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Robert Sorlie’s Tip

"He was the dog of my heart"

by June Price

03/14/2005

In 2003, writing for Cabela’s, Joe Runyan wrote, "The red-suited musher I saw on the first evening of the Iditarod just outside of Nenana, Alaska with a big, black leader named Tip that looked 10 feet tall has arrived in Nome at 9 days 15 hours 47 minutes and 36 seconds and is now the indisputable 2003 Iditarod Champion. Tip, the team leader didn't make it to the finish line. He was left in Unalakleet with a shoulder tick but deserves mention for his work to the front. His colleagues Takk and Blue led the eight-dog Iditarod champion team, the best long distance canines in the world, to the finish line on Main Street Nome." The musher was Robert Sorlie, currently leading Iditarod 2005. The dog in question was Tip.

For most of us, that was the last we heard of Tip, the dog that so impressed former race champion Runyan throughout the race. Looking over Runyan’s shoulder once again this year, him with Outdoor Life, me with the Iditarod, I found out "the rest of the story," however.

Much to my surprise, I discovered that Sorlie, a quiet man who seems to have a magic touch with dogs but no ego, had been forced to sell Tip even before the race simply to get to it. Tip’s sale helped finance Team Norway. Iditarod 2003 was his last run with Tip. Even with the Outdoor Life cameras running, the catch in Sorlie’s voice was audible. His eyes taking on a far away look, Sorlie pays tribute to him simply by saying, "He was the dog of my heart."

Rolex, a dog still running with Sorlie as I type, is expected to replace Tip. Although young, he’s displaying many of the traits that have made the likes of Tip and Takk, one of Sorlie’s Golden Harness winners, so impressive to mushers who’ve seen some pretty good dogs in their day.

Although the rest of the interview properly belongs to Runyan and Outdoor Life, I will share a few comments Sorlie shared in passing. I have to admit, I couldn’t resist asking what I considered a dumb question, if his dogs understood English.

No, laughed Sorlie, going on to tell me the commands in Norwegian, although I won’t even make a stab at spelling them here. I thought of this while softly stroking a dropped dog from Bjornar Anderson’s team a few days ago, hoping someone who spoke their language was nearby. As I turned out, they were. Team Norway is strongly supported by the Sons of Norway, based in Anchorage. Sorlie’s wife is also headed to Anchorage, and then on to Nome, so the dogs will have someone else to talk to them in a language they understand although, who are we kidding? Ear scratches and belly rubs translate the same in any language, a happy dog.

At that point, just days before the start of the race as the Team Norway dogs were being given EKG’s and having blood work done, Sorlie seemed cautiously confident of a Top Five finish. He even grinned widely when asked about the chances of rookie Anderson, his nephew.

"I’m afraid of my nephew," he said, meaning he felt that with a few breaks, Bjornar might be one of the ones chasing at his heels toward Nome. Sorlie was right. Bjornar is currently running 11th, seemingly glue to the heels of four time champion Doug Swingley, who is in the tenth position.

Sorlie was relaxed and openly friendly, chatting with not just Joe Runyan (about mules!) and this reporter but anyone who wandered up. He was staying in nearby Knik and when asked to compare the trails of Norway with the trail out of Knik, although the word "bumpy" eluded him briefly, his description of the Iditarod Trail out of Knik was clearly of one that was very bumpy. Body language can be quite effective. He did note that he’d been training and running on snowy trails in Norway, so the then expected deep snow along the route would be nothing new to him.

Well, the weather took a change and it seems to have been as much slush and warm weather as deep snow and cold but it doesn’t seem to have slowed his pace. Currently, although several other mushers are hot on his heels, if he isn’t overtaken, it looks like Sorlie could clam his second Iditarod championship in the next day or so. For someone who describes his life as "training dogs, all the time training dogs," it’ll be a satisfying end to the racing season.