The brittle cold of Dead Dog Flats is enough to make my parka crinkle as I ladle out the hot mixture of fat and tripe, chicken protein and kibble. One by one the dogs emerge from their houses and, by the time I have gone through the whole yard, a cloud of steam rises above us like a big, collective breath. All our warmth and exhalations are suspended above and around us, encased like a bubble in the -50 night air. Another day like this goes by and yet another. Too cold to run.

Finally a break in the cabin fever-inducing weather and we are back on the trail, cruising along the Yanert River outside Denali National Park. It is 70 degrees warmer than yesterday – a phenomenon that would be front-page news anywhere but here. The runners glide along hard-packed trail and then, like a slow-motion cartoon strip, we are crawling through turquoise-blue water that gloms onto dog booties and runners, caking my boots and turning them heavy as lead.

Overflow, often a product of extreme drops in temperature over a short period of time, occurs when water flowing beneath river ice seeps up through cracks in the ice. As the ice cover on a river thickens, freezing steadily downward toward the river bed, the space available for water to flow is decreased, causing increased flow velocities and pressure.

Mushers who have trained in a particular area for a long time can tell you nearly exact trail conditions based solely on the weather forecast. Four-time Iditarod champion Jeff King has known the Yanert in its best and worst years. After an unusual November deep freeze – when temperatures plummeted to -50 for a two-week stint – King had a feeling the deep, swift Yanert would be as good as ever. Big and fast Alaskan rivers aren’t usually trustworthy until the later winter months, when deep cold has hovered for weeks at a time and unquestionably solidified the waterways. This year, King was putting in 40-mile days on the mighty Yanert by mid-December.

2011 Iditarod photos: The best of the race

Mar 05, 2011

Musher Justin Savidis takes a moment with Orion before the ceremonial start of the 2011 Iditarod.

Stephen Nowers photo

2011 Iditarod photos: The best of the race

Mar 05, 2011

Gerry Willomitzer tries to touch a boom camera as he leaves the 2011 Iditarod ceremonial start line.

Stephen Nowers photo

2011 Iditarod photos: The best of the race

Mar 07, 2011

Mushers crowd the Rainy Pass checkpoint on Monday afternoon.

Stephen Nowers photo

2011 Iditarod photos: The best of the race

Mar 07, 2011

Trail sweeps Lisa Rhoades (center) and Carolyn Craig (left) adjust a bandage on Rick Swenson before he left for Rohn.

Stephen Nowers photo

2011 Iditarod photos: The best of the race

Mar 07, 2011

Jessica Hendricks arrives at the Rainy Pass checkpoint as Rick Swenson prepares to leave on Monday.

Stephen Nowers photo

2011 Iditarod photos: The best of the race

Mar 07, 2011

Mike Santos tends to his dogs in the Rainy Pass checkpoint of Monday.

Stephen Nowers photo

2011 Iditarod photos: The best of the race

Mar 07, 2011

Kristy Barington spreads straw for her dogs Graystone and Weasel in the Rainy Pass checkpoint on Monday.

Stephen Nowers photo

2011 Iditarod photos: The best of the race

Mar 08, 2011

Robert Bundtzen leaves Nikolai as Paul Gebhardt's team sleeps in the sun on Tuesday.

Stephen Nowers photo

2011 Iditarod photos: The best of the race

Mar 08, 2011

Volunteers in Nikolai load dropped dogs on a plane for a flight to McGrath.

Stephen Nowers photo

2011 Iditarod photos: The best of the race

Mar 08, 2011

Fans and volunteers greet Martin Buser as he arrives in McGrath on Tuesday.

Stephen Nowers photo

2011 Iditarod photos: The best of the race

Mar 10, 2011

Kirk Barnum tends to his team in McGrath under the northern lights on Wednesday.

Stephen Nowers photo

2011 Iditarod photos: The best of the race

Mar 10, 2011

One of Mike Williams Jr's dogs rolls in the snow as the team checks in to Iditarod on Thursday.

Stephen Nowers photo

2011 Iditarod photos: The best of the race

Mar 10, 2011

Lance Mackey feeds his dogs in the Iditarod checkpoint during the 2011 race.

Stephen Nowers photo

2011 Iditarod photos: The best of the race

Mar 10, 2011

Trent Herbst was the first musher into the Iditarod checkpoint.

Stephen Nowers photo

2011 Iditarod photos: The best of the race

Mar 10, 2011

Lance Mackey mushes into the Iditarod checkpoint during the 2011 race.

Stephen Nowers photo

2011 Iditarod photos: The best of the race

Mar 10, 2011

Martin Buser talks with fans and volunteers as he readies food for his dogs in Iditarod on Thursday.

Stephen Nowers photo

2011 Iditarod photos: The best of the race

Mar 11, 2011

Dallas Seavey mushes past the church and into Anvik on Friday.

Stephen Nowers photo

2011 Iditarod photos: The best of the race

Mar 11, 2011

Bradley Kruger pets one of Hugh Neff's dogs in the Anvik checkpoint on Friday.

