Brent Sass and his 12 dogs race out of Kaltag, holding onto Iditarod lead
![Profile of man wearing fur hooded coat racing at night time](https://knom.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/IMG_5519-1068x712-1-1024x683.jpeg)
Iditarod musher Brent Sass and his 12-dog team raced out of Kaltag at 10:36 a.m. Saturday, holding onto the lead of this year’s race.
Iditarod teams get some relief with ‘smooth and nice’ Yukon River trail
![Dog sled team running up a snowy hill, sunset in background](https://knom.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/IMG_5915-1068x712-1-1024x683.jpeg)
Iditarod teams have finally gotten some respite from the warmer-than-usual weather and challenging trail conditions that marked the first week of the race.
Iditarod mushers look forward to fast river trail, ready to put the miles of moguls behind them
![Headshot of man with beanie and hood on standing outside in winter](https://knom.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Richie-Diehl-arriving-in-Ruby-1068x712-1-1024x683.jpeg)
Brent Sass continues to lead the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race as he mushes along the Yukon River toward the coast. Sass blasted through the checkpoint here at Ruby early Friday, a tiny Athabascan village.
Brent Sass leads Iditarod to Yukon River
![Close up photo of exhausted man. He is wearing a fur hood with ice/snow covering his head](https://knom.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/IMG_5515-600x400-1.jpeg)
Brent Sass was the first musher to reach the Yukon River in the 2022 Iditarod, pulling into the village of Ruby with 13 dogs just around 6 a.m. Friday.
Wandering bison and bone-jarring moguls challenge back-of-the-pack Iditarod mushers
![Woman sitting on bench putting her foot into a boot with a bag.](https://knom.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/IMG_5219-600x400-1.jpeg)
Yuka Honda ran into about six bison on her way into the Athabaskan village of Nikolai on Wednesday.
Iditarod leaders Dallas Seavey and Brent Sass jockey for first place on way out of Ophir ghost town
![Dog sled team in a line on a trail](https://knom.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/20220308_Nikolai_CHEN-20-1068x712-1-1024x683.jpeg)
Iditarod leaders were leapfrogging each other down the trail on Wednesday, as mushers continue to jockey for position in the early part of the race, and lead changes are common.
Iditarod teams navigate rough, windblown trail into Nikolai
![Iditarod trail of burnt trees. Aerial shot](https://knom.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/IMG_4959-1068x712-1-1024x683.jpeg)
Teams pulling into Nikolai described a snowless section worse than any year in recent memory. “It was not fun,” rookie Hanna Lyrek said. Kristy Berington worried her sled wouldn’t make it. And Hugh Neff said he’d “taken a few Tylenols.”
Aaron Burmeister and his 13-dog team are first to McGrath
![Man on dog sled being pulling by dogs in winter](https://knom.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/20220308_aaron_burmeister_first_to_arrive_McGrath_CHEN-2-1068x712-1-1024x683.jpeg)
Aaron Burmeister and his 13-dog team raced into McGrath at 5:41 p.m. Tuesday in first place.
Aaron Burmeister first Iditarod musher to reach Nikolai, while Brent Sass is first to dash out
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Aaron Burmeister was the first Iditarod musher into the snowy village of Nikolai Tuesday morning, his 13-dog team pulling in at 7:38 a.m.
In early morning hours, first Iditarod teams pull into Finger Lake checkpoint
![Sled Dogs eating during a rest stop in iditarod race](https://knom.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/20220307_Finger_Lake_mushers_dogs_CHEN-25-600x400-1.jpeg)
Iditarod mushers and their sled dog teams started pulling into a chilly Finger Lake checkpoint early Monday in temperatures that hovered between zero and 10 degrees.