Iditarod rookies reported some rough trips down the steep and windy Dalzell Gorge. Part of Eric Kelly's sled broke. Gerhardt Thiart briefly lost a dog.
Iditarod rookie describes trip down steep and twisty Dalzell Gorge as ‘just zip, zoom, zag, bing, bang, boom’Joe Taylor sets off down the trail from Rohn on Tuesday. “I just put on a fresh pair of socks, so my mood totally changed,” Taylor said at the checkpoint.
“It was great, compared to last year,” said Brent Sass as he quickly tore open his drop bags and loaded his sled. “Easy, enjoyable.”and some very tight turns. “They act like they haven’t done anything all winter so they start bombing down here at 100 miles per hour,” said Seavey. “It’s just zip, zoom, zag, bing, bang, boom — like a pingpong ball through there, you just gotta drive,” she said. “I can see how people can break sleds in there.”
Another rookie, Gerhardt Thiart of South Africa, also had a misstep. After a rough ride on a descent that involved several strong bumps into trees, he turned a sharp corner to realize his lead dog was missing. Somehow, its clip had broken in one of the collisions, allowing it to run ahead