Iditarod, Sacha’s Experience – Earth’s Last Great Race

 

VBSR’s Sacha Ididarod 2016: The Ididarod Insider team. Photo Jeff Schultz

 

“It’s cold, stark and eerily quiet, but it’s one of my favorite places to be,”

says Sacha Gros when speaking of spending time on the Iditarod trail. On March 5 of this year, Sacha ventured out on a snowmachine as a part of the Iditarod Insider to capture the magic of the race in photos and film. This was his 9^th year participating in the event.

This year 85 racers started in Willow, Alaska and began the 1100 mile trek over tundra, frozen rivers, through mountain passes and finally over the sea ice to reach Nome, Alaska. There were 71 finishers, with Dallas Seavey earning his 4^th championship title (including prize monies and a sweet, new pickup to haul the pups around). This year he set a record time of 8 days 11 hours 20 minutes and 8 seconds, a pretty amazing feat considering trail conditions caused even the snow-machiners (snow mobilers) to travel under 10 mph at times. His father Mitch, an Iditarod veteran, followed a close second about 45 minutes behind.

Sacha was approached about this job because of his experience riding in the Iron Dog Race, which closely follows the Iditarod trail on snowmachines. He jumped at the opportunity and has enjoyed many sleepless hours on the trail; this year logging a cumulative 27 hours in 10 days.

Learn More about Iditarod

For photos and videos of the trail, click here to see the magic. The “Run dogs, run” videos often have the best representation of how barren and beautiful remote Alaska can be. Other links to check out are: Jeff Schultz  , Map of race

Next time you’re skiing in Vail, stop in to Vista Bahn Ski Rentals and ask Sacha to share his pictures and memories. And if you look in the shop of the far wall by lockers, you can see Sacha racing the Iron Dog Race!