Thin snow, some ice may be on tap for 2007 race trail, barring a storm.
KASILOF, Alaska — As the days tick down toward the start of the 2007 Iditarod, mushers’ minds turn to their biggest competition – that is, the trail itself. And this year, the roughly 1,000-mile route from Anchorage to Nome is a reflection of the cold and generally dry pattern dominating Alaska all winter. Expect thin snow generally, areas of zero snow in the usual locations on the far side of the Alaska Range and some dicey sections of wind-blown ice as teams approach Grayling, says race marshal Mark Nordman.
Overall, the word appears to be “doable,” spoken with a grimace. Temperatures have been cold most of the year, so open water shouldn’t be an issue, he said. But a general lack of snow, assisted by a two-week spell of above-freezing temperatures and rain in late January, have left several areas largely barren. Mushers have seen this before, in 2001 and 2003, and Nordman said conditions in some places are better than those years; in others, it could be just as difficult.
Quoting a longtime volunteer who has been out on a snowmachine checking the trail out, Nordman said, “He’s seen it worse, but he has seen it a lot better, too.”
The Iditarod kicks off March 3 in Anchorage with the ceremonial start, which isn’t timed. It’s a 10- to 25-mile jog through city streets and snow-covered bike trails. The run historically takes about three hours to the first official checkpoint in Eagle River, but low snow has forced the race to pull up short of Eagle River for several years. Conditions are not ideal again this year, and a decision was expected sometime Monday on the length of the ceremonial start, Nordman said.
The brief warm-up and current cool-down already claimed at least two checkpoint casualties. The restart once again will bypass the Iditarod’s official home of Wasilla, where the trail historically winds past homes and businesses to the checkpoint of Knik. “That big thaw we had turned everything into hard-packed, crusty-looking snow, and it’s not safe for dogs, mostly, but for people also,” Nordman said.
The restart hasn’t been held at Wasilla since 2002. Willow, where the snow is always deeper, has become the norm. Again this year, dog trucks and spectators’ cars will drive an extra 40 minutes north of Wasilla for the restart, where racing will get underway starting at 2 p.m. Sunday, March 4, at the Willow Community Center. (If the weather stays cold, mushers won’t be as concerned about leaving “in the heat of the day” this year, so expect a higher demand for low bib numbers at the pre-race banquet.)
From Willow, mushers should have a few hours to relax and let the dogs settle in. Trails are good. Deep snow exists, predictably, in the foothills of the Alaska Range. Then the snow dwindles near Rainy Pass. There’s about 14 inches of snow up at Puntilla Lake. From there, mushers would traverse patchy snow, dirt, rocks and brush as they head up toward Rainy Pass, Nordman said.
Little was known in late February about the Dalzell Gorge and the trail leading down to it, except that a volunteer who went up there to begin work on snow bridges described it as “definitely doable.” There’s some snow in there. That is good news for mushers, since the descent into Rohn can be a real workout. Teams typically are at full steam as mushers enter their second night on the trail through that section. Runner plastic gets stripped off the rails by rocks, and tall spruce trees that stand like telephone poles have bark torn off at the base from countless run-ins with brush bows.
There’s actually a little snow leaving Rohn for the first 10 miles, Nordman said, sounding surprised. The Kuskokwim River there can be nothing but sand, ice, rocks and stumps most years. Then, near a pyramid-shaped peak named Egypt Mountain, the snow eventually disappears, as it typically does in that location. There, sleds pinball over dirt and ice, knocked side to side by tussocks and the occasional spruce.
The trail should be good from Nikolai, through McGrath, Takotna, Ophir and halfway to Iditarod. There’s an old, ramshackle shack called Don’s Cabin halfway to Iditarod, and the snow is reduced to near zero beyond that point, Nordman said. My memory of those conditions in 2001 isn’t pleasant. It was bumpy, jarring and took some dancing to avoid being knocked off my feet by small frozen tussocks on the downhills.
That year, the snow picked up again in the hills leaving the Iditarod checkpoint. Nordman didn’t have word on conditions there this year. But he did get some troubling news from a volunteer who’d snowmachined from Grayling back to Shageluk. That entire section was icy. It was described as wind-blown with some sand showing as well – much like it was near Anvik in 2003 when teams were skittering over glare ice, Nordman was told. “It’s kind of a rough run. Do your snow dance, Nordman told me.”
Once out of Grayling, the trail should be hard-packed and fast - assuming the weather doesn’t change, a risky assumption. There was plenty of snow before the warm, wet spell a few weeks ago. It has since refroze rock hard. If nothing changes, expect some fast run times up to Eagle Island and Kaltag.
The trail is reportedly good all the way through Kaltag and up to Old Woman cabin, Nordman said. From there, the trail was blown clear of snow, completely, down to Unalakleet. There’s the traditional ribbon of trail through otherwise wind-blown tundra valleys leading into the Blueberry hills over to Shaktoolik, he said.
He hadn’t yet heard word on the sea ice over to Koyuk, but that is typically white and snowy.
Weather can change and the Iditarod often sees one or more storms roll in during the race, but the pattern has been stubbornly dry and cold with winds out of the north. “I will say it wouldn’t take much snow to make it a wonderful race trail,” Nordman said. “It’s not going to take a lot to fill it in.”