Jeff King’s latest invention for Iditarod 2019: An easy-access tow sled – KTUU.com

RAINY PASS, Alaska (KTUU) – Four-time Iditarod champion Jeff King is renowned for his inventions and technological improvements to mushing equipment, and for 2019, King is giving a trial run to a new type of sled bag that opens from the front for easy access.

Four-time Iditarod champion Jeff King shows off his easy-access tow sled, his newest addition for Iditarod 2019. (KTUU)

The sled bag has no zippers and King says he is really liking the ability to get to his equipment quickly.

King pioneered the use of the sit-down sled that allows a musher to get off their feet on the trail. The sled has become ubiquitous for distance mushers who spend hours on runners.

In 2018, King used extra-wide runners that better allow a sled to glide over soft snow. The four-time Iditarod champion, who is based out of Healy, is using them again. He thinks he is using the widest runners any musher has fitted on a sled in Iditarod history.

Trail breakers and some athletes relying on human power, say the 80-mile stretch of trail between Ophir and Iditarod is incredibly soft. The stretch between Nikolai and McGrath was described as being the consistency of “mashed potatoes.”

Channel 2’s Blake Essig and Tracy Sabo contributed to this report.