Martin Buser arrived in Nikolai at about 1:08am (check for the official time using the Insider tools) and survived, conquered, compromised, negotiated a historically difficult trail from Rainy Pass, through the notorious Dalzell (even in a good year the Dalzell takes a toll), exited Rohn to a completely snowless, barren trail Martin described as the most rugged he has ever seen—and he is the musher who has done thirty some Iditarods and won four times.

On arrival at the Nikolai checkpoint, Martin gimped on a badly swollen ankle and gave us details of a trail barren of snow, bare dirt, with the assorted rocks frozen in place like concrete speed bumps on terrifying descents in the Dalzell and always tough going for 20 miles from Rohn to Egypt Mountain. Even the Nikolai Burn, which is known for skimpy snow fall, was a technical nightmare because bare ground was complicated in places with glare ice.

Incredibly, Martin arrived with 16 dogs in harness. 1 am, even on a good night, is the time of day humans tend to be operating reluctantly. Veterinarians, fans, the media were speaking in soft voices in the dark night. I heard a vet say, “They look good”, and Martin confirmed that he believed 16 would accompany him on the trail out of Nikolai. Martin declared his 24 hour without any equivocation. ” I really feel for Maixner if he leaves Rohn after a twenty four hour mandatory. I went from Rainy Pass to Rohn and kept on going to keep the dogs under control.” Further, Martin believed that many mushers were going to have trouble with the trail, especially ones that cannot talk their dogs down in the difficult sections. “I have to take a break, even if the dogs don’t need it,” Martin told the fans.

I asked Martin about hydration on the trail, given the bare ground and lack of snow. He explained that his dogs have been trained to drink cold clear water. At every creek crossing or overflow pool he filled up his cooler with water. “I was watering the dogs constantly.”

Martin’s sled was still in one piece, but a brake tang had been broken off and the drag replaced with an old piece of snowmachine track Martin found along side the trail. In addition, Martin went through four sets of replaceable runner plastic and still arrived on bare runners, the rocks and frozen ground abrading plastic. Martin also had the foresight to design his sled around a thick two inch deep slab of UHMW plastic for runners. Even if he used up his replaceable plastic (mushers can “slide on” new plastic on the runner with a rail system) he had a thick runner of raw plastic to continue. Most mushers don’t have that luxury and I am betting most mushers would not have had that many sets of replaceable plastic. The trail appears capable of marooning a few mushers with broken equipment, given Martin’s description.

Martin removed harness, bedded down his team, fed them a hot meal, and put them to sleep. He walked about three hundred yards to the school, ate some toasted cheese sandwiches, chatted with the crowd, and then settled in for some sleep. He was on top of his game, but obviously tired and hammered by a tough trail to Nikolai.

It is difficult to measure Martin’s advantage to the pack, but he could have at least three hours on Nicholas Petit and Aliy Zirkle and 8 hours on the knot of top mushers led by Mitch Seavey.

Check out video of his arrival and trail images at the Insider.