March 10 Sht Mtn 7:02Am King leads pack, widens lead, 77 miles from Nome!
Jeff King, the 4x Iditarod champ, cruised into White Mountain at 7:02 am. Those ardent fans with the Insider Tracker followed King through the night from Koyuk to Elim, watched him take a 1.5 hour break and then portage to Golovin bay, hiccup a little in Golovin but quickly getting his dogs back on what he described as glare ice, traveling lathe to lathe across the bay, and finally into White Mountain.
Just as this post is being written, the checkpoint clears again at 8am to bring Aliy back to her fans in White Mountain. It is still dark outside and to me feels like 4 in the morning. The sun has not even made a suggestion to appear. She is solidly in 2nd place, but slipped somewhat in the standings. Jeff King and team gained an hour, more or less, in the early morning hours from Elim to White Mountain. Unfortunately, rule of physics, one can only be in one spot at a time so we’ll talk to Aliy later.
Early morning arrivals are always a little subdued with the human biorhythm generally at risk. King was cogent and had a good trail narrative for the press as he leaned against the handle bar of his sled, but was also very tired. As he talked he kept fishing for matches to light his cooker stove, kind of forgot about what he was looking for as he described the trail over little McKinley, a big climb out of Elim, and then eventually got the alcohol cooker blazing, a blue flame licking the hot water cooker .
A mother and her 12 year old daughter were up early to watch the King arrival. They were from White Mountain and had been checking the tracker through the night. Mom was dressed with arctic gear and her daughter, typical of Alaska kids, was wearing jeans and wearing a little light jacket. I had on my over parka and asked, “Aren’t you cold?” “No, I kept wondering why my Mom was putting on all her winter stuff.” Our thermometer said -5f , but a slight wind made it feel colder to me.
Meanwhile, Jeff King was working his ritual with his dogs, placing straw to each set of dogs, distributing some dry kibble, offering fat snacks, and moving a small bucket of clear drinking water up the line of huskies.
At the same time, the White Mountain team of veterinarians examined the dogs. “Are you Ok on meds, need supplies?” a vet in a parka, hood up, asked. Jeff nods, “No.” Jeff continues to wear his overparka that exends almost to his knees, with another wind breaker “skirt” that goes to his knees. Usually he sheds the parka on arrival, so I figure he is cold and just warming up as he continues chores.
A couple of dogs growl and argue to the front of the team, a fat snack in dispute. “Hey, knock it off!” then King changes positions of the disputants. More snacks appear in a ritual of continuous feeding we are learning to anticipate. Cameras flash, TV cameras run with big floodlights illuminating the line of dogs, and another argument starts midteam. “Jerry, that’s enough!” Obviously, the team is in an irritable mood, but with plenty of energy.
A vet comes up to me and offers, “Team looks really good.” Then the vets informally gather within earshot, “Good dog team, heart rates down, body condition, we all in agreement?” “Ok, that’s cool,” after the group concurs.
King is down on his knees with his front four huskies now bedded down on straw and stripping booties. He is still wearing his big parka. He takes the time to give them a pat, gets up to retrieve some “pink” ointment from the sled. He returns to smear ointment between the toes of one of his leaders, probably to help with a split—kind of an irritation similar to a blister that forms between the toes. With booties and salve its usually uneventful.
We have been at the dogs for about a half-hour, and finally King takes off his parka and continues checking dogs in his snakeskin camo light parka. Most of his dogs are wearing dog coats but he goes a step further and covers one duo of dogs with a 4×4 square blanket. The front of the team is doing a group sleep out on a pile of straw, so Jeff spreads a sleeping bag over them. They are used to this and seem to bury deeper into the cave of straw and sleeping bag.
Jeff described the trail through the night for the press entourage. The first ten miles out of Koyuk was very rough with fallen trees, rocks, bare brush, and hard ice—“I would have pushed the rescue button” but reported that the trail then improved dramatically. Aliy and team followed closely behind.
King took a 1.5 hour break in Elim, a strategy precaution that gives his dogs a great feed and resting break and the zip to proceed to White Mountain. Going over little McKinley, a big climb out of Elim, it appears King gained on Aliy. Looking back on the sea ice of Golovin Bay, Jeff said he could tell that he had gained on Aliy.
I thought his description of trail from Golovin, a small village about halfway from Elim to White Mountain, was great. He offered that most people don’t have the kind of leaders that will take voice commands on mirror smooth glare ice, but he gave leaders Zig and Skeeter full respect. Dogs have to learn how to stand up and pull on glare ice, adopting kind of a short choppy gait. Those not accustomed flounder, slip , fall and lose focus on pulling. Zig and Skeeter went from reflector lathe to lather in straight lines. Trail breakers use a thin sharp pointed chain saw to auger a slot in the ice for the lathe. Jeff commented that many mushers would have great difficulty negotiating lathe to lathe on an ice skating rink. “The slightest puff of wind would move us and a good wind moved us sideways.” Fortunately, Zig and Skeeter gave the team a good rhythm across the ice. King added that the wheel dogs located closest to the sled were particularly vulnerable to the pressure of the tow line, making it work to keep standing. Therefore Jeff stood on the drag and went the speed comfortable for the wheelers. For a dog mushers, traveling on glare ice is a blast, but you to have really good leaders.
One “gee” and a good clock leader moves from 12 o’clock to 1 o’clock. “Gee Gee” and a good leader like Zig or Skeeter goes to 2 o’clock. You have to have good leaders—or the experience can be exasperating, a giant time loser.
Jeff’s interview can be seen in entirety at the Insider. Personally, I thought he made a great observation about choice of equipment. Aliy was using a type of “side pull” harness, a concept that King actually used on other Iditarods, but has limitations. The dogs can’t pull as hard. Therefore, he theorized that he may have increased his lead climbing hills, as his dogs had the better harness.
King with a lead of about an hour. Aliy her normal congenial, positive, optimistic self—she said,”I know I have a lot fans rooting for me. Believe me, I am trying!!” The race to King should be his to lose.
Dallas Seavey continues to advance in the standing but is the time bridge too much to cross with only 77 miles left in the race?
When I get the chance, a review of King’s strategy, which involved following a tight set of physiological rules of rest and run and travel speed, and a feeding protocol that kept calorie throughout at maintenance. He has run a disciplined prudent race.
