Shifty Northern Weather Djinns
The sun rose on day 13 of the ITI with continued mild (though cooling) temperatures ranging from 16F in Unalakleet to the low 20s up the Yukon toward Ruby. Things felt quiet this morning—almost too quiet-- as the foot athletes have been making their way through the most remote sections from Innoko to Ruby. It’s been quiet for good reason, as there is no service in the region… and even if there was service, the foot athletes might all be working too hard to message us.
Gavan Hennigan was the first foot athlete to arrive in Ruby last evening after an impressive series of 18 hour pushes. He did let us know that despite his best efforts to lose all of his toenails before ITI, he miraculously still had them all in Ruby, and thinks all ten are likely to remain stowaways to Nome at this point. Gavan reported following fresh wolfs tracks on top of the biker tracks somewhere beyond Cripple for nearly 50 miles. This grueling stretch of the trail is a series of overland “portages” connecting many creek beds and flowages that form the “winter path of least resistance” to Ruby. This repetitive pattern of “creek, ridge, portage, repeat” results in a lot of rolling climbs and descents, repeating from Poorman, to Sulatna, to Long Creek, to Big Creek and finally reaching the Yukon. The Yukon will offer a flat though monotonous 136-mile reprieve before athletes reach the portage that will guide them to the coast.
Gavan is no stranger to hard challenges or monotony. A saturation diver by trade, he’s spent over a decade on oil rigs, where he's been rumored to train atop the rigs by running in densely-heat-mapped circles as seen by sleuths on Strava. Hailing from Galway, Ireland, Gavan has completed remarkable feats, including a 49-day solo trans-Atlantic row and winning the ITI 1,000-foot division in 2024 in 24 days, 18 hrs (as well as the 350 race in 2020). It seems Alaska still has a pull on him, and we’re thrilled to have the privilege to follow his dot once again.
While Gavan continues his journey, the other athletes are making steady progress as well. Behind him and also behind Jon Richner, and lone skier Erick Basset, our lead women’s foot athlete Kari Gibbons set out from the North Fork Innoko Cabin just after sunrise this morning after taking a good 8-9 hour rest. She appears to be moving well through the first stretch of the difficult creek-ridge-portage-repeat sequence. Kari, Petr Ineman, Daniel Heon, and Magdalena Paschke have held the same pattern of position for the past several days, overlapping during rest stops and staggering their journeys over an 8-10 hour period, with Kari typically in the lead and Magdalena bookending the crew. At this stage in the race, efficiency, effective (and rapid) recovery, and durability is as important (or more) than one’s moving pace, and these four athletes appear to be sticking to a good rhythm without any outward signs of breakdown.
Shifting gears to the 1,000 mile bike women, Janice Tower (traveling with her brother Matt Tanaka) and Julie Perilla Garcia (traveling with Karl Booth) made it into Nulato around 9:30pm and 11:00pm Thursday night, respectively, just after being overtaken by lead Iditarod Trail musher Michelle Phillips and her team near the 600 mile mark. Julie has previously shared that she signed up for the ITI 1,000 after being “pulled back” to the trail again and again for the “solitude and simplicity of living on only what you can carry, and to be with the people who get it.” She has certainly fallen in with some fun and like minded company. This group spent the night in Nulato and appear to have been in the same vicinity again this morning as Ryan Wanless, Matt Garretson, and Thomas Miller… perhaps for another breakfast party? Team Tanaka departed Nulato around 9:00am, with Karl and Julie leaving an hour later, followed by Ryan Wanless. This afternoon after a seven-hour ride on firmer snow than previously seen in the daylight, Team Tanaka reached the Kaltag school. "Kaltag" derives from a Yukon word meaning "before the king salmon," originally naming a gathering place across from the current village. The village itself had other names, including one meaning "place where the trail comes out to the river," referring to the portage to Unalakleet that the trail follows. This historic trade route has created lasting connections between Kaltag and Unalakleet communities.
As athletes continue through this historically significant section of trail, this evening, much like this morning, continues to feel quiet-- again, maybe too quiet-- as if we’re all in the midst of a collective inhale. We’re teetering near the halfway point of the ITI 1,000 journey for our foot athletes, while the lead bikers are preparing for the most nerve-wracking stretch. Peter Delemere, Casey Fagerquist, and Joshua Brown were spotted today by Jay Cable on the FAA weather cam riding into Shaktoolik, just tiny dots against a blustery looking Norton Bay backdrop. They are posted up now in the Shaktoolik presumably for the evening, setting strategy for tomorrow’s sea-ice crossing, and watching the wind forecasts closely.
Behind them, a group of five including Perry, Mike and the “Italian trio” Tiziano, Willy & Robi are all about to enjoy a dinner at Peace on Earth Pizza in Unakaleet this evening. Robi posted yesterday that Peace on Earth is his favorite pizzeria, and noted that as an Italian he ought to have one, “no?”
The positioning and strategy of all of the athletes near the coast may become more critical as we consider the weather patterns ahead that await them. We've experienced a nearly unprecedented stretch of mild weather in this year’s ITI, and it has felt for days as though our good luck must run out sooner or later. Aside from a burst of mixed precipitation on Monday in the Innoko and lower/middle Yukon regions, the athletes have had almost eerily mild and dry conditions since Knik. But- we humans are fickle creatures, and it’s easy to wish away our own good fortune when monotony and fatigue set in. Most of the athletes have likely grumbled (understandably) about the soft, mashed potato or sugar-snow conditions over the past two weeks. It’s only when we compare these frustrations to something like "20-30 knot northern headwinds on the Norton Bay sea ice with questionable visibility," that we might accept the softer snow as a lesser evil… then again, perhaps not. These athletes might be itching for the excitement of a new challenge.
The point of all of this is to say that we should all be wary of wishing for a condition to change. When you do, the shifty northern weather djinns might just grant your wish in the most paradoxical, miserable way. Almost every weather wish gets granted-- statistically speaking-- but they are bestowed on their own twisted timelines, with little regard for our plans.
Temperatures are expected to continue to drop during the week ahead as a high Arctic air mass slowly migrates south and east. Winds along the coast began to kick up this morning, and the forecasted north winds in particular could create interesting conditions in the blow-hole near Safety for the next few days. The snow will almost certainly firm up for our inland bikers and foot athletes, but breathing, eating, visibility, or blown in trail could become new difficulties in the days to come.
With the potential for almost any winter weather condition for our remaining racers in the next two weeks, I find myself reflecting on the contrast between my comfortable circumstances at the moment vs. the athletes' experiences. As I sit here in my climate-controlled Minnesota home it’s easy to long for a taste of the adventure and even some of the suffering our athletes might be feeling. Yet there's a delicate balance between desiring what lies beyond our reach and recalling the real possibility of receiving way more than we bargained for. Just remember a shifty northern weather djinn might be listening at any time, and might just grant a wish you never full intended to make.
By Allison Carolan