Good Morning Race Fans!
Iditarod 23 looks like it’s going to be a good one! Hunter Keefe, running Raymie Redington’s Team is first into Rainy Pass this morning with a pack of Teams hot on his heels.
Each Iditarod we see this take place, where one or two mushers run fast into the Alaska Range and try to get a bit of a cushion built up before they head for the mighty Kuskokwim River.
This morning Pete and the Team have left Finger Lake and are headed towards Rainy Pass themselves. Pete and the Team are using a strategy that Pete has used many times- Consistent run/rest times. Early in the race, camping on the trail is ideal to have your own private space, so checkpoints are not a requirement except to sign in and sighn out. Sticking to a consistent run/rest schedule gets the Team into race mode and a race routine.
Pete left Willow at 3:06 and stopped at 9:06- Perfectly 6 Hours! Then a 3 hour break to snack and snooze and off at 12:10 am. Another break at 6:00 am and then another 3 hour break until 9am and now they are headed for Rainy Pass and the warm sun of the day. Weather is still outstanding!
Go Team Kaiser!
Here’s the train rundown from Zuma at Iditarod:
The distance from Finger Lake to Rainy Pass Checkpoint is about 30 miles with some really tough spots along the way. About ten miles out of Finger Lake, mushers are challenged with the Happy River Steps. It’s one of the very technical segments of the trail that calls up the very best sled driving skills of every musher. The Steps are equally challenging for veteran and rookie mushers.
Most Iditarod mushers can tell stories about their experiences on the infamous steps. Starting position makes a big difference when it comes to the condition of the steps. Every musher is riding the brake while zigzagging down the tight trail to the Happy River. The more mushers that run the steps, the deeper the rut in the trail gets and the more difficult it becomes to navigate.
Rainy Pass Checkpoint on Puntilla Lake is at 1,800 feet elevation. The checkpoint is located at Rainy Pass Lodge that is run by the Perrins Family, Steve and Denise along with their five sons. Hunters come to the lodge to bag Dall sheep, caribou, moose and bear – black and grizzly. In the summer, the lodge offers horseback trips, fishing, awesome scenery and relaxation. As the lodge is located in the Alaska Range, humans travel there by plane, snowmachine or dog team.
Rainy Pass Lodge goes way back. It was founded in 1937 and is considered to be Alaska’s oldest hunting lodge. The Perrins family purchased the lodge and surrounding property in 2003. R5 Sons Alaska was filmed at Rainy Pass Lodge featuring the adventures of the family with five growing sons as they ran the wilderness lodge. Some two-dozen episodes were filmed and enjoyed by many as one of the early Alaska based family friendly reality TV shows.
