Racers thread the blizzard needle, but more weather challenges lie ahead
Team 7’s Nick Ousted pulled into Kaltag with an ice-covered sled on Wednesday. All teams were experiencing heavy, wet snow and warm conditions. Team 7 maintains their current lead. Trinity Vivieros photo.
Team 7’s Tyler Aklestad, like everyone else on Wednesday, arrived in Kaltag covered in ice. Team 7 planned a seven-hour layover before pushing on — assuming the continued storm doesn’t change their strategy. Trinity Vivieros photo
While Iron Dog racers were mostly able to avert the large storm brewing across western Alaska on Wednesday, the day did not go off without a hitch. And there’s been some shuffling in the standings after a game of flip flop that affected the field from the front to the back.
Just 70 miles into their re-start and making good time, Team 7 Tyler Aklestad and Nick Olstad left White Mountain and came upon Ambassador Team 77, which had left ahead of them. All but one of Team 77’s riders was stuck in Golovin Bay in more than a foot of water – a dangerous situation made worse by the cold weather. It doesn’t take long for hypothermia to set in, so time was off the essence.
Despite being on the clock, Team 7 stopped to get some of the wettest riders on their sleds and take them to back to White Mountain, where they could warm up. The Iron Dog Rules manual, on Page 18, states that “all participants are REQUIRED to stop and render aid to ANY persons encountered during the race who are in a life-threatening situation. Race Marshals may adjust trail times accordingly on a case-by-case basis.”
Back in White Mountain, Aklestad and Olstad hopped back on their sleds, refueled and backtracked down the trail to try and make up the lost time – and outrun the weather.
“Based on our rule, we will be issuing Team 7 a time credit,” said head race marshal Tyson Johnson. “That was determined at looking at what time they left White Mountain the first time and looking what time they left the second time, and giving them back 23 minutes.”
On Wednesday afternoon, Team 7 arrived in Kaltag, where there were taking a seven-hour layover. The assumption was that they would ride at night when their headlights could help them navigate. The next four teams – Casey Boylan and Bryan Leslie (Team 14), Cody Barber and Brett Lapham (Team 39), Jordan and Jarvis Miller (Team 23), and Todd Palin and Klinton VanWingerden (Team 49) – appeared to be doing the same thing.
White Mountain checker Irving Ashenfelter took this photo of the broken clutch Team 2 had to replace before continuing their race.
Team 2 Ryan Sottosanti and Brad Kishbaugh, who left Nome in fourth place, had some unfortunate luck on Wednesday. Coming into White Mountain, they broke a primary clutch in half and limped into the checkpoint amid the growing storm.
“We’ve never seen a clutch break like this,’ they wrote on their team Facebook page. “Definitely a fluke deal.”
It took most of the day, but the pair eventually was able to get it fixed and check out of White Mountain at 3 p.m. The setback bumped them to the back of the pack.
The National Weather Service predictions were spot on all day, as conditions rapidly deteriorated. By the time Team 7 arrived in Kaltag, their sleds – and their bodies – were covered in a thick coat of ice and snow. Snow fell heavily and visibility was no more than a few hundred feet. The storm is expected to abate by 9 a.m. Thursday and so far, has left plenty of snow behind for racers. One spectator from Ruby posted a photo of a yardstick poked in the trail with only about 10 inches left visible above the snow.
“I just went to Galena today and on the way back, I couldn’t even see the trail,” said Ruby checker Chris Williams. “It’s still a blizzard out here. And it’s warm. I blew two belts on my wide track on the way in; I kept overheating.”
Williams said the snow is wet and heavy and doesn’t appear to be letting up.
“There’s 6-8 inches between here and Poorman,” he said. “Whoever is leading is going to lose some time because they will have to break trail in all this. It’s pretty terrible out there right now.”
Iron Dog board member and numbers-cruncher Jake Goodell said Team 7’s time credit will be reflected once all team have reached Galena or beyond. Once racers get underway again, their strategies will prove key to their ultimate placement.
Kelsi Ivanoff took this photo of her daughter, Harlow “Ralphie” Ivanoff, giving out snacks to one of Team 23’s Miller brothers in Unalakleet. “My sweet girl,” Ivanoff wrote on her Facebook page. “When we got up today, I said we were going to see the racers. She got excited and immediately said “I needa bring them snacks!” and packed her little bag of granola bars to hand out at the checkpoint. She even cried when she didn’t get to give one racer his.” Kelsi Ivanoff photo
“There’s a lot of snow in Ruby, so teams could wait for other teams to go ahead and be the ones to break trail,” he said, adding that teams have 40 hours’ worth of layover time to play with.
“Even on the medium length runs, teams are going to use a lot more fuel, which also becomes a concern,” he said. “It’s going to be close.”
As of 7 p.m., Team 2 was just passing Elim, Team 28 was on the trail between Shaktoolik and Unalakleet, and teams 11, 16, 8, 9 and 31 were in Unalakleet. Teams 19 and 20 were on the trail from Unalakleet, and teams 7, 14, 39, 23, 49 and 41 were in Kaltag.