Erin Altemus scratches from Iditarod race at Ruby checkpoint
Updated March 11 at 8:33 a.m.
After completing 495 miles of the nearly 1,000-mile Iditarod sled dog race, Grand Marais musher Erin Altemus has scratched at the Ruby checkpoint.
The Iditarod Insider officials said Altemus officially made the call in the best interest of her team at 9:38 a.m. AKST on March 10. When she arrived in Ruby, Altemus had ten dogs in harness, all in good health. She started the race with 16 dogs.
Ruby is the first checkpoint on the famous Yukon River, the longest river in Alaska, stretching 1,875 miles from the headwaters in the Yukon Territory of Canada to the Bering Sea, according to the Iditarod Insider officials.
In an interview with Iditarod Insider officials on March 10, Altemus said she encountered numerous challenges in the 70 miles between the Cripple and Ruby checkpoints. Her sleeping bag fell off her sled, she flipped her sled into a ravine, and two of her dogs started showing signs of shoulder tenderness.
Despite the challenges, she said was determined to continue the race after making it to Ruby and taking a much-needed rest. However, Altemus said her dogs felt uncomfortable traversing the frozen Yukon River.
“I tried all the things. Switch leaders around, I tried running in front of the team. I waited for a second musher to go by,” Altemus said. “It just got worse and worse. Dogs were sitting down on the ice.”
“You could see it in their eyes. They were just done,” she said.
On March 10, her husband, Matthew Schmidt, said in a Facebook post, “Well, my friends, this crazy Iditarod experiment came to a screeching halt this morning, and Erin had trouble leaving the checkpoint of Ruby. At that point, she was in last and couldn’t afford to rest her dogs anymore and get too far behind the leaders, in which she would have withdrawn anyway.”
Schmidt said that Altemus and the sled dog team had been dealing with some intestinal and mental issues and a tougher-than-normal trail. Altemus had also been battling a cold throughout the majority of the race.
He said, “The dogs and Erin are doing well, and we’ll get her back to Anchorage and give her lots of backrubs and love. I know she didn’t give up easy and this was super tough for her. I’d like to say she’ll try again, but I don’t really know yet. It’s a huge sacrifice to get up here to the start line, so we’ll have to re-group and see what happens. Like they say, it’s just a dog race, we’ll be ok, thanks for the love and support!”
During the first half of the Iditarod race, Altemus hovered between 26th to 28th place out of 38 teams. She was one of 16 rookies competing in the annual race.
After deciding to scratch in the best interest of her dogs, she told Iditarod Insiders, “When you have a lot of sponsors and so many people supporting you, it’s hard to end your race. I am, of course, very grateful for all the support.”
While Altemus said it’s a bit premature to think about returning next year to race, she said, “I definitely am in love with Alaska. It’s been amazing to be up here.”
“People have been so supportive, I mean, from the volunteers and the judges,” Altemus said. “It’s been a really wonderful community. Everyone’s been so nice and supportive. A huge part of the experience for sure.”
The Facebook post from Schmidt is below:
Kalli Hawkins March 10, 2024
