Tricks from the trail: Mushers’ gear a part of the game plan

WILLOW — Alaska has one of the most uniquely functional collective fashion sense of any corner of the world, and fur fashion was out in full effect for the restart of the Iditarod in Willow on Sunday. While dogs are naturally equipped with fur, mushers have to find other ways to keep warm.

“Historically the best thing you can wear out here is fur and we might be getting a lot of these modern things but really they don’t work as good as fur does. One of my best friends and great sponsors Robert Miller of Seafur Sewing, he makes my hats my mitts for me. My mitts are super bomber, they’re seal skin lined with sea otter and he provides me with those and he helps a lot of mushers out and he really builds up the mushing community,” said Jessie Holmes, 2018 rookie of the year. “I’m really thankful to sport his stuff and have him support me and he was my handler yesterday. He’s my handler today.”

Miller took a spill that lives in Internet infamy during the start in Anchorage while riding Holmes’ second sled. Miller’s business is on display at the Iditarod, where a handful of mushers go to Miller for the gear that will keep them warm through the harshest Alaskan climates out of the Mat-Su Valley and toward the Bering Sea. Those who admire his work are quick to thank Miller for what he does for the mushing community.

“I’m a 6-foot-8’ 300-pound celebrity,” Miller joked. “I just enjoy helping people.”

While fur is certainly the fashionable outerwear of choice for Iditarod mushers and spectators alike, technological advancements are also helping mushers stay warm out on the trail.

“Columbia asked me to do a product tester for them so I have been doing some of the, they call it ‘beta testing.’ I’ve been trying out new gear, new boots, new pants, new bibs, new everything. They’re coming up with a new line of fabrics and they’re waiting and getting feedback from us,” said four-time champ Martin Buser. “If you’re not comfortable, you can only lie to your body for so long, if you’re not truly comfortable, it’s going to catch up with you.”

Buser sports a Michelin Man style jacket and pants, gearing up for wet conditions with warm weather and snow falling on the restart in Willow. Buser’s massive boots look like something out of a NASA catalogue, but staying warm on the trail takes precedence over looking good. Buser does, however, wear his signature red flannel hat.

Marcelle Fressineau also has gear that provides functionality. Fressineau has written the name of each checkpoint on the canvas sled in kilometers.

“I put kilometers instead of miles because I use kilometers, and here it’s the temperature because I am accustomed to centigrade,” Fressineau said.

While the Redington Jr/Sr High School Huskies have been sporting neon green since the school opened, Robert Redington was the first to make wearing that shade of green hip in the Valley. Redington sports a puffy neon green snowsuit down the trail.

“My color has been green since before the school,” Redington said.

A dog sled seems like a simple concept with straightforward machinations. However, some mushers have found unique preferences to their setup. Nearly every musher that left Willow on Sunday towed behind them a sled full of supplies.

“I might be the only person with a traditional stand up sled. I’ve got no back unit,” Cindy Abbott said. “I took up mushing when I was 53. I wasn’t born into it like Lance and some of these other people. I learned on a stand up sled and I stand up the whole way. I might be the only one with a traditional sled.”

Mackey sports a patch from High Expedition on his otherwise ordinary snowsuit. Mackey took a moment before the start to appreciate his opportunity to race after health concerns have kept him from running in recent years. Mackey put his arms in the air in jubilation, happy just to be racing in the Iditarod, and then applauded the fans who gave him the loudest cheer of any musher in the field. Mackey left the start facing his dogs who were running ahead of the sled, as did the other 51 mushers. However, that is not the only way Mackey can mush dogs.

“I like to spend a lot of time sitting backwards on my sled. That might sound a little weird but it’s a different view that way,” Mackey said. “Try it.”

Contact Frontiersman reporter Tim Rockey at tim.rockey@frontiersman.com.