March 5 Cripple 2:10PM Burmeister leads to Cripple—Could Lindner go Yukon?

Our Insider crew has just arrived Cripple. Noted cooler temperatures under very blue bright sun skies.  Temperatures last night bottomed at -30F.

Sonny Lindner and Aaron Burmeister have been hopscotching across the tundra from Ophir and now it appears the Aaron will be first into Cripple.  Pundits here in Cripple wonder if Sonny actually intends to stop in Cripple as it seems his rest schedule might suggest a push onto the Yukon, an idea that I think has merit after I walked the outgoing trail.

The trail is perfect, hard, and set.  It is not usual to have such a solid fast trail as we are now in the Interior, where temperatures are cold—typical of the Yukon basin—and dry.   Disturbed by snow machines, we often find the trail to have a fluffy layer of four inches of snow. At its worst, the trail in and out of Cripple is often unstable and breaks up into a sugar bowl of dry crystals.  Therefore, it may be that great opportunity to keep mushing deep into the middle of the race where a 24 hour rest makes more sense. 

Cripple is just a place on the map midway between Ophir and Ruby.  The only reason Cripple exists is to break up the 150 mile trail to Ruby in an area many regard as one of the most remote in Alaska.  The other reason is that a slough exists which can be used for landing Iditarod air craft on skis.

On a practical basis, the collection of tents and elegant plywood shacks used for cooking, housing volunteers, and mushers would only be possible because of the vision of Jim Paulus.  Jim has worked to design the quarters here at camp.  He hustles building materials from sponsors in Anchorage, then cuts them into lengths and widths that can fit into small aircraft and can be assembled on site in winter conditions.

Photos are included to show the camp, the outgoing trail, and the musher shack with a gravity oil burning stove.  Note the black spruce typical of the area.   North to the Yukon and east of this location are areas known particularly for marten trapping.  I spent several winters east of here trapping in game rich territory off the Yukon.  For some reason, however, the area near Cripple is almost barren of tracks—rarely a moose track and a surprising dearth of marten tracks, the main furbearer along the Yukon.  At any rate, this is a cold hole, the coldest place on the Iditarod trail, and kind of a no man’s land.  This site will not be visited by humans until the Iditarod comes through here again in 2016. 

A pilot from the Iditarod air force spotted Aaron on the incoming trail.  Although we have internet here, we note that the tracker probably does not accurately—-to the mile—-know where Cripple sits.  So, it’s like the old days where we look up at the far end of the slough for the first musher on the trail.  Aaron, readers may call, is gimping from a crash and hobbling on one knee, a serious problem in snow.  However, his team is smoking and he just cannot contemplate pulling the plug.  I hope he can make it.

First in musher to Cripple collects $3000 in gold, a nice incentive for an early arrival.

Race fans should be delighted with an unusual dilemma.  No one musher has emerged to dominate or even to suggest an eventual winner.  It’s too close to call.  Martin Buser, who can never be discounted is also enroute to Cripple.  Should be able to maintain race pace, he could be hours, maybe 6 hours, ahead of the pack.  The question is the durability of his dog team.

We have been trying to number crunch the trail, factor in the fast trail conditions, and propose that a musher, like Sonny Lindner, continuing to the Yukon could arrive at Ruby about 8am