Stephen Nowers photo

2011 Iditarod photos: The best of the race

Mar 11, 2011

John Baker booties his dogs before leaving the Anvik checkpoint on Friday.

Stephen Nowers photo

2011 Iditarod photos: The best of the race

Mar 12, 2011

Lance Mackey arrives in Kaltag in 2011.

Stephen Nowers photo

2011 Iditarod photos: The best of the race

Mar 12, 2011

Sebastian Schnuelle cares for his team after arriving in Kaltag.

Stephen Nowers photo

2011 Iditarod photos: The best of the race

Mar 12, 2011

Ramey Smyth wraps a dog's paw while resting in Kaltag on Saturday.

Stephen Nowers photo

2011 Iditarod photos: The best of the race

Mar 12, 2011

Sebastian Schnuelle spreads straw for his dogs in the Kaltag checkpoint on Saturday.

Stephen Nowers photo

2011 Iditarod photos: The best of the race

Mar 12, 2011

A team travels on the Yukon River between the Anvik and Grayling checkpoints.

Stephen Nowers photo

2011 Iditarod photos: The best of the race

Mar 13, 2011

A crowd surrounds 2011 Iditarod leader John Baker as his arrives in the Unalakleet checkpoint on Sunday.

Stephen Nowers photo

2011 Iditarod photos: The best of the race

Mar 13, 2011

Sonny Lindner mushes out of Unalakleet on Sunday.

Stephen Nowers photo

2011 Iditarod photos: The best of the race

Mar 14, 2011

John Baker approaches the village of Golovin on his way to White Mountain.

Stephen Nowers photo

2011 Iditarod photos: The best of the race

Mar 14, 2011

Ramey Smyth arrives in White Mountain in second place on Monday.

Stephen Nowers photo

2011 Iditarod photos: The best of the race

Mar 15, 2011

Ramey Smyth in the White Mountain checkpoint on Monday.

Stephen Nowers photo

2011 Iditarod photos: The best of the race

Mar 14, 2011

Iditarod leader John Baker of Kotzebue shakes hands with former checkpoint checker Howard Lincoln in White Mountain.

Stephen Nowers photo

2011 Iditarod photos: The best of the race

Mar 14, 2011

John Baker rubs his eyes in the White Mountain checkpoint before taking a nap on Monday.

Stephen Nowers photo

2011 Iditarod photos: The best of the race

Mar 14, 2011

Kevin Apok welcomes John Baker to White Mountain with a sign on Monday.

Stephen Nowers photo

2011 Iditarod photos: The best of the race

Mar 15, 2011

Iditarod fans on Front Street in Nome greet John Baker on Tuesday.

Stephen Nowers photo

2011 Iditarod photos: The best of the race

Mar 15, 2011

John Baker leads his team across the finish line in Nome.

Stephen Nowers photo

2011 Iditarod photos: The best of the race

Mar 15, 2011

Sheldon Katchatag of Unalakleet cheers for John Baker on Front Street in Nome.

Stephen Nowers photo

2011 Iditarod photos: The best of the race

Mar 15, 2011

John Baker talks with the media after winning the 2011 Iditarod.

Stephen Nowers photo

2011 Iditarod photos: The best of the race

Mar 15, 2011

Ray Redington Jr. tips his cap to fans as he approaches the ramp to Front Street in Nome on Tuesday.

Stephen Nowers photo

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Despite the convenience of a hundred miles of trails right out the back door, mushing in Dead Dog Flats [so named by one local who noticed that a) it is so much colder in this little pocket than anywhere else and b) there are more dogs per capita in our neighborhood than there are humans] has its challenges. The micro-climate of the Yanert River bottom often plunges thermometers to their breaking points (-60 for the one outside our house) while minutes away the temperature can be 20 or even 40 degrees warmer. Mushers and dogs must adapt to the climate in order to train and race successfully.

The hot and cold of it

“If you’re mushing through areas like river valleys, you’re basically in the coldest place possible,” says Anchorage National Weather Service meteorologist John Papineau.

The colder the air, the heavier it is, so it tends to slowly drain down from higher elevations especially at night, he says.

“Even from a couple hundred feet or sometimes less, that cold air seeps down to lower elevations and fills them up,” he says.

“Everything is harder in extreme cold,” says King. “Therefore we go slower. Feeding dogs more fat and encouraging them to drink more is important.”

Indeed, hydration for both humans and dogs requires much more effort in extremely cold temperatures.

“Dogs are almost as likely to get dehydrated in extreme cold as they are in extremely warm temperatures,” says Chatanika musher Jodi Bailey. “It’s much more difficult to get fluids into them in the extreme cold because you have to first find and then make fluids.”

For Bailey, successful travel in extreme climates is all a matter of preparedness.

“When you’re dancing with Mother Nature, she leads,” Bailey says. “If you have really good, positive goals for yourself that make sense, then you’re a lot better mentally prepared to handle what the weather throws at you. Then your success or failure isn’t based on something out of your control.”