Race
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Mandatory Gear All mushers are required to carry the following things, at all times, from Anchorage to Nome:
Sleeping Bag - Mushers sometimes use sleeping bags when they rest at checkpoints and along the trail. However, due to the extreme sleep depravation faced by competitors, many choose to sleep in their clothes, because getting into a comfortable sleeping bag makes it more difficult to wake up! The sleeping bags that mushers carry are usually capable of keeping them warm at temperatures of -40 below or even colder. The race rules state that all sleeping bags must weigh 5 pounds or more.
Axe - An axe is one of the most useful pieces of Alaskan survival gear that a musher carries. On the Iditarod, it can be used to remove fallen trees from the trail. If a musher has to start a fire for warmth, an axe is essential. Chopping a hole in river ice can give a musher access to water for their dog team - the most essential type of 'food' consumed by the athletes.
Vet Notebook - A vet book is carried from Anchorage to Nome by each musher and must be presented to a race veterinarian at each checkpoint. Vets will keep track of each dog in the team, writing down any observations of interest so that vets further down the trail can have knowledge about the team at a previous checkpoint.
Snowshoes - Snowshoes help a person walk across deep snow by adding extra flotation to traditional winter footware. By spreading a persons weight over a greater area, walking over several feet of snow becomes much easier! Snowshoes aren't used that often by mushers during the race, but could prove to be essential in emergency situations.
Dog Food - Weather is unpredictable along the race trail. Even the most experienced mushers leave each checkpoint prepared with emergency dog food in case weather forces them to stop. In addition, 'snacks,' consisting of chunks of fish or meat, are often fed to the dogs on short breaks when traveling down the trail.
Dog Food Cooker - Dog food cookers are used to 'make' water while traveling down the trail. Water is the most important thing that the dogs will consume during the race, and with most of the water frozen in snow form, it has to be melted when camping. A dog food cooker has the capability of melting snow to produce several gallons of water in a short time. While many checkpoints provide cold water to mushers, heating it up helps to melt the various meats and fish commonly fed to the dogs. A musher must also carry enough fuel with them on the trail to boil three gallons of water in their dog food cooker.
Promotional Material - Each musher on the Iditarod is required to carry a packet of envelopes that are stamped in Anchorage and 'postmarked' in Nome when the musher arrives, commemorating the historic role that dog teams played in delivering mail in Alaska. These envelopes are later sold to race fans as a fundraiser.
Extra Booties - Booties are important to protect the dog's feet. Contrary to what many people believe, booties aren't used to keep a dog's feet warm. Instead, they are important to protect the dog's feet from abrasion and 'snowballing'. Snowballing occurs when the snow is extremely cold. In certain cold conditons, snowballs will form in between a dog's toes, making it uncomfortable for the dog to run and potentially damaging the athlete's foot. For this reason, mushers will bootie their dogs, preventing the snowballs from even forming. A musher must have 8 booties per dog on the sled or in use at all times.
Additional Gear Often Carried By Mushers:
The following gear isn't required but is often carried by mushers.
Headlamp - A headlamp is a special light source that a musher wears on their head, and is an essential piece of gear on the Iditarod. Most mushers carry several spare headlamps and bulbs, in addition to extra batteries, to ensure that they aren't left out in the dark. While there are many different designs, nearly all headlamps are extremely powerful, lighting up the trail several hundred yards ahead.
Matches/Lighter - Carried to light the Dog Food Cooker, as well as for emergency use.
Vet Kit - A trail vet kit carries only essential dog care items because vets along the trail bring every type of medicine and equipment with them on the trail. Since multiple vets are available at each checkpoint, mushers have no difficulty getting access to the medications they need during the race, if they need any at all.
Included in a mushers vet kit:
Dog Massage Oil - Used by a musher to help a dog relax and soothe sore muscles
Wrist Wraps/Saran Wrap/Plastic Bags - These three items are for wrist care. If a dog has a sore wrist, mushers will ice the soreness shortly after arriving at a rest stop. Following a brief icing, each sore wrist is massaged and wrapped loosely with saran wrap and a wrist wrap. Wrist wraps are commonly made out of Neoprene (wet-suit material), and keep the area warm, helping it heal.
Foot Ointment - used to help heal a dog's sore foot.
Nail Clippers - used to trim a dog's toenails.
Psyllium Powder - added to the food eaten by dogs that have upset stomachs, to help them digest their food.
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Knife/Multi-tool - All mushers carry knives along the trail and use them in multiple situations. They are often used to cut open supply bags and repair equipment. In addition, on the rare occasion that a dog gets badly tangled up in the lines, a knife can cut a line to protect the dog from injury. A 'Multi-tool' has a knife blade and many other useful tools, such as a screwdriver, saw, awl, and pliers, all built into one compact unit. Multi-tools can be used for all sorts of tasks on the trail.
