Category Archives: McGrath to Ruby

Here’s a comparison between the 2014 Record Run of Dallas Seavey who finished in 8 days 13 hours 4 minutes and 19 seconds. BUT Wait and hold on one second…

Long time Iditarod Fans will remember that Dallas was running third to a fast Jeff King and Aliy Zirkle, who, except for that crazy storm that sent Aliy Zirkle to hold up in a cabin and Jeff King out of the race, would have had an even shorter record run.

Consider this for a second. Jeff left White Mountain at 5:02pm after the 8 hour mandatory layover. He had great speed into the checkpoint and there would have been no reason to think, except for the storm, that his speed would have continued. So to speculate and take Pete’s record time from White Mountain to Safety (5hrs 28 minutes), Jeff could have had a time into Safety at 10:30pm.

Now take it a bit further and take Pete’s 2h 27minute Safety to Nome Run, puts Jeff, in a storm-less scenario at possibly as early as 1:00am into Nome. A full three hours earlier than Dallas’ run in which realistically, without the storm, would have been the third place finish.

Now let’s look at this year. Aliy is about 4 hours behind her pace of 2014 which was a pretty fast pace and she was leading the race at that time as well. If all thing stay as good or better than the race of 2014, could we have a record run?

I am thinking so. No apparent weather in the forecast. Some wind on the coast, and right now the only variable that is troublesome is the condition of the portage between Kaltag and Unalakleet. It was a bit of a challenge for the Iron Doggers, but we will see tomorrow how our Teams will fare over that section.

Bottom line is that if we begin to see mushers in Unalakleet tomorrow afternoon, we are looking at a record run. I’ll keep updating this spreadsheet to see how we are doing.

In Pete’s case, he is having his own record run. His times are great and the dogs look the same. A long break out of the heat of the day before the Yukon River run can only be a good thing.

Go Team Kaiser!

Photos by Sebastian Schnuelle at Iditarod Insider.

A long night out on the Iditarod Trail has taken a toll on many of the mushers over the evening. Sebastian Schnuelle reports that Mitch Seavey looked pretty tired this morning arriving in 7th position a couple hours ahead of Pete and the Team.

Pete made the run into Ruby, arriving just before 8am after taking a 2 hour snack break on the trail. I was wondering whether he would make his break here as it appears many have, but instead it looks like he is sticking to a program of keeping his speed up and dogs happy. Another musher who appears to had taken the same tactic is Ken Anderson, also taking some time on the trail.

Pete arrived into Ruby at 7:47am with his 13 dogs in a group of four mushers, Paul Gebhardt, Ray Redington, and Ken Anderson. Paul and Ray made no stops, while Pete had a 2 hour snack and Ken a 3 hour snack.

I am thinking that the snack break was a good strategy with the smooth trail and 8 hour break between Ruby and Kaltag, Pete and the Team have very good trail speed and this is where he will be able to take advantage of it. There is still a rough trail on the Portage to Unalakleet ahead before the coastal trail and Nome. No need to play any cards too early.

I have been impressed by how Pete and the Team have been pretty Happy. Pete smiling and Tails wagging. I’m thinking a short break to keep that happening was well worth it.

Reports are talking about the “heat” of the day today, but that may be less of an issue than it seems as the winds look like they are going to be blowing a bit and that can keep things fairly cool. Still in the lower 20’s, but windchills nearer to zero.

Should be a cold fast trail.

Mushing Weather Forecast for Today-

LOWER KOYUKUK AND MIDDLE YUKON VALLEYS-
INCLUDING...GALENA...NULATO...HUSLIA...KALTAG...RUBY...
712 AM AKST FRI MAR 11 2016

.TODAY...MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH ISOLATED SNOW SHOWERS IN THE MORNING.
PATCHY FOG. HIGHS IN THE LOWER TO MID 20S. NORTHEAST WINDS TO
10 MPH. 
.TONIGHT...MOSTLY CLOUDY. LOWS ZERO TO 10 ABOVE. NORTH WINDS TO
10 MPH.

I’ve been doing this a very long time and what we saw today is noteworthy…

Many years ago, I approached Bev Hoffman and asked her what she thought of a website for the K300. “Well, that’s nice, go ahead.” she said nicely, not really knowing what to say, I’m sure.

I arrived into headquarters that week to a line of fax machines. 4 phones and 4 faxes. A line for a checker, a person to write down the musher, time, and dogs. Now that’s done, if it’s noteworthy, fax it out to the Anchorage News folks and others that were on the call list. Once a race was on, it was left up to those phones, faxes, and the imaginations of thousands as to how a race was progressing.

Ring, Ring, Ring. “Who? Ed Iten? Let me check where he’s at. One second….” On and On through the day and night of a race.

I can only imagine the chaos that the Iditarod HQ must have been.

Then I showed up and started helping to move it to eMail. Then a live website. “This is pretty easy” Bev admitted that first year, but the second year there was still a backup fax and phone, “Just in case!”

We did all sorts of creative things in those early web days, even before the Iditarod was doing much on the web. Live audio Start and then a Live Web Start. All started at K300.org before the Iditarod had webstaff, much less an “Insider.”

But TODAY! TODAY makes it all so worthwhile! Today we get to see a LIVE CHECKPOINT in one of the most remote checkpoints there are– Cripple! Who would have thought so many years ago, when Joe Redington began this race, or when Myron and Bev began the K300. Who could have imagined that anyone in the world could tune in and see LIVE their musher come into a checkpoint.

