Much drama on the Iditarod Trail

[Blue_In_AK]

From Iditarod veteran and blogger Joe Runyan. Iditarod.com


March 10 Nome Wind Stops Aliy at Safety–More Info from Trail
Posted by Joe Runyan
Date: March 10, 2014 11:40 pm
March 10 Nome 11:20 More info from the trail

Another call give us more insight to developments on the trail.

King, we are told, was apparently moving in strong winds, when a gust blew sled and team off the trail into driftwood. King was there to untangle the team, and did in fact got them back in line but failed to get the team rolling again. According to our information, Jeff has been wadded up in the drift for an hour and a half.

Aliy passed and didn’t know she passed. She continued to Safety and proceeded to drop several dogs. The wind, having increased, she decided to stay in Safety cabin and regroup. Whether someone told her that she had passed Jeff is not relevant, as she most certainly would know that Jeff had not signed into Safety.

Meanwhile, if all these developments weren’t enough, we are told that wind on the trail ahead around Cape Nome to the finish is absolutely brutal.

Now, to the question astute fans want to ask—What about Dallas Seavey? According to the tracker he is 12 miless from contacting King .

Of course, the development is bizarre when considering the race weather for the last eight days. The weather has been mild for the last 8 days, but the last six hours have developed unimaginable weather.

We’re informed with the best information we can get that winds are horrific at Safety and describe conditions and visibility as strictly marker to marker. Also, according to our sources, the trail going around Cape Nome (further on the trail to Nome) is head-on and will be very strong.

With this new information we learn that Aliy is still in the Safety checkpoint and not continuing in the wind.

What do I think about the wind? Rarely do I insert my own direct personal anecdotes into the dialogue, but I think this race is shut down. The winds into Nome are legendary and life threatening. They have killed people, and it’s not joking around. If you have ever been caught in the wind, you will understand that wind is the ultimate weapon of an arctic winter. In my racing days, I actually sat down and decided what I would do in a big blow. My decision was to not test it. Sometimes you can make it, but often you can’t. To go into the wind and expect others to risk their life, or risk frostbite, to save your decision is foolhardy.


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Jeff has just scratched. Mushers are hunkered down wherever they can all down the trail. We may not have a record-breaker after all. Anybody's guess what's going to happen now.

[Hoppy]

1. I ain't seeing no pikchurs. Why is this on the photography thread?

[Mira]

2. Dear Hoppy

the photographer who is posting this is at the Iditarod every year and tells us about it the best way she can at any given time. There are and will be pictures. But as I read it this is a dire emergency situation and she is telling us about it.
Before I came to the photography group and learned about it through her - I had never even heard of the Iditarod.

[Blue_In_AK]

3. This is an annual thing with me,

and some people here in the photo group are interested. There will be pictures later when I get home.

[Solly Mack]

7. Not everything includes a photo. As a group we share.

[Blue_In_AK]

4. What a race!

Unfortunately, my girl Aliy Zirkle came in second by TWO MINUTES, the third time she's been runner-up in three years. Such a bummer. Since this is probably our last trip out here, I was really hoping she could pull it off.

This has been a race to remember, though. A very good summation here: http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/20140311/finish-ages-dallas-seavey-claims-glory-iditarod-2014


I didn't get such great pictures of Dallas but some better ones of Aliy. It's so much easier to get good action shots in the daylight.

[Solly Mack]

6. Just saw this. Thanks, Blue!

[Solly Mack]

5. I just hope everyone is OK. Sounds frightful.

Thanks, Blue.

[Blue_In_AK]

8. A lot of people got really banged up

but I think so far all the dogs are okay. The race was fast but very dangerous ... Almost the whole way on ice.

By the way, the top three finishers DID break the old record.

[elleng]

9. I'm glad to know they think seriously about scratching.

[Blue_In_AK]

10. The mushers are very conscious of the dogs' and their own limitations.

Some very big names scratched early in the race this year because as the dogs were going like gangbusters across the ice, the sleds were were getting tossed around all over the place. Usually, there's more snow to kind of slow things down. These conditions were actually better for the dogs than deep snow, but much harder on the mushers.

It was heartbreaking for Jeff to scratch so close to the finish, just 22 miles out, but after getting thrown into the driftwood last night, he had to give up. If he had won, he would have been only the second musher to win five Iditarods.


