Paws Along the Trail with Weather

If you are following the GPS Tracker on Iditarod.com, you may have seen me in Unalakleet ahead of all the mushers before I flew to Anvik, and now  here again behind many mushers.  What determines where I am is weather and airplaine availability.  For this year’s race, there have been many snowstorms.  Mushers have trudged through deep snow that blows over the trail.  Last evening, Shaynee Traska had come in and was telling about having short breaks with blue skies and then it would start snowing again.

The logistics crew has been trying to get planes into checkpoints to bring out volunteers and dropped dogs or get volunteers, vets, and supplies into checkpoints; however, the weather is in charge. 

The Iditarod Air Force is a group of pilots who use their own airplanes to transport supplies, people, and dogs along the trail.  There are rules they must follow: 

1. There is a visual flight rule, meaning they have to be able to see land features since they have no automatic flight instrumentation
2. They must be landed by dark

Many of us have been  hoping to fly out.  Yesterday, five Iditarod Air Force planes left the airport, but had to turn around and come back because of bad weather.  We had heard that it would be blue skies today, but as I write, it’s gray and snow is blowing.  That’s OK.  There are still mushers coming into Unalakleet to greet and local people to talk to about their village.

As you know, Joar Leifseth Ulsom came into Nome as the 2018 champion.  Nic Petit came in second.  How did weather affect Nic’s run?  He was ahead until he went off the trail.  Instead of making the run between Shaktoolik and Koyuk in 8 hours, it took him 13 hours because of a wrong turn.  When the wind is blowing and the snow is falling, it obscures the trail markers, making it easy to go the wrong direction, particularly if you are the first one out on the trail.  

The last time the southern route was run for the Iditarod was in 2013.  If you go to Iditarod.com, Race Center, and Archives tabs, you can compare the finish times of mushers who ran both the 2013 and the 2018 races for this route.  Also, compare the number of mushers who scratched.   Before the race, Scott Janssen, veteran musher, told us that the southern route is really a tough one.  What conclusions can you draw?  Can you find the differences in finish times?

Even though some mushers are coming into Nome, keep cheering on those who are still facing snow and cold on the windy coast of western Alaska!  Their perseverance is amazing!