The Mount Massive Mush is a dogsled race held each year in Leadville Colorado by the Rocky Mountain Sled Dog Club.
This year the race was held on March 3rd and 4th so we packed up the car and headed to Leadville on the night of the 3rd in order to experience our first dogsled race. I was also looking forward to seeing the town of Leadville in the winter.
We were able to find lodging for the weekend via CouchSurfing.org which helped both with the budget and with the location. On the morning of the 3rd we headed out to the Mt Massive Golf Course where the Mount Massive Mush was taking place. We arrived just in time to see some of the 6 dog teams starting their race.
And it was just as exciting to see the teams cross the finish line.
Before I went to the Mt Massive Mush I just thought of dogsled racing as the event with a large team of dogs pulling a musher on a sled. But there are many different types of teams as well as different types of dogs. Some teams are purebred and some are mixed. You can see the break down of the event and the race results here. (PDF)
And there is also ski joring which is when a racer is on skis and not a sled and pulled by a dog or dogs. (Or a horse but that is a different event and a different post.)
All in all it was a great event and well worth the trip to Leadville. The local Lions Club served food and beverages all through out the day in the golf course’s pro shop which also served as a warming shelter though it was pretty warm that weekend.
I took hundreds of photos and shot some video and I am working on getting them uploaded to the web. If you are a racer that was at the event and you’d like some photos please do get in touch.