Iditarod teams faced a challenging first quarter with bare ground damaging sleds and a dangerous encounter with an aggressive moose that injured a dog.

One party’s camping gear was blown away in the wind. The other’s shelter was destroyed, and they couldn’t start a fire. The Rescue Coordination Center launched from Anchorage but had to turn back due to "extreme conditions".

For a March evening in the Interior Alaska village of Nikolai, Tuesday was warm.