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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Pete takes break while Mike Jr. Breaks away

Pete is taking a break after an 8 hour run from Takotna. He is at mile 364 or 41 miles from Iditarod. Martin Buser is into Iditarod and resting, while Mike Williams Jr. has moved up to FOURTH place. Schnuelle is resting on the trail and it appears that Gatt, Mackey, and Williams are continuing to Iditarod.

Mike Jr. is presently 10 miles out of Iditarod.

WOW!

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Dropped Dogs

Pete is down to 13 dogs. He had to drop one in Nikolai and two in Takotna.

This might seem a bit early, but if you look at most of the teams, they have all dropped down to the 12-14 dog level. It may be because of the heat or other trouble. In any case, this reporter doesn’t see it as a problem.

Pete is running in a virtual 16th place factoring in the layovers.

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Day 4- On the Trail to Iditarod

Good Morning Race Fans! Team Kaiser is wide awake and is on the trail to Iditarod. Iditarod Standings don’t show it, but the team is 14 miles past Ophir on the trail to Iditarod. That puts him about 76 miles from Iditarod.

The team was out of Takotna at 02:46 this morning and with their bellies full and a good tank of rest, it is ON TO UNK!!

Weather Forecast: (Flat and Iditarod are the same place virtually)

LOWER YUKON VALLEY-
INCLUDING...MARSHALL...RUSSIAN MISSION...HOLY CROSS...GRAYLING...
SHAGELUK...ANVIK..FLAT
322 AM AKST THU MAR 10 2011
.TODAY...SUNNY. HIGHS 10 TO 25 ABOVE. NORTHEAST WINDS 5 TO 15 MPH.
.TONIGHT...CLEAR. LOWS 5 BELOW TO 5 ABOVE. NORTHEAST WINDS 5 TO 15 MPH.


 

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Update your Avatars

Last year an unexpected, but fun thing happened that was totally unplanned. Each registered member of the Kaiser Team can have an Avatar (Small Picture) listed.

What happened was that folks used THEIR dog as the Avatar. It was pretty cool to see everyone’s dog and see the ‘Team’ of dogs.

If you have a animal at home- Use a photo as the Avatar. (Humor Me!!)

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