Photos from Sebastian Schnuelle’s Blog
Pete and the Team are into Eagle Island. The checkpoint, about half-way between Grayling and Kaltag, is nothing more than a place on the side of the river, but a good place to take a break and prepare for the next 70 miles. The extended break before the run seemed to revive the Team and was a good move. We don’t know what Pete is seeing, but I trust his judgement and an extended break to give up a couple of positions obviously paid off. They were losing ground before Grayling, but their time between Grayling and Eagle Island is respectable at 7 hours and 30 minutes (From Tracker). I would venture to guess that Pete is doing what he needs to do to conserve the team and keep them healthy. That is paramount in any race– Health before Position. In a long endurance race like the Iditarod, mushers have to deal with many different things– Weather, Dog Health, Musher Health, and of course lack of sleep. Good Job Pete!
Martin Buser didn’t have a great run over the run and the pack chasing is faster and making ground on him. The fastest time, Jake Berkowitz, had a 2 hour quicker run over the 60 miles. Martin also dropped 2 dogs leaving him with 11. The race is not over with about 10 teams that are in the hunt. Anything can happen with much of the race to go and we have seen some of it– Beaver Fever out of Iditarod and a Storm up front are just two examples. Jake Berkowitz was withdrawn last year because he cut his hand, and he had the winning team at that point. Stay tuned. Jake has the team to beat this year with most of his dogs still in harness. I can just see that big smile of his as the “Freight Train”, as it has been called, rolls on by.
A side story is the Dog Drops and Straw in Eagle Island. Apparently the weather kept planes grounded in Unalakleet and all of the Food and Checkpoint supplies for Eagle Island were stuck as Martin left Grayling last afternoon. Fortunately a break in the weather got the wheels of progress into motion and a big push by Iditarod got the Checkpoint setup just before Martin Buser showed up for his break.
Sebastian Schnuelle is reporting a terrible trail from Eagle Island to Kaltag. It has been raining and snowing and the trail is pretty bad. This is good for teams in the “Rocking Chair” , to put it in Trucking terms, as the teams a bit back will have the advantage of other mushers breaking trail and cooler temperatures hardening it a bit.
Current Kaltag weathercam shows ceilings improving and a light southwest wind.
