17 Miles to Iditarod – Tough Trail Ahead

The leaders are all taking a break in Iditarod. Pete and the team are 17 miles from the checkpoint at this time (5:06pm)

Word from the trail is that the next stretch from Iditarod to Shageluk is going to be a tough one. It is soft, so I imagine they will do it at night so hopefully it stays firm. It’s anyone’s race at this point.

Another factor is the small teams that mushers have at this point. They are definitely going to conserve to make it to Nome.

 

–From Iditarod Site-

This could be a critical turning point in the race for some teams based upon trail conditions. The trail breakers on snow machines were still just completing breaking out and marking the trail to Shaguluk late yesterday. Some local trail breakers from Shaguluk were trying to work their way towards Iditarod but reportedly only made it about 9 miles this direction. On this 65 mile run over hilly terrain the snow is reportedly deep and powdery. What that’s going to mean for the teams traveling on to Shaguluk is that the hard fast trail conditions that they have been enjoying are about to end. There most likely will be a thin crust of trail the first few teams will be able to travel on but as each successive team travels it the dogs feet will punch through that and conditions will deteriorate, get slower and slower as they drop into the soft powdery snow below the crust.

It’s often a mystery for the mushers to gauge which position along the trail might best benefit their team and traveling speeds. It’s only a guess but it would appear that if Martin Buser stays at the front of the pack he will be maximizing the benefit of the speed that his team has by running across the trail to Shaguluk first. For the teams which follow they might find themselves falling off pace as they struggle through the softer trail.

 

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