Iditarod part 3: the Storm on the coast
The last newsletter I stopped when I was debating what to do in Grayling.
I decided to stay in Grayling. I had not taken my 8 yet and I calculated if I would rest a short 4hrs here, we should be in Eagle Island around noon. Huge mistake. THE mistake of the race. Same as me resting in Shaktoolik last year, not a day this summer has gone by where I have not thought about making this mistake. Damn it. After all I had the team trained for 16 hrs runs, I had 15 strong pulling dogs. I should have taken a risk here. There not even would have been much of a risk. Cold night, clear and calm. Team barking to go and we had only run 6.5 hrs. If I would have continued I would have gotten to Eagle Island about 8 a.m. , perfect timing to take my 8hrs and leave at 4 p.m., much closer to Lance than I did leave. Damn this is exactly what keeps us coming back for more punishment…… the ifs and buts and would haves…..
Aaron came over to my sled and said: “Hey Sebastian, Lance brought me the leftovers of his first to Anvik dinner, you want to share it. “ Cool, food, of course. So there we were standing in the school’s kitchen, microwaving scallops, beefsteak, salmon and other goodies. Luckily Aaron is not much of a fish eater, so the seafood was mine. Sleep was short and I needed a second wakeup call . Getting up at 2.30 a.m. after 2hrs sleep in not my favorite thing. First dog issue in a long time: Yonder’s right wrist needed a bit massaging.
Still all 15 dogs were looking good, but leaving we got wrapped around a power pole. My hook would not hold in the soft snow, and I could not flip over my sled, as I was afraid to loose my water for the wetsnack. Somehow things straightened out and we dropped onto the river, Aaron right on my heels. Nobody else was getting ready to leave. 3 headlights were behind us coming upriver, of which one appeared again shortly after. Somebody went through Grayling and I wondered who that was. The trail was perfect, it set up enough for us to travel at a decent clip. That was only to last for about 2hrs, by when we were passed by the film crew again. Not only did they destroy the fragile hard crust, they were driving in fan hitch, constantly going on and off trail. This was a repeat of my run into Takotna, only with the difference that this one was going to last for many hours. Our speed dropped big time and I was frustrated beyond belief. Now looking back at my GPS tracking data, it shows clearly that on that run my speed dropped to 4.5 to 5 miles per hour. Why can’t the media people run besides our trail, specially here on the river, where it is so easy to do. Where ever they can find a short cut in the river bends, they go off the trail anyhow. Depending on when and where snowmachines pass , it has a huge effect on the race outcome. Okay, enough whining about that subject. I whined and complained a lot to judge Jim Gallea and race marshal Mark Nordman in Eagle Island, and overheard Mitch, Hans and Aaron do the same. But to little avail, as I was not even 2 miles out of Eagle Island and the cat and mouse games with snowmachines started again, this time a group from the forest service.
We were told that Eagle Island would be in the slough behind the island, but it was not, it sat right open on the river bank. Worse off, it had just been put in a few hours before our arrival. Now we can consider ourselves lucky, that we had a checkpoint at all. Planes were coming and going at a constant rate. Landing was not a big issue, but starting their runway was about 30 feet away from the dogs, and each time a plane would take off, the team was completely covered in snow dust from the prop, never mind the deafening noise, which spooked the dogs and they would jump up. This was not a good place to take an 8 hr layover, but with pulling in at 12.30, leaving was not an option, as that would have meant running straight in the heat of the day. I could tell that Jim was trying his hardest to get this checkpoint up and running, and that he did not like this situation himself. A few hours into the rest, a second runway, further out on the river was established and the noise was a bit more bearable. The dogs rested a bit better in the sun, for myself I could not fall to sleep, even with earplugs in. More and more teams started piling into the checkpoint, and it dawned to me that I should have gone through Grayling last night. I had to wait until 8.30 p.m. before I was allowed to leave, and I was not a happy camper to see 4 teams pull out ahead of me.
It was a beautiful sunset and the wind started to pickup. Atta boy, I thought to my self, that is the good old Yukon coming back to life. The trail was getting pretty blown and travel was once again down to a crawl. Occasionally I caught a glimpse of Jeff’s headlight infront of me. Looking back I could see 2 lights following, Aaron Burmeister and John Baker. I had Vasser and Nemo in lead, but Vasser tried to sit down on me numerous times, when the snow drifts were getting too high. I normally would not let a dog get away with that, but this did not seem a place to train discipline, so I moved his brother Grisman in his place. Not much more luck with him neither. Grisman`s line was slack. I hate stopping during a run, but not much choice here. Another leader switch, Inuk had to do the job.
