Iditablog.com – Iditarod 2012 News & Coverage

Wow, lots to go over this morning…

To say that trail conditions over the last 24 hours have been brutal might just be an understatement. Extreme cold temperatures and high winds made for a dangerous 50 below wind chill factor along the Bering Sea coast yesterday and into this morning for the top 19 mushers. Those running along the Yukon River, and even teams in the back, still traveling the interior didn’t find weather that much better as sub-zero temps and occasional ground blizzards made Monday a bone-chilling day for many traveling the Iditarod trail.

Sunday & Monday morning speculation was leaning towards Lance Mackey locking a third straight victory, however mother nature used this as an attempt to teach those of us who made these claims what happens when you assume. Mackey ended up spending most of yesterday pooled up in Koyuk after what he called a “demoralizing run” for his dogs from Shaktoolik. After making it to the small village of about 300 around noon, Lance took an eight hour rest – twice the rest time as he took in ’07 & ’08 in this location, before winning the Iditarod. Mackey’s time between Koyuk and Elim posted overnight and into this morning was surprisingly similar to recent years, however normally waiting only an hour or two before heading onto the mandatory 8-hour layover in White Mountain, this year Mackey spent time over 6 hours in Elim.

Lance might be able to count himself fortunate however, because it appears as he was slightly ahead of the worst weather of the trail. Behind him Jeff King & Hans Gatt were forced to turn around outside of Shaktoolik last night and return to the checkpoint, something King hasn’t done since over 10 years ago when he was in a similar location with Lance’s older brother Rick Mackey. King & Gatt had been camping with Aaron Burmeister & Mitch Seavey who were all 15 miles out of the checkpoint when they realized going onto Koyuk wasn’t going to be a good idea. While King & Gatt turned around, Seavey & Burmeister have been hunkered down at most likely a location described on the trail description as a “dilapidated shelter cabin” where “more than a few mushers have had to hole up here to wait out storms”. They’ve been there for at least 9 hours already. Also, Hugh Neff received minor medical attention in Shaktoolik yesterday for some pretty nasty injuries that sound frostbite & wind related on his face, rumors had been emerging that he had been taken out of the race but those don’t appear to be valid at this point.

King, Gatt, and Neff were joined by 11 other mushers in Shaktoolik this morning who will be all eventually competing against each other for the final top 10, and 20 positions in Nome.

More trouble in the back of race, as not only did we learn yesterday about two strange dog deaths in rookie Lou Packer’s team but then the two mushers whom Packer had earlier been traveling with also scratched between Iditarod & Shageluk. Kim Darst and Blake Matray were checked on by Iditarod Air force pilots who had airlifted Packer and his dogs out of the race when the three teams had all been on the trail for an extraordinary amount of time. Once Darst & Matray scratched at 8pm it was decided that they would start moving toward Shageluk early this morning and await a snowmobile convoy to ensure their safety on a trail that is blown over and doesn’t exist anymore.

Here is where the top 19 mushers are currently located, it’s anyone’s top ten right now. The weather forecast for the Eastern Norton Sound & Nulato Hills, including Unalakleet, Shaktoolik, Koyuk and Elim calls for wind chill temperatures to temporary become less harsh this afternoon as the air temp moderates to 5 below.

Into Elim:
Lance Mackey

Out of Koyuk (moving):
John Baker
Sebastian Schnuelle

Out of Shaktoolik (camping):
Aaron Burmeister
Mitch Seavey

Into Shaktoolik: (in order of arrival time)
Jeff King (returned)
Hugh Neff (returned)
Hans Gatt (returned)
Sonny Lindner – 3/16 -16:15
Dallas Seavey
Cim Smyth
Paul Gebhardt
DeeDee Jonrowe
Aliy Zirkle
Jessie Royer
Ken Anderson
Martin Buser
Ramey Smyth
Ed Iten – 3/17 – 2:58

