Trail Breaker Reports

[bourgeois_rage]

I just saw this on Ed Stielstra's Kennel's websitep. Thought you guys might be interested. I'm not sure if it has been posted, yet.

February 23rd...This just in...a trail report from the Iditarod trail breakers. I received this email fowarded from Mark Nordman, 2008 Race Marshall, it will give you an idea of what the mushers are up against this year. Warning...if you are Ed or Jake's mom or dad, you may not want to read this!
"I was dropped off at Rohn checkpoint on Feb. 21st. Picked up my machine there. I widened the runway and put in a larger turn around area for airplanes. Jasper Bond arrived there at 2:30 p.m. with one of the Iditarod planes. I left Rohn at 3 p.m. 35 miles to Bison Camp. The trail after leaving Rohn is glare ice on the river, rock/gravel bars and driftwood logs for the first mile to the left hand turn-off into the woods trail. Some of the lath markers on that stretch were still standing but a lot of them were laying on the ground. Chinook winds ate most of the snow. The trail thru the woods after leaving the river has snow but there is a deep 6"-12" snomobile rut from the tracks of machines with ski ruts on both sides due to warm temps and soft deep snow when the Iron Doggers went thru (Tasha's note: the Iron Dog Race is a snowmobile race that uses the Iditarod trail) . A lot of washboards. There are some bare ground spots. Coming back out of the woods and crossing the Post River there was running water about 12" deep. Back up into the woods to the left side again it is dirt trail frozen and icy with a rut climbing the hill. I next went over the hill and encountered the "glacier" which looks like it could be real nasty if pulling a loaded sled. I was on a 500 Skandic with no sled and full throttled it all the way up the glacier and made it okay. It is ice from side to side looking like a lava flow! Same as many years previous.
The next leg before Egypt Mountain was then stretches of bare ground with rocks, dirt and grass eaten down by bison, with ice. The buffalo wallows are a twisting set of little black dirt mounds with glare ice patches. Several long stretches of grassy/icy trail and then back in the woods. Passing Egypt Mt. the rolling hills are bare on the uphill southern exposure side and snow on the downhill sides. Entering the Farewell lakes area all the lakes are glare ice clear enough to see thru! Old snogo tracks in the ice were visible for the most part. NO standing markers. There are good reflectors at the trail entrys into the woods at each lake. From the Submarine Lake (the last good size lake) going back into the woods heading into the Peloc Hills most of the climbing sides are bare ground/gravel with ruts and then good snow on the downhill sides again. Good snow cover on the flat stretches between hills.
Bison Camp is set up and the 2 back tent cabins are open and available for use by anyone needing rest or shelter. That is the last hill and 40 miles from Nikolai. Good snow cover all the way from Bison camp to the bridge 15 miles and is usually wind drifted. Back in the woods past the bridge is good snow with ruts again but good trail the last 25 miles to Nikolai. There is pretty decent reflective markers all the way from Rohn to Nikolai. I left Bison camp at dark and used only a mushers headlamp as my machine headlight was out, so I know the reflectors are pretty good and spaced close to each for the most part. The trail into Nikolai is very well marked when mushers hit the river just 1 mile down from the dogyard. We put out a ton of lath so no one should miss the turn to the right on the river to town. There should be hot water for every musher at Nikolai coming from a giant boiler set up at the dogyard. The Iditarod tent you sent out last year will set up again. The Nikolai School students will have a cafe going again serving breakfast, lunch and dinner. I believe the meals are free for mushers. Showers and a place to sleep will be free for mushers too. Lodging for others can be paid for at the school and will help the students raise money for a spring road trip in Alaska. The Iditarod checkpoint and ham radio location is ready, cleaned up and set up for the "crew", complete with a kitchen area. It is about 100 yds away from the dogyard which is on the big sandbar in front of the village. The trail leaving town to Mcgrath is a straight shot out on the main road. It is very well marked and there is usually always a local on hand to give directions out to McGrath.
Hope this helps everyone with this stretch of the trail." --Happy Trails, The Runkle Family

[fladogfan]

I just saw this on Ed Stielstra's Kennel's websitep. Thought you guys might be interested. I'm not sure if it has been posted, yet.

