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Hi, ADN Iditarod fans,

The second full day of racing saw most Iditarod teams successfully cross the Alaska Range and descend down the far side of the mountains after battling some pretty rough weather conditions.

Mushers and their teams dealt with strong wind and deep cold as they crossed the mountain range Monday evening and overnight. Several top teams arrived in Nikolai by Tuesday afternoon, where temperatures bottomed out around 35 below zero earlier in the day.

Now competitors are making their way toward checkpoints at the headwaters of the Kuskokwim River, where many will begin taking their mandatory 24-hour rests.

The challenging weather prompted the first scratch of this year's race. Rookie Jaye Foucher of New Hampshire withdrew upon reaching Rainy Pass this morning.

Foucher told Iditarod Insider that she’d been battling 60-mile-an-hour winds on the way to Finger Lake, during which she’d collided with a tree and gotten the handlebars of her sled stuck.

Jaye Foucher of Wentworth, New Hampshire, passes through the Trailgate party on the Chester Creek Trail during the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race ceremonial start in Anchorage on March 7. (Marc Lester / ADN)

Competitors were led into the Alaska Range on Monday by defending champion Jessie Holmes, who was also the first to reach (and quickly leave) the Nikolai checkpoint on Tuesday. He tossed his planned strategy to, well, the wind, telling Iditarod Insider that the strong headwinds forced him to forgo resting along the trail on the crossing through Rainy Pass. 

Unable to find a decent place to camp, Holmes pushed through, making an abnormally long eight-hour run to the Rohn checkpoint.

“Sometimes you’ve just gotta shoot from the hip, man. And I just didn’t want to risk the dogs getting beat up in that weather,” Holmes told Insider.

The musher and former cast member on reality TV's “Life Below Zero" who homesteads off the Denali Highway has made it clear that he's aiming to become a back-to-back winner.

Defending Iditarod champion Jessie Holmes, of Brushkana, greets people during the Iditarod ceremonial start in downtown Anchorage on March 7. (Marc Lester / ADN)

Holmes has put pressure on himself to repeat his victory, he told the Associated Press before the Iditarod's ceremonial start. He called this year’s race the most important of his career. Many mushers have won the Iditarod multiple times, but only two — Susan Butcher and Lance Mackey — won their second title the year after getting their first.

There's still a lot of trail between the competitors and the burled arch in Nome, so stay tuned — we'll bring your more updates as we have them. As always, thanks for reading!

Happy trails, 

Megan Pacer
mpacer@adn.com

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