The mushers are on their way to the 5th checkpoint, Rohn, facing the infamous Dalzell Gorge. Once they are out of Rohn, the dog teams get to meet some of the roughest parts of the trail - the Alaska Range.

The first to get to Rohn

Even though Ryan Redington wasn’t happy about being the frontrunner at this stage, he gets first to the Rohn checkpoint.

Aaron Burmeister and Mille Porsild are following him.

The roughest part of the trail

Out of Rohn, the dog teams meet some of the worst trails of the race.  They even say if you’ve made it to Nikolai, you’re through the toughest trail.

The trail from Rohn to Nikolai comes with some extra challenges this year, not a lot of snow and mostly windy.

Aaron Burmeister and his 13 dogs are first to arrive at Nikolai. He said the trail was made of “blue glare ice, dirt and rocks” and was the roughest run from Rohn that he’s ever had.

 Ryan Redington and Richie Diehl are the next mushers to get to Nikolai.

Let’s hope all the mushers will get safe and sound to Nikolai.

McGrath and Ophir checkpoints

As we are writing this, most of the teams have already reached checkpoint Ophir after getting through McGrath one. Ophir is the 8th checkpoint on the trail in the Northern Route.

Here’s an update on the current top 10-standing:

1 • Brent Sass

2 • Hugh Neff

3 • Ryan Redington

4 • Mitch Seavey

5 • Dallas Seavey

6 • Richie Diehl

7 • Mille Porsild

8 • Jessie Holmes

9 • Paige Drobny

10 • Michelle Phillips

Find here the full Overview & Tracking