Thermos or Water Bottle - Mushers have to stay hydrated throughout the race. Many mushers carry thermoses, not only to keep warm drinks warm, but also to keep cold drinks from freezing! At -40 below zero, liquids can freeze fast.
Extra Lines - Lines can break while a musher is out on the trail, either the result of dogs chewing on them or wear and tear. Mushers generally carry at least one extra of each type of line: A gangline, a tugline and a neckline. Some mushers also carry an extra harness and collar.
Cooler - Coolers are used to soak and feed dog food along the trail. Instead of premixing each dog's food in an individual dish, mushers use a cooler like a big serving bowl. After passing out the dog dishes, they scoop each dogs helping of food out to them using a ladle. Coolers are also used to soak food prior to feeding, keeping the water from freezing while melting frozen meats.
Dog Dishes - There are many different types of dog dishes used along the race trail. Some mushers carry traditional metal pans, like the ones that people use to feed their house pets. Most, however, elect to carry something lighter, like small plastic pails.
Sled Repair Kit - When a sled breaks a musher can be stuck until they repair it, whether they are out on the trail or in a checkpoint. As a result, the following equipment is carried by many mushers along the trail:
Commonly included in the sled repair kit:
Wrenches/Pliers - Used to replace broken bolts
Spare Bolts - Bolts can break on the trail, and when they do, spare ones are needed to replace them.
Hose Clamps - These round, metal clamps are used to repair wooden or metal supports on the sled. Often a musher will cut a limb off a tree, place it next to the broken part, and use multiple hose clamps to secure the limb in place. This creates a 'splint', much like a doctor can use to fix a person's broken arm.
Duct Tape - Often used to repair clothing.
Electrical Tape - Used to repair headlamps or plastic parts of the sled, such as the handlebar.
Sewing Kit - Used to repair ripped clothing or harnesses.
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Drop Cables - Drop cables are used when a musher chooses to send a dog home with the Iditarod Airforce. When a dog gets sore or tired along the trail, a musher can elect to send the dog home. These cables are used as temporary tethers to secure a dog before and after their airplane ride home!
People Food - Mushers carry whatever food sounds good to them for consumption between each checkpoint. Cheesecake, bagels, jerky, nuts and smoked salmon are common trail favorites.
Garbage Bags - Garbage bags can be used for lots of things along the trail. They can be used to keep gear dry when crossing open creeks and used as emergency rain gear on the rare occasions when temperatures rise above freezing.
Dog Coats - Dog coats keep the dogs warm in extreme wind and cold weather. While sled dogs are specially bred to easily survive the coldest of weather, it is important to the mushers that their dogs are also as comfortable as possible when running and resting. Dog coats help the dogs perform better and keeps them happier!
Watch/Alarm Clocks - All mushers wear a watch to keep track of their running and rest times. Alarm clocks are also essential, and many mushers carry more than one... It isn't easy to wake up when sleep deprivation kicks in! Top competitive mushers will only get two to four hours of sleep a day - waking up from such a brief nap requires a loud alarm!
Human Gear - Mushers also carry some things in their sled to take of themselves - everything isn't for the dogs!
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Commonly carried human gear:
Hand Warmers - Charcoal, chemically activated hand warmers are essential in cold weather.
Emergency Body Warmer - Works just like a hand warmer, but the emergency body warmer is larger than a sheet of paper, and is only used in emergencies.
Extra Gloves - Carried to replace gloves if they get wet or lost
Extra Socks - Carried to replace wet socks
Extra Boot Liners - Having cold feet can be extremely dangerous on the Iditarod, because toes can freeze easily. Carrying dry boot liners allow a musher to essentially replace their wet boots with dry ones, if they encounter open water that soaks their boots.
Extra Clothes - Mushers carry a variety of extra clothing (e.g., jackets, pants, etc), depending on the type of clothing system they choose to wear.
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Human Clothes - Mushers wear a variety of clothing systems on the trail. Northern Outfitters and Cabela's make the two most common 'outfits':
Northern Outfitters has created a special one-layer system that uses foam to insulate people from extreme cold weather. An advantage to this system is that a musher wears the exact same thing whether it is warm or cold out, minimizing the need to carry extra clothing in the sled. This helps to keep the weight of the sled down while also assisting the musher in keeping things simple while out on the trail... When sleep deprivation takes over, it is difficult to keep track of multiple layers of clothing!
Cabela's has designed very popular boots and one piece suits that mushers often use on the Iditarod. This equipment takes advantage of the more traditional 'layering' system, where multiple layers are added or taken off depending on weather conditions.
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For more information about the clothing that many mushers choose to wear, visit the Cabela's or Northern Outfitters websites:
Thanks to the Pike Legal Group, PLLC for supporting this program!
Copyright © 2005-2006, From Alaska Educational Program, All Rights Reserved.
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