Icewind's Ramblings

Why do musher’s seek the challenge of the Iditarod? If you listen to them, they'll tell stories of experiencing the serenity of a beautiful day on the trail, dog team and musher working as one.   They'll talk of the intensity of the experience.   They'll talk of the challenge of meeting the demands of the world's last great race. On the early morning flight from Anchorage to Kotzebue and then to Nome the other day the last person to board the plane was an old haggard looking man who sought out a space to put his items in the overhead space on the plane.   He looked the part of what I would call the Alaskan Old Timer who had on his flannel shirt, Seal skin hat and bushy beard with thick glasses.   He was not a big man but rugged in every sense of the word. He sat down in the seat directly behind me and started talking, and talking, and did not stop from push back, deicing, take off to Kotzebue, landing and the hour turn around time to head to Nome and only quit ...

The Race restarted Sunday afternoon at 2 PM Alaska Standard Time (AST) in Willow on the frozen lakebed with another throng of people waving, hollering, and wishing well their favorite musher on to Nome. They ran through the night and into the bright sun of an Alaskan spring morning as the leaders headed into the Alaska Range and climbed their way to Rainy Pass.   Several of the mushers are on a blistering pace to Rohn checkpoint an abandoned cabin which is about 200 miles into the 1,150 mile race to Nome.   Robert Bundtzen with his 16 dogs arrived in Rohn at 5:17 PM with defending champion Lance Mackey arriving just 18 minutes later but after his time check was off again and back on the trail headed to the Farewell Burn. Other events of the day . . . 5 time Iditarod champion Rick Swenson crashed on the Happy Valley River steps leading into Rainy Pass and is considering his options after it was confirmed he appears to have a broken collarbone.   He should decide sh...

Aliy Zirkle who has ran the Iditarod since 2001 when I first moved to Alaska.   She was the first woman to win the Yukon Quest Sled Dog Race in 2000 a similar long distance race held in February that covers the expanse from Whitehorse, in the Yukon Territories of Canada to Fairbanks.   She has been one of my favorites to watch and follow since I came to Alaska. She and her husband run SP Kennel (Skunk’s Place) a premier sled dog racing kennel in Two Rivers, Alaska.   Aliy Zirkle (runs Team Red) & her husband musher Allen Moore (runs Team Black) on their website, and have videos on YouTube.   Last year she ran the race with a video camera mounted to her sled and gave a totally unique view of what it is like to run dogs over 1100 miles through some of Alaska’s most beautiful and rugged landscape.   Saturday Morning’s Ceremonial start in downtown Anchorage is a 15 mile run beginning on Fourth Avenue and then making a right turn onto “A” Street where it lea...

It’s March which means it is time again for “The Last Great Race” . . . The Iditarod, pitting men, women and their dogs against the extreme and many times harsh elements and terrain of the Alaskan wilderness.   Over a thousand mile distance to work out the rhythm of the dogs and one’s inner self in a place that sometimes defies description. From humble beginnings to a world class sporting event. Iditarod Information from Iditarod.com In 1925, part of the Iditarod Trail became a life saving highway for epidemic-stricken Nome. Diphtheria threatened and serum had to be brought in; again by intrepid dog mushers and their faithful hard-driving dogs. The Iditarod is a commemoration of those yesterdays, a not-so-distant past that Alaskans honor and are proud of. An Event for All Alaska Anchorage is the starting line — a city of over 250,000 people, street lights, freeways and traffic. From there the field of dog teams which grow in number each year, runs to Eagle River, Checkpoi...