Obviously I am excited for my small role. The net effect is seeing Pete and the Team come rolling into the Checkpoint looking Great! But we got to see it for ourselves and this really makes mushing a spectator sport to be sure. Between the tracker and the live cams, the menial amount for the Insider is well worth the money. At first I was a bit skeptical. Now I’m a believer. You can’t get a ticket to this kind of action for that kind of money.

Off my soapbox!

Pete and the Team looked real nice crossing the line into Cripple. Weather is still great and expected to stay that way for the period. It is a good thing that Pete got to Cripple early as it looks like its going to be a crowded place shortly. I’m counting at least 20 Teams that will be resting there before too long.

I also have been looking and doing some comparisons between Pete’s times and Dallas Seavey’s record times in 2014. They are real close and win or not, I am seeing Pete and the Team on record pace as are many in this year’s race. It’s just fun stats playing at this point, but it is notable.

I’m expecting 4 hours or so before heading North for the Yukon this evening. Go Team Kaiser!

Dallas Adjusted is 2012 Record Iditarod Adjusted to 2016 Date.

Tonight’s journey is a long one. Miles and miles of miles as Pete and the Team will make their way West on an established mining trail to the Checkpoint of Ophir and then head North into the wild tundra trail that will lead them to Cripple. Teams have been making the from Ophir to Cripple in 11 to 13 hours without their 24 hour layovers under their belts. Dallas relayed that the trail wasn’t as bad as he had seen it, but it was a bit punchy as Team and Sled are bounced the 70 miles into Cripple. After Cripple its another 73 miles North to the first Checkpoint on the Yukon– Ruby.

We were talking about the advantages of Takotna this afternoon and another advantage to mushers is the ability to drop a dog as necessary in Ophir, just 23 miles out of a 24 hour layover. Sometimes problems crop up during the 24 and having to carry a Team member many miles to the next checkpoint isn’t something either Musher or Team member want to deal with.

As I write this I see Pete on the evening news telling KTUU that the Team is moving well, although it is just 300 or so miles down the trail, but he sounds confident and ready to go.

As it has been since the beginning of the 2016 Iditarod, the Weather Forecast is nothing but outstanding. Pete would say it could be a bit cooler, but considering the options, this is going to have to do.

Pete and the Team will be able to leave Takotna at 11:56pm. Go Team Kaiser!

AKZ227-101530-
UPPER KUSKOKWIM VALLEY-
INCLUDING...=...TAKOTNA
325 PM AKST WED MAR 9 2016

.TONIGHT...CLOUDY. ISOLATED SNOW SHOWERS. LOWS 5 TO 15 ABOVE.
NORTHEAST WINDS TO 10 MPH

Sometimes out of the blue, a familiar face can do wonders for time spent on the trail. This morning, Cindy Andrecheck got an idea to send her other half, Tom Ratledge to Takotna with their 172. Was I interested? Well, sure I was interested, but it probably wasn’t the best idea. I’m still on the mend and it just wasn’t in the cards for me.

So luckily, my Kaiser partner in crime, Rick Hanson, jumped at the chance. Before long the plane was in the air outbound for Takotna, 2 hours NorthEast of Bethel.

Once they arrived, all the chips just fell into place. Mark Nordman had just landed as well and before long the trio of Kaiser Crew were in sleds headed for downtown Takotna.

As they came around the bend, there was Pete feeding his dogs with a quizzical look, like, “Hmmm…. That person looks familiar” and it surely was– it was his dad Ron. What a great surprise for Pete on the Trail!

Pete and the Team are doing well and taking advantage of the Takotna amenities. After looking at the Team, Pete took the crew up to meet Richie at the Roadhouse for some burgers and that Famous Pie. (I love Pete to death, but not going was killing me for another reason– After 7 years of writing about them, the taste of that pie would have been oh so special!)

Pete and Richie both are pretty much just resting up and attending to a bit of dog care as they wait to get back on the trail, but they were really happy to see some familiar faces while on the trail. To that end, it was time to let them get back to resting and the guys loaded up in another sled and got a ride back to the airport for the flight back down to Bethel.

It was a great afternoon in the checkpoint and I’m sure it was great for Pete and Richie to have spent some time with some of their “Homies.”

Thanks so much to Tom and Cindy for making this happen. Yukon Helicopters has been a sponsor since the beginning and this was just icing on the cake!

Northeast Bound to Takotna

Tom Ratledge – Hours and Hours of Hours.

10G – Serving the YK for over 30 years!

The Motley Crew

Some Dog Care

Lunch with Richie

Mark and Rick

Another Motley Crew

Tom’s Taxi

Just before Midnight tonight, Pete and the Team will have completed their 24 hour layover and adjustment and will return to the Iditarod Trail to Nome.

Quite a few mushers this year have chosen to push on towards Ophir and Cripple for their mandatory layover and it should be interesting to see how these strategies pay out for Team in the coming days.

There is no real weather to speak of in the short term forecast and this might be a race where weather isn’t the prime variable. Mother nature has ways of changing her tune though in a hurry, so we will see what happens. A very large area of stagnant air is forcing storms to follow a southern route away from the 2016 Northern Route and this pattern is expected to remain until the middle of next week.

The way I have it figured, run rest schedules and just common mistakes along the trail will shake up the leaderboard as it has already. A few mushers were injured, a couple are ill– It’s just life on the dog trail and anything can happen. (Remembering Shaktoolik last year of course !)

Richie Diehl will leave just an hour and a half after Pete moving up a few positions after the differential.

Here are my OUT times for the first Ten Teams into Takotna: