Last night over dinner we had some good laughs, hearing Ralph Johannessen recount his experiences from the 2014 Iditarod. He had sworn to never be back after a wild ride to Nome. In 2014 Ralph for sure was a contender for the Rookie of the Year, missing that distinction by 5 places, coming in 22nd. Now 22nd is not a shabby showing for your first Iditarod. It is even more impressive considering Ralph left Rohn in last place, 7 hrs after that previous team, after taking an early, unplanned, 24 hr layover there. He needed to put his sled back together after a rough ride through the Gorge.
Not only his sled got banged up pretty good, he broke some ribs and his clavicle in one wipeout and a bit further down the trail, when his sled got hung up on a rough creek crossing, he broke his nose too. From that point on during the race, he was somewhat of a rough sight, yet undeterred to make it to Nome and still wanting to make good time too.
He joked last night, that he is so he can actually see the trail this time. He was so drugged up on pain killers, that most of it went by in a haze 2 years ago.
9 of his 16 dogs ran with him 2 years ago. Many to them go back to old Susan Butcher bloodlines. Visiting his dogs at Tim Krause’s place ( Tim snowmachined with me to Nome last year ) it immediately stands out how nice and quiet his team is. As soon as any dogs tries to make a sound, Ralph tells them to be quiet. Ralph also does tours to pay for his racing addiction, short rides like I do on the glacier and he pointed out, how much easier and safer it is to work with guests, when the dogs are quiet and well behaved. I could not agree more. Notably his whole drop cable was hooked down with a snowhook and the dogs remained calm, even when 2 moose were walking by in the distance. Calmness sure helped Ralph navigating the snowless burn 2 years ago, despite broken bones in his own body, and his dogs coming fresh off a 24hr layover too.
Coming over from Norway is a huge undertaking. He pointed out how the current exchange rate compounded the cost. Two years ago he had to pay 5.5 Norwegian Kroner for 1 US $, now more than 8.5 Kroner. Flying dogs is not an easy nor cheap task and then the logistics here locally are challenging too. A place to stay, a dog truck or trailer needs to be rented. As most mushers, Ralph pointed out how much he is ready to finally hit the trail and leave all the preparation stress behind.
Ralph did not just come back to enjoy the scenery. The calmness of his dogs and his own quiet demeanor might be a bit misleading. Ralph is here to race. “ I am going down the Gorge in daylight this time “. This says something about is schedule and if his run goes a little bit smoother than 2 years ago, Ralph might be ready to mix things up.
After dropping off the iron dog, its time to visit the Iditarod Headquarters and the vet check which is going on today.
Sebastian
