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In the Anvik Video you can clearly see Clyde in Lead. Well it appears that the Team isnt the only Clyde followers in the race. In from the Tony Family and their Lead Dog’s Crash and Jinx in Bethel are Clyde’s Fan Club! Go Clyde!! (Go Team Kaiser!) Send us YOUR Fan Fotos! Just make a sign and take a photo with you or your lead dog and send it our way!
For those of you missing out on Kaiser Racing Radio- Have no fear, we’re back on the air this evening with Andy Angstman. Zach Brown in Homer writes:
John,
Great job all around this year. Your website is excellent. Compliments the iditarod site nicely. What happened to racing radio last night? Was really looking forward to it this morning.
Thanks,
Zach
We got a bit preempted by Bethel Warrior Basketball! They won the Region Championship with a last second shot by Brett Smith. Obviously the entire town is going crazy! Congratulations to Bethel Warriors Boys Basketball!
As Pete heads North, it is hard to believe a week ago we all gathered in the Big City of Anchorage to Celebrate Mushing and the Start of 2013 Iditarod. The trail of today North to Eagle Island and Kaltag couldn’t be farther away from the sights and sounds of those times. Here are a couple of flashbacks for you. This year I embedded cameras with Tillie Kaiser and Natalie Hanson. Casey McDonald brought her own. Go forth and make pictures I told them and what came back was totally fun and amazing! Thanks Girls!! Click the photos to open the Facebook album.
Tillie and Natalie’s Photos-
And here are Casey McDonald’s Photos-
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.
Pete and the Team are off and headed North to Eagle Island after a six hour rest, leaving about 12:30am.
This next stretch of trail can be brutal in best of conditions. Martin Buser reached the checkpoint just before 10pm taking just over 9 hours for the run. The trail has to be a bit soft with all of the warm temperatures that have been in the area, but being back in the pack may be a small advantage as hopefully the trail will be a bit more packed down. Pete’s extended break before heading North will be an advantage. The Team had a rough day in the rain and wet and settling down before a long run is good for dog and musher.
Temperatures are falling across the region, so I expect by morning to see teens and twenties to be the norm.
Trail for tonight – Grayling to Eagle Island (From Iditarod.com)
This leg is all on the mighty Yukon—upstream, and usually into the wind. It is long and often boring, but can just as easily be even longer and miserable when the wind is blowing and the temperatures plummet toward 40 below. It’s exactly 62 miles, as measured by Rick Swenson in 1997 on a snowmachine (one of the few years he wasn’t running the race). Figure about 6 to 9 hours for the run, depending on whether the wind is blowing and how many breaks you want to take along the way.
This stretch has absolutely no terrain—nothing but wide-open river and bend after bend, island after island, bluff after bluff. The west bank is always the high bank, with ridges sometimes rising more than 1,500 feet within a few miles of the river (which is less than a hundred feet above sea level). The east bank is low and wooded, punctuated by sloughs and creeks and islands. The trail stays mostly close to the west bank, but can run anywhere on the river depending on conditions.
Here are a few photos from previous races around the web-
Weather for tonight-
LOWER KOYUKUK AND MIDDLE YUKON VALLEYS- INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...GALENA...NULATO...HUSLIA...KALTAG... RUBY...KOYUKUK 258 PM AKST FRI MAR 8 2013 .TONIGHT...MOSTLY CLOUDY. PERIODS OF SNOW DEVELOPING...MAINLY WEST OF GALENA. AREAS OF FOG. SNOW ACCUMULATION UP TO 2 INCHES. LOWS IN THE MID TEENS TO LOWER 20S. EAST WINDS 10 TO 20 MPH. .SATURDAY...CLOUDY WITH SCATTERED SNOW SHOWERS. AREAS OF FOG. HIGHS IN THE MID TO UPPER 20S. SOUTH WINDS 5 TO 15 MPH WITH GUSTS TO AROUND 30 MPH.
It’s been a wild and wet one today on the trail for the boys from the YK Delta. Temperatures as warm as 47 in McGrath and water everywhere has to have take a bit of a toll man and dog alike.
Pete Kaiser set out first this morning very early and slogged his way to Grayling over the day. Along the way he dropped a few dogs, but seems to be making it okay along the trail. Soon he will return to the trail and begin to try to improve postion. The competition this year is very matched, so definitely the work is ahead.
The Williams family kennel spent the day on the trail from Takotna to Anvik. Mike Jr. is just about to the checkpoint while Mike Sr. is resting in Shageluk. They have kept more dogs in harness, a testament to patience and luck to be sure. This kind of a trail is where the Yup’ik shines. It is their tradition to endure and progress.
Richie is following his conservative plan and basically is running and resting in pretty equal intervals. Videos seen around the web and photos show a good looking team. Richie’s main goal was to learn how this race works and make it to Nome. He is well on his way to both.
With a stomach virus affecting all of the teams, this part of the race is a true struggle. It is the middle part of the race that in some ways takes more of a toll than any other. It just goes forever. At the beginning of the race Teams are excited and optimistic, but at this point after days on the trail, it is just long. As Teams reach Kaltag and Unalakleet, excitement will again build as realization hits that the end is near. Today and tomorrow are the mental tough days. Our guys can handle it– Each in their own way- It isn’t easy living in the Bush, so this is just a speed bump of so to speak.
Go Teams!
Check out the Kaiser Super Dogs in Mushing Magazine!
