North to Nome!

With Eric Thomason’s finish this morning around 2am, the 350 race is now completed. Eric scratched last year due to frostbite, but came back and got ‘er done this year despite a 10 mile detour on the Skwentna river. Doug Amidon and Brian Hamilton finished on Tuesday morning. As these final 350 racers enjoy the cozy confines of the McGrath Community Center, the 1,000 racers are dragging themselves away and striking out into the most isolated portion of the course. 

There are two routes for the Iditarod sled dog race, the Northern (even years) and Southern (odd years) Routes. Initially only the Northern Route was used, which could be difficult on small villages that had to manage large numbers of mushers, dogs, and other people. In 1977 the Southern Route was established, allowing additional villages to participate in the race and alleviating some pressure from Northern Route villages.

The Northern Route gets more local traffic than the Southern Route, such as local residents traveling from village to village. This means that racers on the Southern Route may experience more difficult trail conditions and be more isolated between villages or Iditarod checkpoints. ITI racers will typically follow the established Iditarod route as much as possible because increased traffic and resources associated with the Iditarod sled dog race makes the route passable.

On the Northern Route between McGrath and Ruby, racers have few resources other than what they carry. ITI provides a drop at Cripple that will include the racers drop bag as well as fuel for their camp stoves. The North Fork Innoko and Carlson Crossing (called Collins Crossing on Trackleaders map) shelter cabins are both located between Ophir and Cripple. 

There are approximately 12 shelter cabins along the Iditarod Trail west of Rohn. The cabins vary in construction and amenities, typically including a wood burning stove, wooden bunks, and hopefully a door that will shut. These cabins are not reservable, and are available for all trail users. Most of these are at least loosely maintained by the Bureau of Land Management, who is the designated administrator of the Iditarod National Historic Trail. 

If lucky, racers will find a warm place to rest at the Iditarod checkpoints of Ophir and Cripple. Checkpoints are set up for mushers and ITI racers can’t count on using those resources, especially if mushers are present. As of this writing, Iditarod leader Dallas Seavey (if you haven’t heard, go read about his moose encounter, yikes!) has left Ophir and many mushers are between McGrath and Ophir. This means most of our foot and ski athletes, and soon the rest of the athletes, will be in the mix of some 38 dog teams. 

Sunny Stroeer arrived in McGrath late yesterday evening and is currently resting and enjoying the company of her husband, undoubtedly a welcome respite from miles of skiing which is very hard on the feet. Her race is going slower than she hoped, and like many racers that crossed Rainy Pass Friday night is plagued by cold injuries. Sunny does an excellent job of taking care of herself and hopefully they are relatively minor injuries.

Petr Ineman, Joshua Brown and Mark Hines are all just a few miles outside of McGrath. Jeff Luewerke, Faye Norby, Christof Teuscher are all approaching the Carlson Crossing cabin, while Beat Jegerlehner is already there. It’s tough to guess whether they’ll rest at the cabin or push on, as they may arrive during daylight. 

Leah Gruhn, Ryan Wanless, Brandon Lott and Gavin Hennigan, Asbjoern Skjoeth Bruun, Kinsey Loan, Mark Moeller and Thomas Miller are between Carlson Crossing and North Fork Innoko River cabins. Tiziano Mulonia and Ben Pysto are just a few miles from their drop in Cripple. Phillip Hofstetter has been in Ruby for several hours. Leaders Tyson Flaherty and Miron Golfman took about 26 hours to travel ~50 miles from Ruby to Galena. It does look like they were able to ride a bit, but must have been a slog with all the new snow the area has received. 

Temperatures are currently forecasted in the teens during the day and a little above zero at night, with snow showers predicted through Thursday. There is a special weather statement from the National Weather Service for the coast and Yukon River included below: 

A deep arctic trough will move south over the Western Interior and West Coast and bring well below normal temperatures beginning Friday night. High pressure over the Chukchi Sea will bring strong north winds starting Friday night as well. Low temperatures by Saturday morning will be in the teens and 20s below zero and remain that way through Wednesday morning. Highs will range from near zero to 10 below. North winds of 10 to 30 mph with higher gusts will bring wind chills as low as the 40s to near 50 below zero.

Author: Amber Crawford

Photo credit: Miron Golfman