Happy Holidays! Ice

I finish this series of Iditarod 38 with SP Kennel’s musher’s view of the last legs during the run along the coast to the burled archway finish line in Nome .  It has been a long trail, cold this year but the weather and winds of the last few years subsided for an almost record pace. We begin these last few video’s “On the Coast” with evening setting over the frozen Ocean as nightfall takes over Aliy’s run and transition the next morning to daybreak between Unalakleet to Shaktoolik.  It gives us another massive expanse of Western Alaska and the isolation of the trail.  This next video is pretty incredible as the trail this year cut out across the middle of Norton Sound where in years past it ran closer to the shoreline from Unalakleet to Koyuk.  Looking at this with the GPS tracker on the sleds the other night around midnight it looked like Lance Mackey and Jeff King had gone way off course running during the night as they veered out across the middle of the...

We continue the Iditarod experience with Aliy Zirkle and her Red Team making their way down the mighty Yukon River , a two to three day run for some teams. Yukon River Part 2 – Excitement to break the monotony . . . Plane on the River1 After traveling all night . . . early morning dawns on the Yukon River with temperatures minus 40 below. Yukon River Part 3  Starts just before dusk heading for arrival in Kaltag. On the Portage Trail between Kaltag and Unalakleet still forty below and extremely cold.  It’s been clear weather for most of this year’s run to Nome with snowy weather the first two days. Into Unalakleet is a video of Aliy and the Team running with the first part shot about 30 miles out and Aliy shares her views of the beautiful scenery and the different kinds of trail markers along the way.  The last part picks up after the Team has slogged through a ground blizzard.  Aliy recounts her efforts on behalf of the dogs, swapping race time for the...

Saturday evening Montana rookie musher, Celeste Davis (Bib #58), made her way under the Burled Arch of Front Street in Nome Alaska with 9 dogs on her team bringing a close to the 2010 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.   The 37 year old musher made the trek from Willow to Nome in 13 days, 5 hours, 6 minutes and 40 seconds, landing her in the Iditarod record books with the fastest Red Lantern in race history! From the Iditarod web site . . . Iditarod Traditions The Story of the Widow’s Lamp During the days of Alaska sled dog freighting and mail carrying, dog drivers relied on a series of roadhouses between their village destinations. Since these mushers ventured out in most all kinds of weather, for safety reasons they found the idea that pilots rely on, known today as the flight plan. Word was relayed ahead that a musher and team were on the trail, and a kerosene lamp was lit and hung outside the roadhouse. It not only helped the dog driver find his destination at night, but...

This is Aliy Zirkle’s video Odyssey of Iditarod 38 with insight of the trail, the scenery, and the varying conditions in the extreme isolation of the Alaskan Frontier. The Journey continues past Rainy Pass and the decent down the “The Happy River Steps” to the valley below.  Enjoy the ride as it is like a sled dog roller coaster.  Listen and you can hear Aliy hitting the brakes to slow the sled to not overrun the dogs.  Watch it full screen for the best view.  You can also see a few television camera crews who have been dropped off to film the mushers making their way through this difficult part of the trail.  Enjoy. The Happy River Steps Dalzell Gorge has been a place where technique is the difference between continuing on the Iditarod Trail or possibly crashing into a tree or limb.  Falling off the sled or broken bones has ended many people’s dreams.  Over the years it has taken out many a musher, experienced and rookie alike.  Just be...

Thanks to Aliy & her SP Kennel (Skunk’s Place Kennel) for an amazing adventure for those of us who long to experience this unique and wonderful sport.  I’m trying to keep these videos in a logical order of the run but they may upload more that might be out of sequence later on as there is rumor of a video descending the ice falls in Dalzell Gorge which should be pretty spectacular and maybe some night runs. These next videos are making the climb up to Rainy Pass the highest point on the Iditarod Trail and shows Aliy going through the Finger Lake Checkpoint where you can see the check in process, a quick review of the dog log and continuing on towards Rainy Pass.   The camera is mounted on the sled and shows the dogs eager to run and the instructions given them.  The first couple of days the weather was pretty nasty with snow, winds and at times blizzard conditions.  The chase planes and helicopters were grounded for a couple of days so making sure the mu...

