This year’s Iditarod certainly didn’t go as planned, but overall I’m more proud of this team and finishing strong in Nome than if we had come into the finish line in the top 20. We started off the race looking very strong, running a moderate schedule that had us traveling in the top 20-15 mushers. Sister, borrowed from Brent Sass for the race, was returned first in Finger Lake checkpoint for being in heat or “in season”. She was much more interested in finding a love interest than running and was a huge distraction to the boys. The early warm temps of the race had a strong negative effect on Secretariat and Aragorn; both of whom I returned from the team and sent home after showing tell-tale signs of hyperthermia in the checkpoints of Rohn and Nikolai, respectively. Crossing through the notorious “Burn” from Rohn to Nikolai we encountered about 35 miles of bare wind blown trail and glare ice.
Somewhere along that stretch the drag mat on my sled was ripped off, severely damaging the rear stanchions it was connected to in the process. I repaired it enough to make it into Nikolai and then McGrath, where Pete Kaiser was nice enough to loan me his second sled he’d sent out as backup. Our race carried on to plan and on schedule but by Ophir I had five females in heat, which at that point was almost half the team and a major distraction. All of my leaders, save for Hermione, were either in heat or male. This meant I could really only rely on Hermione to lead us, so that’s what we did. She single led the long miles into the remote checkpoint of Cripple, and along that leg about half the team started getting a pretty nasty stomach bug. Given the amount of distraction that the in season females were creating along with the stomach bug in the team we rested in Cripple for 16 hours to allow the dogs to recover. That long rest put us quite a ways back from the top 20 teams and I still had only Hermione as a leader, so we dialed back our race and focused only on finishing from that point on. I eventually had to return Pippin and Fuse for lingering effects of the stomach bug; Petty in Nulato for a sore shoulder after slipping on some glare ice; and then Sharpe in Shaktoolik for a sore wrist, also from slipping on glare ice. Ultimately, seven dogs pulled us from Galena to Shaktoolik. Then after returning Sharpe in Shaktoolik six dogs, four of whom were females 45 pounds and under; Citation, Hermione, Pip, Pearl, Elway, and Jam pulled us to the finish. The coast was riddled with glare ice conditions and technical sled driving but I was constantly amazed by my little team’s persistent and happy attitude. Hermione single led from Ophir all the way to Shaktoolik where Pip finally stopped thinking about finding a lover and started again focusing on doing what she does best, running in lead.
Pip and Hermione led us through a semi serious ground blizzard from Koyuk to Elim and then leaving White Mountain enroute to the finish we encountered a very serious 50-60mph ground blizzard leading into the Topkok hills. We pressed through, hoping that the winds would stay the same or subside once we got into the hills. The first bit of the Topkok hills were very very intense, but just barely travel-able with some persistence. The final two hills of the Topkok’s, however, were almost completely impossible to move across. Strong winds, 70mph and higher, would continually slam us and push my sled down hill and off the trail. Using all of my strength I would yard and yank on the sled uphill while calling the dogs up and together we’d slowly get it pulled back up laterally onto the trail while making only a few yards of forward progress. I was unaware of the shelter cabin on the other side of the hills but knew I at least had to get down from the high country for any hope of not just finishing but of survival.
Continuous wind of this magnitude in below freezing conditions is truly impossible to envision unless you’ve experienced it. It is literally a life and death scenario that can kill you in minutes. My only thought was to keep moving forward and I really couldn’t believe how persistent and bullheaded my little team was, with Pip still leaping in excitement and then being knocked to the ground by the winds only to get up and do it again. I kept thinking to myself as I yanked the sled uphill over and over that her drive and attitude were just indomitable and almost indescribable given the conditions we were in. Eventually we dropped out of the hills and made it to the Topkok shelter cabin at the mouth of the notorious “blow hole”. Full of adrenaline from surviving the Topkok’s, we tried to press on but 70mph head winds slammed my sled over on its side and tossed me like a rag doll along the beach. We turned back and sought shelter in the cabin.
There is no shelter for dogs or any other creature at that spot in the blowhole, hence the need for the cabin. The ground was wind scoured and sparse of any snow deep enough to dig a snow cave and the willow bushes have no foliage for a wind break. With no other way to escape the winds for the dogs I brought them inside with me, which is a rule violation by Iditarod rules and I will have to pay a monetary fine for it. But in that scenario I felt it was my only option and a fine is worth reaching the finish line safely. I’m not planning to contend or appeal the fine as I did know it was a rule violation, but I wasn’t going to go inside and be comfortable while my dogs hunkered down outside.
We ended up waiting a little over 24 hours for the wind to break enough to leave. During that time search and rescue members tried to reach me by snow machine for a welfare check only to have their snow machines and gear sleds lifted and flipped over by the winds, never successfully reaching me from the Nome side through the blowhole. They described the conditions as being as bad or worse as than they’d ever seen them and a no travel order was placed between villages until winds subsided. About sixteen hours or so into my stay at the cabin search and rescue members from the direction of White Mountain escorted Jeff and KattiJo Deeter along with Sebastian Dos Santos Borges and their dogs into the shelter cabin I was at. Meanwhile Sean Williams, Gerhardt, and Bridgette Watkins had their own adventures getting back safely to White Mountain on the other side of the hills. I was able to depart around 430 am when I heard a lull in the wind and we made our way to Nome.
There were so many things that went awry in this years race and so much adverse weather that I have an immeasurable amount of pride in my team and myself for continuing on and reaching Nome. Ultimately being competitive is the goal, but reaching the finish line is the first step to that.
Thank you to all of my dog sponsors and supporters, Dakota Lithium Batteries for keeping my electronics powered on the trail, Beechtree Laboratories for their endless support, and Pacific Rim Mechanical for their continued support. We truly couldn’t do this without you. Special thanks to Pete Kaiser for loaning me his sled. Thank you also to Isabel List for always being there for me, Karen Mcnaught for all of her help caring for the returned dogs and her endless hospitality, and to my friends and family who all constantly support me.
Post note: After such an ordeal the last thing I want to focus my energy on is raging and fighting against the interpretation of the rules by both mushers and race judges, everyone is just trying to do their jobs. So please, keep your defense of my decision to bring my dogs inside limited.
