In spite of low snow across much of Alaska, most of this year’s upcoming Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race will proceed as usual along the course’s southern route. But one high-visibility section of the event, the Sunday restart on Willow Lake where teams officially set off on the race, might have to be substantially changed up.
“The main concern is Willow up to Skwentna,” said race director Mark Nordman on Wednesday.
The January warm spell that thawed huge sections of Southcentral Alaska has given way to more seasonal cold weather. But Nordman said the usual trail that heads across a series of frozen lakes before winding up the Yentna River heading toward the Skwentna checkpoint 83 miles into the race is in bad shape, slick with bald ice free of snow cover.
“It’s frozen but … I wouldn’t put a dog team on that trail the way it sits right now. Of course, we’ve got some time, but the weather forecast doesn’t look great there,” Nordman said.
If it doesn’t snow in the coming weeks, an alternate plan would be moving the restart north a few dozen miles to Petersville or Trapper Creek, two small communities at the northwest corner of the Matanuska Susitna Borough. Nordman said from that area there are established trails over deep snow that connect with the traditional Iditarod route a few miles before the Skwentna checkpoint. The drawback to that alternative, Nordman said, is that it’s not clear yet what kind of staging area there would be for mushers, their handlers, or family members to send them off, let alone the hundreds of fans who descend on the restart to watch.
“Of course we want to start in Willow,” Nordman said. “But we’re going that (alternate) route if we don’t get snow.”
Otherwise, though, most sections of the trail are in normal shape, according to information Nordman has gotten from local residents, pilots, snowmachiners, and his own airplane trips over parts of it in recent weeks.
• “It’s a good trail from Skwentna all the way up,” Nordman said. The Rainy Pass crossing at the top of the Alaska Range has ample snow, he added, although Iditarod’s trail crew will still spend several days in the area adding ice bridges over creek crossings and smoothing out the route. Leaving the Rohn checkpoint there’s not much snow, but the conditions are typical of recent years, Nordman said.
• The descent down the far side of the Alaska Range through the Buffalo Tunnels and past Egypt Mountain toward the upper part of part of the Kuskokwim River has more snow than last year, Nordman said. On the way from Nikolai to McGrath there is “very little snow,” he said, but the river ice is solid. “I’m not worried about that,” Nordman said, though he’s hoping the area gets some snow before March.
• Heading into the old mining district on the way to the Iditarod checkpoint the conditions vary, which is typical. Nordman said he’s heard there’s deep snow around Ophir, but mushers could very well encounter moguls or bare tussocks during the long, open stretches in that middle part of the route.
• Nordman said he visited the Yukon River community of Shageluk a few weeks ago and winter trail conditions in the area were “worse than in 2003 when I moved the race to Fairbanks for the first time,” he said, “but now it’s healed up.” The recent cold spell firmed up the river and there’s more than a foot of snow cover around Shageluk, with snowmachiners traveling between communities.
• “The portage is great, lots of snow there,” Nordman said, referring to the lengthy run from Kaltag, the last Yukon community, to Unalakleet, which marks the start of the race’s last third up the Norton Sound coast on the way to Nome.
• “I’m not worried about the coast,” Nordman said. The sea ice between Shaktoolik and Koyuk has stayed in place, and unless something changes the trail will be a straight shot across the ice without a deviation onto land. Conditions along the southern edge of the Seward Peninsula are fairly standard for this time of year, he said, and there’s been regular snowmachine traffic between Koyuk, Elim, and Golovin.
Nordman said race officials will continue tracking conditions and assessing whether they have to switch the location of the restart in the weeks ahead.
“We want to provide as safe a trail as wilderness conditions allow,” he said.
The Ceremonial Start in downtown Anchorage is on Saturday, March 1. The restart takes place the following day. At this time, 34 mushers are signed up to compete.