IditaProject Forum

Breeze

I remember that also. Martin's wife Kathy had flown in before the storm with Paul Claus - Kathy played checker, vet, comms, and race judge for the front runners. The storm was so bad even snowmachines couldn't make it in - the only way in or out was by dog team. Got to love those lead dogs! Quite a story, but I can't remember the year.

Eric

Was not long ago, because I remember that too and I haven't been following the race for very many years .

I think Mith called that checkpoint that year and talked to Kathy. ...Dave

I'm pretty sure something very similar at least happened the first year Bjørnar raced, 2005. It's a documentary about Bjørnar that year and I remember that they missed pictures in the end because of a storm which only the sled dogs could go through.

Time for some research I guess

Google and adn is really our friends

From wikipedia:

On March 14 to March 15, a storm along the southern shore of the Seward Peninsula grounded most airplanes, which prevented the small aircraft of the Iditarod Air Force from flying veterinarians and race officials into White Mountain before the leaders arrived, though local volunteers were present. The whiteout conditions and open water on the trail made snowmobile travel unsafe. This is the first time since at least 1988 that veterinarians were present to check teams arriving at a checkpoint, and the single veterinarian at Elim was overworked. Flights began again on March 16, but gusts of winds remained high (30 to 35 mph).

This is from wikipedia, so the information might not be accurate (but it usually is )

..and then from adnsearch.com:

Pinned down by bad weather in White Mountain on Tuesday, Chugiak pilot Paul Claus and Susitna Valley teacher Kathy Chapoton, wife of musher Martin Buser, got drafted as "volunteers'' for the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

For 24 hours straight, they were the checkers, dropped-dog handlers, communications coordinator and veterinarian for what is one of the most important checkpoints on the 1,100-mile trail from Anchorage to Nome.

This article is from March 17, 2005.

During my search I also found an article from 2002, doing an year by year description of Iditarod.

Mira

Good catch!

Eric

Y'all amaze me daily, with stories and research and photos, etc. The year by year report from ADN is concise and informative from 1973-2002. 1978 brought leaky eyes about the plane crash and the lost musher and dogs.

Thanks to all who take the time to tell their adventures, to those who do the research, to the photo posters and to all who help us here at BSSD.

Actually Breeze, it was Kathy Buser who opened and staffed the cp. She was flying down the trail to see Martin and got to WM before the storm. When the storm hit none of the ITC volunteers could get through either by plane or by snow machine. Of course the mushers were still going up the trail. Being an Iditarod "veteran" of sorts she opened up the cp and ran things until the ITC could get in. I well remember that night if only for our Mith manning the phones to get info from WM when the ITC wasn't able to get any to us. That started our tradition of calling the cp ourselves for the real story. I don't remember exactly what year that was but I remember that night.

Good job Mira! I guess I should have read the whole thread before I replied.

GREAT STATS it always makes me marvel at the resourcefulness of the iditabuddies and the info we can dig up. puts others to shame.

thanks for the hard work!