SUBLETTE COUNTY – With trail conditions not very good on the Pedigree Stage Stop’s usual dogsled course from the Middle Piney parking lot west of Big Piney, race officials made a quick decision to move it to the previous day’s course on the Upper Green River for Pinedale Stage 3.

Although the competitive mushers and their dog teams – with newcomer Remy Coste still leading over past champion Anny Malo by a shortening edge – had run this course the day before, it was a different race on the morning of Jan. 30.

Before the sun peeked over the Kendall Valley parking lot, the frigid air was a chillier 11 degrees after the previous day’s snow-melting sunshine, according to race director Dan Carter.

Because of the warmth and melting, a cold night froze the snow to a different, sharper texture. As the wind blew a few more degrees off the thermometer, mushers and handlers quietly fell into their rhythms. On went the Big Piney, Marbleton and LaBarge sponsor banners.

As the previous day’s winner, Coste would start last, with second-place Malo ahead of him. Both returned to the finish line less than a scant 2 minutes apart, with Big Piney students there to welcome them. By then, the sun warmed the windy air to 20 degrees.