Crossing literal countries

As Asbjørn Bruun is on the eve of finishing his cross country ski to Nome, let’s explore the history of skiing on the Iditarod Trail. Skiers to both McGrath and especially Nome are few, why you ask? Long distance, expedition style skiing is hard, especially for those of us who haven’t been skiing for most of our lives. It can be hard on your feet, pulling a sled jerks the skier around, carrying a pack can make balance more difficult, the skiers hands are always tied up with poles making it difficult to drink and eat while moving, maintaining kick via wax is challenging, and via other methods like waxless or skin skis are slower, the list of challenges goes on. 

There are few recorded ski attempts on either the Northern or Southern Iditarod routes to Nome, and indeed no official finishes in ITI history. In 2003 Christian Sterr and Barbara Schwarzmann (Germany) skied the ITI Serum Route in 30 days, this 800 mile route ran from Nenana to Nome. In 2000 three people skied the Northern Route as part of the Iditasport race. Dave Norona and Kevin Vallely completed the race in 33 days, while Andy Sterns completed it in 44 days. 

The most well documented account of skiing the Iditarod is recorded in Trails that Never End by Tim Kelley. In 1990 Tim Kelley and Bob Baker skied the Northern Route in a mere 23 days, an incredible time, especially considering that they started in Anchorage (to Eagle River, then drove to the start of Knik Goose Bay Road) and faced multiple days of snow covered with ash thanks to an ill-timed Alaskan volcanic eruption. The trip was called Nome Odyssey, and was a race between two skiers and two bikers, Roger Cowles and Bob Forney. You’ll have to read the book to find how Roger and Bob set up their bikes before fat tire bikes could be bought in a shop, and who won the race.

A handful of other independent expeditions occurred in the 80s and 90s. The earliest trip was in 1980 when Dolly Lafever and Mike Sallee skied the Northern Route to Nome in 40 days. In 1986 Jan Kralik skied from Nome to Knik in 42 days, again on the Northern Route. In 1991 Bob Fusco skied the southern route with a bonus 78-mile detour, and a 10-day stop to recover from food poisoning, all in 53 days.

Disclaimer - this summary is from limited research. If you wish to learn more about skiing on the Iditarod trail and remote skiing in Alaska and the Arctic, we suggest you check out Trails that Never End by Tim Kelley, and Canyons and Ice by Kaylene Johnson. I’m sure there are several other resources out there and we apologize in advance for missing them. Also see Lars Danner’s blog post. 

Soon Asbjorn Bruun will join these giants of expedition skiing legend, and he’s worked hard for this success. He first skied the ITI in 2019, reaching McGrath in 7 days, 11 hours. In 2020 he made it as far as Unalakleet where he became part of the Unalakleet 8, when eight athletes bound for Nome were all stopped because the sea ice in Norton Sound broke up. Asbjorn was back in 2022 when he made it just past Shaktoolik, before getting nabbed with frostbite on one finger. 

This year, less part of a finger, we’ve no doubt that Asbjorn’s incredible trail energy, positive attitude, and oatmeal will fuel him under the burled arch in Nome. For those of you that haven’t been lucky enough to cross paths with Asbjorn on the trail, his optimistic nature, smile and unstoppable steady stride have been a welcome sight for many an ITI athlete. Learn a little more about Asbjorn from this ITI athlete profile. If you’re watching Trackleaders, don’t look away for too long because he’s closing the gap to Nome in short order.

In a race where few skiers have ever made it to the waters of the Bering sea, we have five athletes who may make it to Nome. Other skiers with a few more miles to go include Jan Francke, Petr Ineman, Joshua Brown and Sunny Stroeer. Incredibly, they all push on despite struggles with cold injuries to the hands, destroyed boots, fatigue and sore feet.

Asbjorn is currently leading the charge into Nome, after crashing last night at McKinley Creek cabin, he’s through White Mountain and heading into the Topcock Hills. Today he’s making some of the fastest speeds of the entire race, and appears to have been averaging 4-6 mph most the day. Ryan and Gavan are resting in White Mountain, Gavan just arrived and Ryan has been there for a couple of hours. 

Leah is past Golovin and starting the crossing of Golovin Lagoon. We suspect everyone is trying to get across the lagoon as soon as possible, given the current storm warning (more on that later). Leah was hoping to make it to Golovin last night, continuing past Walla Walla cabin a short distance, but turned around pretty quickly. We’ve heard from Leah that she felt too tired to push into the storm last night, and woke up to a fresh blanket of snow this morning. Jan is approaching Golovin lagoon with moving speeds around 5 mph. There’s got to be a good tailwind out there that’s helping the skiers out! Jan reports that “the most important places in these villages are the schools and post offices.” 

Christof and Beat left Elim around 7am this morning and pushed hard all day, taking a break at McKinley Creek cabin, and just recently departing for the first part of the Golovin Bay ice crossing. They have recently pulled a significant distance away from Faye and Jeff, who may be feeling the fatigue of weeks on the trail. Faye reported that it was very warm today, that it felt crazy after so many weeks of cold, and that the trails are very soft now. Brandon arrived in Koyuk last night around 11pm, rested until 3pm today, and has 41 miles to reach Elim. Hendra should be arriving in Koyuk soon after a successful sea ice crossing. 

Joshua and Mark are currently crossing from Shaktoolik to Little Mountain cabin, where they’ll have to make the choice to hurry across right away, or get some rest and wait a bit. Petr has passed the Foothills cabin and is 17 miles from Shaktoolik. Sunny is only about 4 miles behind Petr. Both loaded up on pizza in Unalakleet and have hopefully been stuffed to overflowing. Sunny reported that her thumb is a bit worse, but she got some extra pizza and extra rest in Unalakleet. 

The following special weather statement is still in effect for all coastal areas where racers are present: Elevated Water Along the Southern Seward Peninsula Coast through Thursday. Strong southerly winds will result in elevated water levels along the southern Seward Peninsula coast through Thursday. This will cause water to rise up through cracks in the sea ice and push water on top of the ice in some areas. Some coastal trails on the ice or near the shore could become inundated with water. Ice shoves may be possible for vulnerable coasts along south-facing coastlines. Residents living along the coast are encouraged to monitor current conditions before venturing out on the sea ice.

The storm may have significant impacts on racers, but as Faye reported to us earlier, the locals say it doesn’t sound too bad. This interpretation from Jay Cable is helpful, where the trail is on ice it could be wet, for example Shaktoolil to Koyuk and around Golovin. The tailwind should be helping racers out, but if it snows it will not be good for the bikers. These conditions shouldn’t be dangerous as long as everyone is making good decisions. With luck, there will be no major impacts to racers crossing or attempting to cross the sea ice of Norton or Golovin Bays. I’m sure that they, like us, will be watching it closely. In the meantime, hopefully the winds that appear to generally be favorable, will stay that way.

Author: Amber Crawford

Photo credit: Sunny Stroeer