Old Man Winter
10:00 p.m.
March 11, 2006

by Tyrell Seavey

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As I write the teams that opted to skip Galena and camp at Bishop’s Rock are making their way through Nulato. Jeff, Doug and DeeDee still have a commanding lead, but the chase pack is chipping away at it diligently. I am a little confused about King’s plan at this point. He has already accumulated considerably more rest on the river than the other front runners (17 hours total) and yet he appears to be camping in Kaltag even as the hungry pack closes. He is either very confident that he can give up his lead and still win or he is holding back to keep his team together. The frigid weather and drifting snow the teams are facing is definitely going to effect the outcome of the race. The trail down to Unalakleet is likely drifting in and King may be waiting for someone else to help him break trail. But, if Old Man Winter decides to blow up a proper storm everyone is going to be breaking trail. I have been in situations where I could see the team ahead of me but by the time I came along their tracks were already filled in and I was forced to re-break the trail. If that is the case it doesn’t really matter what place you are in; it is just all around tough going.

If the teams bunch up on the coast due to bad weather we may end up with a surprise winner. In 1985 Libby Riddles became the first woman to win the Iditarod by braving a storm that no one else dared to face. In modern times with our high-tech equipment it is very unlikely that the lead pack is going to let anybody get away from them in a bold move such as Libby’s, but if all the teams were to leave Unalakleet together a team that has held back a bit and preserved their strength my end up pulling ahead and taking the race. By my calculations there are still 16 teams very much in this race.

A fast team can do the 90 mile run down to Unalakleet in 9:30 hours on good trail. On a bad trail it could easily take 14 hours of run time to traverse. If the trail ends up being heavily drifted most of the teams will rest at Old Woman Cabin which is more or less halfway between Kaltag and Unalakleet. A well-rested team like Gebhardt’s or the tough steady teams driven by Iten, Baker, Anderson or Seavey could take advantage of this and chisel a little more off of the current leaders’ advantage by powering through the snow. Lance Mackey and Jason Barron have dropped down to 11 and 12 dogs respectively. An 11 dog team can cruise right along on a good trail but it the going gets tough they will be at a disadvantage compared to a 14 or 15 dog powerhouse team. It has already been said, but I will say it again… the race is on!!!