We just had another veteran musher, Hugh Neff, scratch in White Mountain (77 miles out of Nome). A lot of them are just hanging out at the checkpoints, probably waiting for the weather to change. We are due for snow, and the wind will probably die down some.

[CC]

11. Never fails to be exciting

does it. Will a wait your photos with anticipation but have been keeping up with your reports both here and on FB. TY for doing them for us not in Iditarod news coverage areas. It might eventually get a mention on the nightly news.

[Blue_In_AK]

12. Several more mushers have made it in,

I think the next one, Ken Anderson, who is due in about 5:30 this morning, is #12. The trail committee ended up holding a bunch of people up in Shaktoolik rather than letting them out on the trail in the strong wind yesterday, but the weather has improved and they're all back at it now. At least here in Nome the wind has died down and there's light snow. Even though it's still cold, -2, it's not nearly so bitter. We just welcomed Mike Williams, Jr., in here around 2:30 a.m.

I'm still experimenting with the night shooting. My daytime shots are so much better. The chute isn't well lit at this point in the race. I use the Speedlite so seldom that it's always a crapshoot. I'm not all that thrilled with my shots of Dallas and Aliy yesterday morning, but it was such chaos (and I was so annoyed that Dallas won), they'll just have to do. When those two came in, they had these huge floodlights down there, the mushers had headlamps, and there were people crowding around everywhere. I was on the balcony and did the best I could. Fortunately, we're expecting a bunch of teams in today in the daylight, so I'm pretty happy about that.



Some nice coverage of yesterday's excitement. http://www.adn.com/2014/03/11/3369926/battered-and-bruised-the-iditarods.html

[Solly Mack]

13. Looking forward to your photos! Sorry 'bout Dallas winning.

[Blue_In_AK]

14. It's crazy here this morning.

They're coming in about 15 minutes apart. We can't even take a break for breakfast and my husband is getting cranky. I told him he could go eat without me, but he won't. We have four more teams expected within the hour, including two rookies who are neck and neck vying for rookie of the year. Never a dull moment. Hopefully, we'll get an hour or so after Michelle Phillips.

[Blue_In_AK]

15. Update

It's been a pretty exciting day today. Starting at 2:30 a.m. until 11:30, 11 teams came in. We finally got to eat around noon - we were starving - and I actually got a little sleep this afternoon. Then this evening, just before sunset (golden hour - yea!) four more teams arrived, one right after the other. There was a windy ground snowstorm, but the sun was peeking through the clouds, so the light was just magical. I love my shots.

Tomorrow will be hopping, too. It looks like 11 teams will be in before 2 p.m., starting around 7 a.m., so we get to sleep tonight, all night, which is pretty exciting. .

It's sort of clear now and there's a possibility of auroras, but it's so windy, I don't know how easy it would be to shoot. I've got a photographer friend I see out here every year who volunteers in the dog lot and she said she'd call if they come out, so we'll see. I wish the wind would die down.

So that's the update for today. I know it's going to take a while to sort and edit these photos, but I think you guys are going to really like them. My flash shots this morning turned out better than yesterday's. Live and learn.

[Blue_In_AK]

16. First interview with Jeff King

The Alaska Dispatch has carried the first post-race interview with Jeff King since he scratched from the race outside of Safety. This is absolutely hair-raising. I'm so glad he and his team survived.

http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/20140312/how-fierce-bitter-winds-ended-jeff-kings-iditarod

<snip>

The dogs hunkered into little balls, their coats whipping up in the wind, as they tried to rest. He spooned with two dogs so frantic they tried to climb into his parka. Eventually he piled all the dogs together, covered by his sleeping bag. He said they were like 4-week-old puppies, climbing on top of each other, trying to stay warm.

He stayed with the dog pile, his back to the worst of the wind, trying to protect them, pelted by snow and ice. He said it was hitting so hard it sounded like rain.

After a while, with the dogs shivering in the sleeping bag, King said it became clear that hunkering down just wasn't going to work. He had on every piece of clothing he brought with him, and he was starting to freeze. He knew there was no chance he was getting his sleeping bag back from the dogs.

So he decided to use what energy he had left proactively. He started walking to Safety.

<snip>