February 23rd...This just in...a trail report from the Iditarod trail breakers. I received this email fowarded from Mark Nordman, 2008 Race Marshall, it will give you an idea of what the mushers are up against this year. Warning...if you are Ed or Jake's mom or dad, you may not want to read this!
"I was dropped off at Rohn checkpoint on Feb. 21st. Picked up my machine there. I widened the runway and put in a larger turn around area for airplanes. Jasper Bond arrived there at 2:30 p.m. with one of the Iditarod planes. I left Rohn at 3 p.m. 35 miles to Bison Camp. The trail after leaving Rohn is glare ice on the river, rock/gravel bars and driftwood logs for the first mile to the left hand turn-off into the woods trail. Some of the lath markers on that stretch were still standing but a lot of them were laying on the ground. Chinook winds ate most of the snow. The trail thru the woods after leaving the river has snow but there is a deep 6"-12" snomobile rut from the tracks of machines with ski ruts on both sides due to warm temps and soft deep snow when the Iron Doggers went thru (Tasha's note: the Iron Dog Race is a snowmobile race that uses the Iditarod trail) . A lot of washboards. There are some bare ground spots. Coming back out of the woods and crossing the Post River there was running water about 12" deep. Back up into the woods to the left side again it is dirt trail frozen and icy with a rut climbing the hill. I next went over the hill and encountered the "glacier" which looks like it could be real nasty if pulling a loaded sled. I was on a 500 Skandic with no sled and full throttled it all the way up the glacier and made it okay. It is ice from side to side looking like a lava flow! Same as many years previous.
The next leg before Egypt Mountain was then stretches of bare ground with rocks, dirt and grass eaten down by bison, with ice. The buffalo wallows are a twisting set of little black dirt mounds with glare ice patches. Several long stretches of grassy/icy trail and then back in the woods. Passing Egypt Mt. the rolling hills are bare on the uphill southern exposure side and snow on the downhill sides. Entering the Farewell lakes area all the lakes are glare ice clear enough to see thru! Old snogo tracks in the ice were visible for the most part. NO standing markers. There are good reflectors at the trail entrys into the woods at each lake. From the Submarine Lake (the last good size lake) going back into the woods heading into the Peloc Hills most of the climbing sides are bare ground/gravel with ruts and then good snow on the downhill sides again. Good snow cover on the flat stretches between hills.
Bison Camp is set up and the 2 back tent cabins are open and available for use by anyone needing rest or shelter. That is the last hill and 40 miles from Nikolai. Good snow cover all the way from Bison camp to the bridge 15 miles and is usually wind drifted. Back in the woods past the bridge is good snow with ruts again but good trail the last 25 miles to Nikolai. There is pretty decent reflective markers all the way from Rohn to Nikolai. I left Bison camp at dark and used only a mushers headlamp as my machine headlight was out, so I know the reflectors are pretty good and spaced close to each for the most part. The trail into Nikolai is very well marked when mushers hit the river just 1 mile down from the dogyard. We put out a ton of lath so no one should miss the turn to the right on the river to town. There should be hot water for every musher at Nikolai coming from a giant boiler set up at the dogyard. The Iditarod tent you sent out last year will set up again. The Nikolai School students will have a cafe going again serving breakfast, lunch and dinner. I believe the meals are free for mushers. Showers and a place to sleep will be free for mushers too. Lodging for others can be paid for at the school and will help the students raise money for a spring road trip in Alaska. The Iditarod checkpoint and ham radio location is ready, cleaned up and set up for the "crew", complete with a kitchen area. It is about 100 yds away from the dogyard which is on the big sandbar in front of the village. The trail leaving town to Mcgrath is a straight shot out on the main road. It is very well marked and there is usually always a local on hand to give directions out to McGrath.
Hope this helps everyone with this stretch of the trail." --Happy Trails, The Runkle Family

Good grief! How will the teams make it up the glacier?

Also consider that it might not be chinook winds eating the snow. Could it be a Chinook owning, trail marker eating moose, needing a good drink to wash down any remaining splinters, now that tsfr has been requested to halt ketchup deliveries?

fdf hiya moose

[Moose]

Hi back at ya, FDF!

Sure wish my little furry Chinooks could haul some of our abundant snow out to cover what sounds like some horrible stretches of trail. I suspect that wood-munching moose will find plenty of splinters (sled splinters) littering the trail by the time all is said and done.

[Breeze]

If Moose and I could send whats going to "bless" us over the next 24+ hours back west and north, you can be sure we'd be pulling out ALL the stops to do so. Neither one of us need another blasted INCH of white stuff for THE REST of the season, never mind this additional 8 to 20 inches, depending on what forecaster is flapping their gums.

Ullr has blessed the skiers quite well this year, now needs to attend to the sled-dogs and mushers.

Cm'on ULLR DUMP THE WHITE STUFF in ALASKA!!!!!!! Time is short!


Breeze

[Moose]

Hey, Breeze! Can't believe I'm saying this, but enough is enough, huh? I'm usually celebrating this stuff, playing in it, enjoying the heck out of it. But this year it's just become a chore. There's absolutely nowhere to push or throw it. Stop! Stop, I say! Dump it where they want it and need it. We've had enough, thank you.

[Breeze]

See a new entry at the poems thread, Moose.

In the 20 years I've lived in this house, this one takes second SO FAR for PHD ( Piled High and DEEP ) , but this is PHD higher, deeper, earlier than I remember. Even our long time driveway plowman is shaking his head ( while I make his monthly payment on his new plowtruck). March can be our biggest snowfall month, and I'm really not optimistic that this is going to end soon.

Snowrkle please. I need to find my car, I know it is there, somewhere.

Breeze

[flowerpower]

I'd be happy to send some heat your way. 92 degrees, record high temps here yesterday. Today it has cooled off to 64 for a high! Yikes...dry, no rain, fires everywhere, no big ones, I think, thank goodness.

