Living & Working in Great Places

Sheep Mtn Lodge Owner Zack Steer Takes 3rd in 2007 Iditarod

Anjanette and Zack Steer own and operate Sheep Mountain Lodge, on the Glenn Highway in Alaska. We hear it's a great place to work.

Zack just took 3rd place in the Iditarod, getting it done in 9 days, 12 hours, 46 minutes and 47 seconds. We got a vicarious thrill out of tracking Zack on the web during the race - Cool Works has helped Sheep Mountain Lodge with their recruiting for a few years now.

Some excerpts from Zack's wrap up, sent out to fans on March 25:

"As you know this year's race was a success. The dogs received about 3000 miles of training in the Sheep Mountains leading up to the Iditarod and the results speak for themselves. We finished in a strong third place amongst the 80 mushers who started.

It was a challenging race this year. It seemed there was a constant headwind the first week of the race and temperatures were extremely cold through the Alaska Range and Yukon River. Compounded by the fact that there were many miles of snowless trail the race shaped up to be one of the hardest ever (race veterans like Rick Swenson, Jeff King and Martin Buser all commented on how difficult the trail was this year).

My dogs performed well throughout the race, consistently posting some of the fastest run times between checkpoints. I gave them extra rest in the first half of the race which helped provide for a reserve of energy in the last few days. My sled held together with just minor repairs necessary at a few checkpoints. We stuck to our race plan the first week and improvised where necessary at the end. I had five lead dogs who each took turns up front throughout the race. Their names are Diamond, Feta, Gasket, Curry and Columbia.

There were times during the race where I was tired, the dogs were tired, or things weren't going exactly according to plan. I only had to think of my friends and family who were cheering us on from home beside their computers to give me that extra boost of incentive to make it to the next checkpoint. Your support really was felt out on the trail. Thanks for pulling for Team Steer. At this point I'm not sure if we'll be entered in next year's race, but if we do - watch out!

Zack Steer"

What a race - what an accomplishment. Congrats Zack.