For something a little different . . . Iditarod 38 is ‘over’ with a champion crowned but there are still 16 teams on the trail heading for Nome .  After the excitement of the race to be first there are some other interesting stories and things beginning to show up that I think you will like.  These videos were provided by SP Kennel’s Aliy Zirkle (finished 16 th Team Red) & her husband musher Allen Moore (finished 35 th Team Black) on their website, from YouTube, and KTUU Channel 2 News.  These video clips will give you a sled’s eye view of what it is to run the Iditarod, the beauty of the countryside, the solitude and loneliness of no one around for miles except your dogs . . . and possibly the wild animals in the Alaskan wilderness.  Please take the time to Enjoy! This before the start of Iditarod 38 is a KTUU Channel 2 interview with Aliy Zirkle who has ran the Iditarod since 2001 when I first moved to Alaska .  She was the first woman to win the Y...

I’ve been fascinated with the Iditarod for many years now and spent some time around current and former mushers who over the years given me different insights into this crazy and wonderful sport. In the first days out from the Willow restart as you leave the relative flat terrain around the Parks Highway and start the climb into the Alaska Range and the white knuckle experience heading down the steps into Dalzell Gorge. The miles covered these days are very exciting.  Martin Buser has said, "It takes 2 days to climb to the top of the range and less than two hours to get down the other side."  I’ve wondered why these people endure the conditions found on the trail and what it takes for one to run in the Iditarod.  Courage would have to be toward the to of the list, the love of the outdoors and spending endless hours alone with the forces of mother nature . . . both good and bad.  Those traits with a love for dogs, and you have the makings for a musher. If yo...

This week is “spring break” in Alaska and the kids are out of school. Normally one thinks of warm balmy breezes and maybe going on that first camping trip of the season or possibly heading outside to play for long hours.  These were the things I did years ago growing up in the southland but it seems things are a little different here in the arctic. Spring break here has the kids hunkered down close to a fireplace with the television going or maybe away from everyone in their room on the computer playing some game with a tropical setting so far away from the realities outside their window.  For those who can brave the winds and cold there is the ‘dress code’ of Alaska . . . Carharts with jackets or insulated bibs to keep warm.  Gloves and sockhead type hats to keep frostbite at bay as well as ‘bunny boots’ or Sorel’s to keep your feet dry and warm.  Kids are kids’ so playing outside during spring break is expected and another of those somewhat different experie...

Several plane flights and a sled dog ride driven by schoolchildren helped kick off the 2010 Census in the United States .  Alaskans in rural communities not linked by roads have been the first people counted since the 1990 census. The village of Noorvik had the honor of kicking off the official count of our citizens and Clifton Jackson, a World War II veteran and the village’s oldest resident at 89 was the first person counted.  Noorvik is an Inupiat Eskimo community of six hundred fifty residents.  After gathering with village officials and elders U.S. Census Bureau Director Robert Groves along with other census takers were greeted to a celebration and a day of festivities including a potlatch dinner.  There was a sampling of muktuk . . . strips of bowhead whale skin and blubber along with traditional dances, an Inupiat fashion show including a feast of caribou soup and baked bearded seal. It was a heat wave as the temperature hovered around zero compar...

I was out of town during the start of this year’s Iditarod, the first time I have missed the race since I moved to Alaska . It was strange looking for information about the start in newspapers or on the news in the Lower 48 but little if anything was found there. I did have a brief glimpse of the starting lineup from the internet while in Florida but I have to admit the usual excitement I have felt in past years was missing. In terms of great athletic ability the dog teams too me are the most superb in the world. Dogs and their human teammates, both man and woman, train hard to endure the many known and unknown circumstances found along the 1,100 mile trail from Anchorage to Nome Alaska . AP Photo In case you missed it living “Outside” of Alaska , Lance Mackey won the Iditarod Sled Dog Race today in a time of a little over 9 days and 20 hours. "The Last Great Race" as it is called and he did so in a grand fashion over...