Mother Nature Gives the 2009 Field a Little Dose of Snow and Sun

The 2009 Iditarod field left paved roads and groomed trails yesterday afternoon under the threat of snow… and snow it did throughout the early morning hours in Skwentna, Finger Lake and Rainy Pass.  Still teams continued to flow through the wet heavy snow with very few problems.  Some teams commented that the trail seemed to firm up on arrival in Skwentna Alaska.

Later in the day the skies opened up again, and Iditarod Air Force Pilots began capitalizing on the narrow window of opportunity to ferry in and out supplies, personnel and some of the field’s most precious cargo on the trail; those four legged athletes who were airlifted out from checkpoints and brought back to Anchorage Alaska for care.

The leader of the pack is a familiar face to the Iditarod…

Rick Swenson currently leads a field that includes Paul Gebhardt, Sebastian Schnuelle, Aaron Burmeister and Hugh Neff.  The Early forecast for mushers arriving on the other side of the Alaska Range in the village of Nikolai should be sometime between 11 am and 12 pm Alaska Time.

The Iditarod Trailbreakers have made it through the Range!

The Tough and tumbling Iditarod Trailbreakers plowed through new fallen snow from Rainy Pass to Nikolai, setting up a trail that may very well speed things up. The big challenge for the Trailbreaker team will begin tomorrow as they prepare to do battle with an Iditarod Trail that has been battered all winter long with near record snowfalls. You can watch the Iditarod Trailbreakers on Insider GPS Tracker. Click here to find out more!