[Moose]

We'd gladly send some of this White Wet to Florida, too, Flower, if we could only figure out how.

Another 10 to 11 inches fell here overnight. It's wet and heavy, settling quickly. We lost power sometime after midnight, but only for 3-1/2 hours. Cheers for Central Maine Power!! They do an awesome job under some really difficult circumstances. I think I read somewhere recently that Maine is the most "heavily treed" state.

Waiting for a report from Breeze. I hope you fared as well as we did.

[tanglefoot]

Early word is good: Snowy trail
Date: February 26, 2008 at 4:49 pm
Typically snowy sections are white; usual bare spots are rough as ever

The good news and bad news for 96 mushers getting ready to vault out of Willow Sunday morning behind 16 powerful and enthusiastic huskies is that the Iditarod trail appears to be about “normal.” There’s plenty of snow where there usually is, and not much — perhaps none — where the going is typically barren.

The news is a far cry from last year, when dogs and drivers bounced over frozen dirt and grassy tussocks for miles and miles, in areas where they usually ride on smooth, white trail.

“I think we’re sitting pretty good,” said Mark Nordman, Iditarod’s race marshal.


From the first few miles on the Susitna River to the last stretch in the Topkok Hills near Nome, word trickling back from trail breakers is generally positive, Nordman said.

Here’s a rough rundown: Mushers can expect hard, fast trail on the first day, based on what Junior Iditarod mushers report. That race went to Yentna. Teams will hit some deep snow as soon as they leave Skwentna on the way to Finger Lake, into the heart of the Alaska Range. Finger Lake had 50 inches of snow in a four-day period recently.

The trail should be decent up through the first difficult stretch — the infamous Happy River steps. Drivers need not worry about a nasty glaciated sidehill that wiped out sleds and broke bones in at least three mushers last year. “That’s not there; it never happened this year,” Nordman said of the glare ice. That has got to be a huge relief, but it doesn’t eliminate the always tricky tight turns and sudden, steep drops that are part and parcel of the Iditarod race trail through the steps. On the bright side, deep snow makes a soft landing when a musher tips a sled. If they hang on, they can easily right themselves and cruise on, brushing snow from their face.

Nordman did not have the complete picture when we talked about a week before the race start; trail breakers on snowmobiles from various villages were still carving their way through some of the more remote sections over the 1,000-mile course. Nobody had ventured through Rainy Pass yet, but he said it appeared avalanche danger was minimal there.

Snow is in its usual short supply at Rohn, at the northern base of the Alaska Range. That means mushers will have their usual struggles for the next 20 miles over bare dirt, glare ice, rocks and a famously frustrating uphill trail over glaciated ice. It’s all just part of traveling through that part of the country on the back side of the Alaska Range, which sees little snow until the trail gets closer to Nikolai.

Nordman forwarded an e-mail to mushers from a trail breaker, which goes into detail about the challenges he had running from Rohn to Nikolai. Here’s a sample, describing the trail near that uphill glacier and beyond: “…crossing the Post River there was running water about 12 inches deep. Back up into the woods to the left side again it is dirt trail, frozen and icy with a rut climbing the hill. I next went over the hill and encountered the ‘glacier,’ which looks like it could be real nasty if pulling a loaded sled. I was on a 500 Skandic with no sled and full-throttled it all the way up the glacier and made it okay. It is ice from side to side looking like a lava flow! Same as many years previous.”

He continues: “The next leg before Egypt Mountain was then stretches of bare ground with rocks, dirt and grass eaten down by bison, with ice. The buffalo wallows are a twisting set of little black dirt mounds with glare ice patches. (my italics for emphasis).”

Of all the difficulties he described, those “little black dirt mounds” could be the trickiest, especially when combined with glare ice. A team at full throttle over glare ice can catch one of those harmless-looking mounds and flip violently. But, those obstacles are always there, and everyone always makes it through.

As veteran mushers often say, if you can make it to Nikolai in one piece, you should finish the race. The trail after Nikolai should be a welcome relief with plenty of snow the rest of the way. Snow is a couple of feet deep from Ophir to Poorman, an old gold camp; and Poorman to Ruby River is “really good,” Nordman said. The Yukon River apparently is in good shape as well. He’s been told there’s three to four feet of snow by Nulato.

Kaltag to Unalakleet, the long portage from Yukon River to the Bering Sea Coast, was reportedly excellent, based on word from mushers participating in a local race recently. It took those racers little over nine hours to make the run; that’s a good run time.

Despite a recent spate of warm weather, above freezing, the coast still seems to have acceptable travel conditions, Nordman said. And Iditarod board members from Nome have said the snow is excellent in that region this year.

If the race shapes up under these conditions, it could be considered “normal,” but conditions can change rapidly with snow storms, Chinook winds and rain or bitter cold. As always, mushers racing to win the Iditarod, or simply for the satisfaction of earning a brass belt buckle, will be competing not just against each other, but against the vagaries of the trail.

[Moose]

Thanks, T. Par for the course, I guess.

Breeze and others: I take back the complaints of too much snow. Check out this photo on SDC: http://www.sleddogcentral.com/