Very strange and sad news coming out of Iditarod Headquarters today, regarding three of the rookie mushers at the end of the race. The following press release does a great job of explaining the few details that are known at this point:

Earlier today (at approximately 2pm Alaska Time) Iditarod Race officials deployed an Iditarod Air Force (IAF) aircraft to check on the whereabouts of Iditarod Rookies Lou Packer (bib #43), Kim Darst (bib #52) and Blake Matray (bib #9). All three mushers were overdue on their run to Shageluk. Packer was located approximately 22 miles past Iditarod. He signaled that he was in distress. The (IAF) pilot landed and found that two of Packer’s 15 dogs were deceased. A plane load of dogs were immediately flown out and a second flight is underway to airlift Packer and the remainder of the team.

A group of local residents from Shageluk are on the trail to assess and assist Darst and Matray.

A necropsy will be conducted by a board certified pathologist to make every attempt to determine the cause of death of the two dogs.

With Lance Mackey into the Bering Sea village of Koyuk having left Shaktoolik a full 5 hours ahead of Sebastian Schnuelle, its a pretty valid question as to whether Mackey has locked up a third straight Iditarod win. Going into Unalakleet yesterday Mackey also had a powerful lead, but holding the large gap into this point in the race makes it very difficult for any of his very strong competitors to catch up. When looking at the running speeds of the top 7 out of Unalakleet and into Shaktoolik, it becomes clear that Mackey’s had the fastest team on that stretch of the trail and others are running out of time when looking for an opportunity to make a move.

If we can’t count on a challenger for first place, then the race for second becomes very interesting. Sebastian Schnuelle, Jeff King, John Baker, Mitch Seavey, Aaron Burmeister, and Hugh Neff all arrived into Shaktoolik within twenty minutes of one another, and all but Schnuelle decided to stay and rest at a checkpoint that Mackey decided he could afford to fly through early this morning.

The weather in western Alaska isn’t pretty right now, the national weather service is calling for up to 30 mph winds, combining with -10 temperatures to create wind chills up to 50 degrees below zero! Friends of mine in Nome were saying that around 10 strong blizzards so far this year have hit the Gold Rush city, making this winter much snowier and colder than most.

In tonights “return of the Podcast” Greg Ireland & I sit down again and talk about:

• where we find the current race leaders (Unalakleet)
• What’s happened since our last podcast
• Notable awards along the trail
• We answer your tweets & emails
• Running down Iditarod 2009 Coverage on Versus TV network
• Looking ahead to the finish

Thanks everyone for subscribing and downloading these podcast, we hope to do a handful more as the race goes up the coast and finishes in Nome!

Remember, you can subscribe to podcast via iTunes (link) and follow us on Twitter (link)

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Quick Post -

Lance Mackey arrived at the checkpoint of Unalakleet just under an hour ago. Reports say Mackey’s team is looking strong and he is focused on winning his third Iditarod in a row.

Also, Versus TV coverage of Iditarod 2009 debuted tonight, check local listings for times and replay dates.

We will be recording the new podcast episode within the hour

As Lance Mackey was leaving Kaltag at a very early 4am this morning, he probably knew those right behind him were scheming a way to get ahead of the reigning Iditarod champion.  Mackey had been at the last Yukon River checkpoint resting for nearly 4 hours and was the only musher there the entire time, little did he know was that Sebastian Schnuelle would pull in just an hour and a half later and make a bold move of his own – to keep moving along to Unalakleet after completing a 9 hour run from Eagle Island.  It’s not that Schnuelle is or isn’t planning on resting, but between Mackey departing Kaltag and Schnuelle arriving, three other strong dog teams pulled into the checkpoint. By the time Schnuelle got there we can speculate that he realized a surprise needed to be made, and he needed to keep the other teams guessing.  There are a few comfortable spots to rest along the way to Unalakleet, although they are a good distance away from Kaltag.  About 35 miles down the 90 mile trail is the “tripod flats cabin” which is owned and operated by the Federal Bureau of Land Management, and “Old Woman Cabin” 15 miles futher can be favorite and popular spots for mushers who plan on running through Unalakleet.

