John Stewart racing in the Gichigami Express dog sled race.
A Scottish adventurer has spoken of his battle with temperatures of -40C as he competed in a 180-mile dog sled race.
John Stewart faced freezing and blizzard conditions as he raced in the hills of Minnesota in the US in the first week of the new year just as a big freeze gripped the country.
Mr Stewart, formerly of Aberdeen, is a professional dog sled racer and entered the Gichigami Express race, near Grand Marais.
The Aviemore resident was accompanied by 12 dogs along the three stages of the 180-mile race.
He started the final stage in first place among 13 ‘mushers’, but as temperatures dropped to -40C and the wind chill plummeted to -63C, he found himself being overtaken in the final stage of the race by his team-mate Buddy Streeper.
Mr Stewart, 28, who is a former Scottish and British junior sprint champion, finished second with an overall time of 15 hours, 45 minutes and 10 seconds, just under three minutes behind his Canadian team mate, who took first place.
He said: “The terrain was demanding due to the hills and because of the weather conditions during the race it became colder. The windy conditions didn’t help and we also had a fair bit of snow.”
