Do you love dogs? And snow? The sixth annual 2024 Idaho Sled Dog Challenge is beckoning.
“The Idaho Sled Dog Challenge showcases the remarkable partnership that’s possible between humans and canines and has become one of the West Central Mountains’ most iconic winter events,” race founder and organizer Jerry Wortley said in a statement.
Events kick off with Meet the Mushers on January 20 at the Ponderosa Center in McCall, Idaho, where the public can get up close to the people who drive the dogs. The 52-mile Warm Lake Stage Race runs January 24-25, starting and finishing at North Shore Lodge & Resort. Then come the main events, 100- and 300-mile races starting on January 29.
“Mushers will tell you this is a very, very atypical race,” Idaho Sled Dog Challenge co-founder and trail coordinator Dave Looney said. “Our elevation change is 36,000 feet, which is greater than the Iditarod. They call it a 500-mile race packed into 300 miles. So the dog care and the pacing and the attention they have to pay to the terrain is really important, because there’s a lot of up and down. One musher said the Idaho Sled Dog Challenge is like climbing Mt. Everest — twice.”
The Idaho Sled Dog Challenge is the only 300-mile Yukon Quest qualifier in the lower 48 and one of only three such events for the Iditarod in the contiguous continental U.S. So you can expect to see some of the world’s top mushers in action.
How long does it take to finish such a long and grueling race? Well, that’s a bit unpredictable. Organizers expect the 100-mile race to end January 30, while the 300-milers will cross their finish line somewhere between January 31 and February 1.
If you are feeling the call of the Idaho wild, consider volunteering. The race needs more than 200 volunteers to help with handling dogs, managing parking, setting up and staffing checkpoints, providing food, operating ham radios, and assisting at the start and finish lines.