I’ve spent lots of time in Unalakleet and love the amazing mix of native culture with a twist of balanced modern lifestyle.  Once we have a musher to the coast I look forward to sharing some pictures and thoughts on this amazing place, and its amazing residents.  It’s also been a few days since the last podcast, Greg and I plan on getting together this afternoon and re-hashing the trail so far – and looking ahead to the next, very exciting phase of the Iditarod….. they’ve been saying “The real race begins on the coast” ever since last Sunday in Willow.

Keep sending us your questions and comments to josh@radioalaska.org and we’ll try to anwser them today as we record the podcast.

As Lance Mackey rolls into Eagle Island continuing his steady 6-7mph pace, it looks as if he has a lead that is getting tougher to challenge. The two teams who were previously leading the race and now running behind Mackey, Aaron Burmeister and Sebastian Schnuelle will see the lead they built up, slowly start to fade away over the next day as they take a manditory 8-hour layover on one of the two remaining Yukon River checkpoints.  Mackey has already taken his and he’s 30 miles ahead of them, but so have the teams running right behind them – Hugh Neff, Mitch Seavey, and Jeff King.

The question now shifts to if either Seavey, King, or Neff will be able to make up the distance between them, and Lance Mackey.  Hugh Neff is facing some pretty formitable competitors in a hunt for his first victory, Jeff King is searching for a 5th Iditarod Championship, and Mitch Seavey is looking for his second.

It’s becoming clear going into Eagle Island that teams are running a little bit quicker than in years past.  General wisdom says sometime on Sunday is when the town of Unalakleet usually expects the first musher to reach the coast, and the last few years it hasn’t been uncommon to see a team come in closer to sundown.  The pastor of Unalakleet Covenant Church told me once as long as it isn’t during the church’s morning services, he doesn’t have a preference as to the time of day – but its looking like Lance could possibly interrupt a sunday morning sermon if he isn’t careful.

Lance Mackey is just about to reach Anvik by late Friday morning, the first stop along the mighty Yukon River. It doesn’t appear at this point that any of his competitors are going to be able to catchup in route to this milestone of the Iditarod although Sebastian Schnuelle and Aaron Burmeister are closing the 10 mile gap between them and Mackey.

The Yukon River is a major part of the Iditarod trail which, in southern-route years goes from Anvik up to Kaltag. The river runs along many small villages that rely on the Yukon as a main thoroughfare for transportation, not only with boats during the summer but also by often using the frozen river as a snowmachine highway during the winter. The first musher to the Yukon is always greeted by a gourmet chef from the Millenium Hotel in Anchorage, where they receive a 7 course meal prepared over a campstove and a nice “after dinner mint” of several thousand dollars cash. If eating in a rush doesn’t sound like fun, don’t worry – the musher is also invited back to the Millenium to enjoy the meal again with a loved one (except for the “after dinner mint” – you only get that once).

From Millenium Chef Cory Gerber, here is the menu he created for this year’s musher to have for lunch in Anvik (should they choose to stay!)

appetizers
Braised Pork with potato & yokee (sp?)
Beef & Goat Cheese Salad
Alaskan Crab Ravioli

Fish course
Alaska Bouillabaisse with a saffron tomato broth

intermezzo
Mango Sorbet served with Lemon Preserves

entree
Crispy Duck Leg with Braised Red Cabbage and Bacon
Dry Aged Rib Eye with Celery Root Puree served with a slow cooked mushroom sauce

Cheese plate
Platter of assorted Artesian cheeses, sausages, chutney, and Salmon

dessert
Flamed Strawberry Romonoff, served with French Vanilla Ice Cream and a Lemon Shortbread cookie.

Prepared and served on site by Food & Beverage Director – Bill Wallace