The Yukon Quest trail into Alaska is covered in deep, fresh snow. And the Yukon River is a maze of jumble ice. It’s where dog teams are headed next. The top two teams are well ahead of their competitors, but the three teams that rounding out a group of front runners are confident they can make up the time.
Two years ago, Brent Sass drove his team into Eagle with a dramatic story about a rescue on top of American Summit, but a reroute of the trail this year eliminates the summit. The six-time Quest finisher is at his best driving dogs over tough trail and in poor weather, but Sass doesn’t mind this year’s change. "Those are definitely the places where I can make up time but those are definitely places where I can lose time if someone needs help. I definitely lost time helping out Hans Gatt that year. I mean another 50 miles on the river could be good for us as well," he says.
The reroute could also help Jake Berkowitz gain time up front. He has a mixed team of veterans and young dogs. He says he’s working on rounding out the youngsters for a long mushing career. “Our goal isn’t to win the Quest this year, our goal is to win the Quest for the next ten years and getting those two years out in good fashion is what’s gonna do that for us.”
Rookie Scott Smith says his dogs are already primed for the Alaskan side of the trail. Seven of them finished fourth in last year’s Iditarod. Smith is considered this year’s dark-horse. “Shhh. Be very, very quiet. We’re hunting mushers," he jokes. Smith admits to a few rookie mistakes that might keep him from making up the time he needs to catch the teams in front of him. “Just not being as efficient as I could. That’s cost us a little bit of time," he says. "When I say efficient, just my stop time on the trail, I need to work on that, because every minute that you’re stopped on the trail is another minute that you’re not moving down the trail, so it’s like two minutes, you know.” But Smith could get lucky. The first few teams will break trail through fresh snow into Alaska. But there are still 500 miles of trail, notorious for sub-zero temperatures, dangerous overflow and poor trail conditions.