Over the course of 1,049 miles through the remote wilderness of Alaska, Amanda Otto, 2012 graduate of Teton High School, and her team of dogs ran the Iditarod for the second time, finishing in 8th place among top contenders in the sport and ahead of two previous Iditarod champions.

The Iditarod is the pinnacle of dog sled races as the mushers and their dogs must traverse a variety of elements and changing trail conditions for several days as they work to reach the city of Nome as the finish line. This year’s 52nd running made history as four women finished in the top 10 for the first time ever with Otto, Paige Drobny, Mille Porsild, and Jessie Royer as the mushers to make history.

Otto, a Pocatello native who also spent time in Driggs, moved to Alaska in 2016 and found her passion in working with and traveling by Alaskan Huskies. She resides in Denali training dogs at a small kennel called Husky Homestead, under the direction of Jeff King, a world-renowned musher who ran dogs for over 30 years.

This year, the race allowed mushers to field 16 dogs; Otto brought 14 of her own and one other dog from a friend.

According to Mark Nordman, Iditarod Race Director, Otto raced extremely well, especially considering this race as her second Iditarod and having a team she raised herself.

“For her to finish 8th with the dog team that she raised is pretty damn impressive. She did a really, really good job, and it wasn’t an easy race this year. There were a lot of 20, 30 below weather for days on end,” said Nordman.

Nordman and Otto spoke to the ever-changing weather and how it can be the most challenging aspect on the Iditarod trail. One of Otto’s favorite sections on the Yukon River saw temperatures 40 below, but she still found it awe-inspiring as the Aurora Borealis came to light up the sky for the mushers.

“I genuinely really enjoy the solitude, you know, getting to travel alone with my dog team and the luminaries of the nighttime sky,” explained Otto. “[The Yukon River] is an incredibly vast section of trail, and it really humbles you. It kind of makes you feel like you’re this speck on the timeline of eternity. This time around, it did not disappoint with the aurora out, and though it was 40 below, it was a beautiful run.”

Otto remarked that her team actually made it through the notoriously difficult sections of trail — Happy River Steps, Dalzelle Gorge and the Post Rohn Glacier — relatively smoothly; leaving the Alaska Range, glare ice and a notoriously void of snow section called “The Burn’’ some 900 miles behind without a wayward glance. Seventy miles from the finish line, they faced their biggest obstacle.

Winds gusted around 60 miles per hour. Her lead dogs were out of sight and only the pups five feet in front of her were visible. Their sled got blown 30 ft off course from the trail, headed towards the sea ice with only thirty miles until the finish line.

“The Iditarod landscape and weather is always changing,” explained Nordman about the section. “You can be sitting in our checkpoint at 77 miles from the finish line called White Mountain, and it can be bluebird day, and the sun’s out and warm. Go 50 miles and you’re into a hellacious storm. [Otto] got caught in what we call Blowhole. That’s where you have these ground storms where you may be able to look up and see a blue sky at ten feet, but no exaggeration, you can’t see five feet in front of you.”

Otto and her team were literally blown some 30 feet off of the trail and had to set about looking for scratches on the ice, in the dark, to indicate the direction of the trail with another racer who joined her off course by accident.

“You get to really see kind of what you’re made of in those conditions,” said Otto.

Otto’s team held together and angled back on course to take their position in the top ten. She attributes their ability to get back to the trail at all to the calm and composure her team maintained through such challenges, and the comradery with fellow mushers Pete Kaiser and Jessie Royer during the storm.

“I think some of those challenges are minimized when you are truly a single organism, when you are one with your dog team,” explained Otto. “They have to trust you, and I firmly believe we had minimal issues because of that deep rapport and also being able to handle a sled pretty well. But, more than just the relationship with your dogs matters—having that trust is key to getting through those things. They’re willing to do just about anything because they know it’s all going to be okay as long as you’re at the helm.”

Otto’s racing strategy of resting early, following a steady feeding schedule, and rotating through her leaders according to their skill was paramount to their finish, and it all paid off for her as they worked through the issues. Otto predicted they really could have come in sooner had there not been an unexpected four-hour stop at Finger Lake and around an hour and a half lost behind slower teams going through sections she couldn’t pass in.

Racing against seasoned veterans and placing with mushers who had run the Iditarod for at least 20 years testified to the work Otto put into her team and their training; however, the finish meant more to her as a trainer and musher as her team came in healthy, happy, and ready for more.

“To watch dogs that you’ve raised and trained literally from the day of their birth to crossing under the Burled Arch in Nome and in the top ten in that particular field, as a trainer, it makes you feel like you’ve won it all. Aside from a couple veterans who were on the scene when I got here, this is really my dog team so that was really special for me.”