Category Archives: 2013 Kuskokwim 300

Jeff King arrived into Kalskag, stayed just a bit and returned to the trail. The next checkpoint, Tuluksak, holds a mandatory 4 hour layover. Meanwhile Rohn is just approaching Kalskag.

Pete and the Team have reestablished the 6th place over Josh Cadzow and have just returned to the Kuskokwim River. Wind will finally be at their back and the trail will be quite a bit better (or should be) as he moves toward Tuluksak himself.

Jeff King is no stranger to this race having won it more times than anyone else. His bag of tricks is obviously the biggest, but anything can still happen. Last year in the 2012 Iditarod his dogs just wouldn’t go and he was forced to stop. It is highly unlikely that this would happen at this point in the race, but there are 100 more miles left in this race.

Other local mushers Richie Diehl is holding 10th place, while Mike Williams Jr. is in 8th place. The “Bethel Boys” are doing a great job against this tough competition.  Go Men Go!

Go Team Kaiser!

Funny story from the trail. Aniak Checkpoint sent two snowmachines out to see how the Russian Musher Mikhail Telpin was doing. They couldn’t speak Russian, so they played some Russian Music “Are you okay” and he smiled. When you can’t speak- Sing! That gives new meaning to the term Music is the Universal Language!
Nothing like Bush Alaska Creativity! Way to go!

From Aniak Checkpoint Facebook:

Reported from Whitefish Lake: Mushers checked in as follows: Jeff King 5:42, Rohn Buser 5:49, Joar Leifseth Ulsom 6:19, Paul Gephardt 6:23, Tony Browning 6:30, Josh Cadzow 6:47, Pete Kaiser 6:49, Mike Williams Jr. 6:51 John Baker 7:00, Martin Buser 7:02, Richie Diehl 7:05, Cim Smyth 7:24, Ramey Smith 7:25

That puts Pete about an hour off the pace of the two leaders and in a group of 5 mushers traveling pretty close together.

A storm from the south has taken over the K300 mushing area and as a result word we have from the trail is that conditions are pretty tough out on the trail.

Here is what we have so far:

Rohn and Jeff are still leading the race on the way from Whitefish lake to Kalskag. Looking at their speed shows a marked decrease on the trail at this point. Looking at other mushers past Whitefish seems to show similar results.

Aniak Checkpoint says on their Facebook page “It’s getting colder and windier in Aniak. There have been reports that the trail to Whitefish Lake is pretty nasty. Aniak checkpoint is getting some snowmachiners ready on standby in case any mushers go off trail.”

Pete and our favorite Team are just approaching and probably through Whitefish lake at this point. If conditions are like they are here in Bethel, it is bound to be a bit miserable out there. The snow is blowing and pecks your cheeks. Doppler radar shows a cell of precipitation right in the section that the mushers are right now.

One musher is still on the trail from Kalskag to Aniak. Siberian Musher Mikhail Telpin left Kalskag at 3:30pm. His GPS isn’t working, but Aniak checkpoint shows him out.

Its going to be a great night of armchair mushing this evening, so stay tuned as we sit along side ya!

(One Item of Note– On the Iditarod Tracker TB is the trailbreaker, so earlier when I put Pete in 5th it was because of the TB. I kept wondering why it wasn’t in the lead as it is in the Iditarod. And then it came to me– TONY BROWNING!!)

Go Team Kaiser!

Photos from the Aniak Facebook page (Check it out!) and one from Dave Cannon (Check out his great photography website here!)

Pete and the Team seem to be having a pretty good run. Right now GPS shows them a solid 6th, but there is almost half of the race to go. Most teams haven’t reached the Whitefish Lake checkpoint yet and are out on the barren tundra with the wind crossing the trail. Once they reach Whitefish, they will head Northwest and the trail will change.
Some folks seem to be a little nervous as to Pete’s progress, but fear not– There is much racing yet to come!
The battle right now seems to be for the lead as Rohn and Jeff duke it out on the tundra. Teams battling for any position tend to travel a bit quicker, but this early in the race most will just want to stay within striking distance waiting for a mistake that they can garner advantage from.
Pete and the Team are following not only those two mushers, but Paul Gepbhart and Tony Browning who have had great success in the K300 as well. Browning has not been back for years so he is somewhat of a wild card. (A wildcard known for pulling a rabbit out of a hat on occasion!!)
I am thinking that Pete and the Team are in fine shape, though he has to worry some about the massive pack of mushers HE is leading that are right on his tail. The advantage that Pete has is that the teams up front are breaking trail and if it is at all drifted and in poor shape from wind and snow, the going will be much easier for him.

A bit of trivia– The top times between Kalskag and Aniak were within 20 minutes of each other except for Rohn who had the fastest time (3:21). Pete’s time was 3:49 and Jeff’s was 3:39. This is really racing folks!

Presently Pete is about 2 miles from the Whitefish lake point.

Go Team Kaiser!!