Winterdance: The Fine Madness of Running the Iditarod

Winterdance: The Fine Madness of Running the Iditarod is a non-fiction book written by Gary Paulsen. It was published in 1994 and it also is the inspiration for the Disney movie, Snow Dogs.

Plot

Winterdance tells the story of the first time Gary Paulsen ran the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. The story begins in the woods of Minnesota, where Paulsen lived with his family and his dogs. At first the dogs are a means of transportation and income, but Gary's relationship with his team grows and he decides to run them for pleasure. It is not long before Gary decides to run the Iditarod Sled Dog Race.

Gary had never run sled dogs except on his short runs to check his trap lines. He is also used to a small team of dogs. But in order to run the Iditarod he will have to work his way up to a team of at least fifteen. Suddenly he has to find a bunch of new dogs. Gary is given dogs by friends, people wanting to get rid of their animals, and older sled dogs. He purchases three Canadian sled dogs. Gary soon notices that he doesn’t know much about his new dogs. He gets in multiple wrecks, has to take long walks home after losing the team, and gets into other numerous situations during training. It starts to seem as if Gary doesn’t have the abilities to participate in something like the Iditarod. So he tries to bond with them by living with them, eating, sleeping, and being with them 24/7.

Paulsen still crashes all around Minnesota, running the dogs for hundreds of miles but the Iditarod starts to take shape and form as a real possibility in his mind. The community starts to give him donations of money and gear after the word gets around that he is participating in the race. One giving neighbor donates a truck and drives him to Alaska for the race.

Gary finally arrives in Alaska and spends two months before the start of the race re-training himself and the team. He listens closely to information from veteran mushers and tries to prepare himself for the long journey ahead. Before long it is time for Gary and the team to cross the starting line. Gary begins the race off course and dragging behind the team. Throughout the race Gary encounters stunning views, tragic disasters, and the opportunity to re-evaluate his own life. Gary learns that simplicity is often better than being swept up in money and things. Gary studies the dogs to learn from them and become one of them. His life is absorbed by the dogs and the freedom they bring him. At the end of the story, though, Paulsen learns that he will never be able to run the Iditarod again because he has developed coronary disease.