When the going gets tough, it showed that I only had owned Vasser and Grisman for a few months, since September to be exact. They both were proven good dogs, which Rick had raced successfully in Iditarod before. Yet when the going got tough, they were not performing 100% to their abilities. I firmly believe, it is not that the dogs can not do it, it is the trust which has not been totally established. Trust only comes over time, an accumulation of good and bad experiences. I tried to make this situation, although as such being a negative one, as positive as possible. I did not scold neither dog for not doing the job, but I did not pet and praise them neither. I put them back in the team, tried to do business as usual, and they were both pulling hard in their new positions.
Inuk is a funny dog. He loves the couch, he loves to be comfortable. He always gives me that look when I get him up, awww man, why me. But he always get the job done. A go to guy, not a bad bone in his body. He was my golden harness Winner in this years Yukon Quest. Matter of fact both dogs in lead were. Nemo was the other one devouring the steak during the Finish Ceremonies of the 2009 Yukon Quest. Being good in life has to have some perks, right?
This was a cold night, my thermometer showed 30 below and it was starting to get windy. Ugly combination. Time to put on more belly warmers and dog coats. A full moon was rising behind, tinted in a very strange red light, which must have been from the blowing snow. This is for sure a night which edged itself into my permanent memory. Beautiful, yet frightening at the same time. I had a hell of a time staying awake, after being cheated out of my 8 hr layover. The wildest hallucinations played all kind of tricks on me. Even listening to Anthrax or Suicidal Tendencies full blast did not help….. matter of fact I think that made my nightmares worse. Running through nights like these, is a combination of wide awake phases, where I can remember everything, to other stretches being non existent in my memory.
We pulled into Kaltag at 5.30 a.m. after nearly 9hrs runtime. Still in 5th position. Damn, that stretch took me 6.32hrs two years ago. The other 4 teams ahead of me had not traveled any faster. Much to my surprise Lance had stayed a few hours. Same as last year I decided to keep on going. The checker thought I was kidding and gave instructions of where to park my team to the volunteers. I had to tell her again, that I did not want to park and was going through. “ It is 30 below and pretty miserable out there “. No kidding lady tell me something new, I thought to myself and asked her where my food was and if I could get some water. She went inside and printed me the current standings, which was very nice of her to do. It took me a long time to pack up, my hands would not function right and I had to go inside for a few minutes to warm them up. I should have changed the runner plastic, the stuff I had on was for warm weather and sounded like sand paper. But sitting in the wind, without moving was not good for the dogs, so I pulled the hook. A volunteer ran ahead of my team, helping to get out of town.
I want to take the chance to talk about volunteers a bit here. They are amazing people, the lifeblood of these races. For the longest time, I did not realize, that they even have to pay a fee to Iditarod to become volunteers. Yet I understand that Iditarod often has more volunteers lined up than they need. Why? Here we are 6 a.m. in the morning, it is bloody cold out, windy and hell and there is some stranger running ahead of my team through a quite town along the mighty Yukon river, helping me out where I can really need it. A stranger who´s name and face most likely will remain unbeknown to me. The volunteers even have to pay their own way to fly into these remote villages, which often costs them hundreds of dollars or more. To who ever you were, that cold morning in Kaltag, many thanks for being there and also to all of you other countless helpers in this great race.
We were crawling along, I had second thoughts about this move, which did not help, as of course the dogs picked up on that. My thermometer dropped to 40 below. No way, I thought: “ This is the first time I have ever seen 40 below and wind together “ I always used to tell my guests, that this does not exist. That once it is that cold, the air has to be calm. I guess we never stop learning, but this learning experience I for sure could have lived without. I stopped to put new Willie wraps on all of the males, 14 of them, which completely screwed up my hands. I stuffed 2 hand warmers in each mitten and cried like a baby when my finger tips came back alive.
The sunrise was beautiful and I passed my last years camping spot. There was so much snow, that there were very few pullouts. Of some of the huge tripods, only the tips were visible. The trail makers which usually hung high in the trees, were just above the snow. I had my sights also set on Tripod Flat Cabins, knowing I was traveling too slow to reach Old Woman, which I had originally aimed for. I pulled in at 10 a.m, just when the sun fully climbed above the mountain tops. Nice this will make for a good warm rest. 14hrs of runtime through some pretty miserable weather were behind us.
The best thing is: Tripod Cabin is off the trail and unless you look backwards, you completely miss it. I was hoping for a quite rest. Even better was, that the cabin sheltered the blowing east wind and the dogs could sleep in the sun, out of the wind. Warm was relative though, but after last night 25 below and no wind seemed real nice. I made pair of dogs a nice straw bed and got the cooker going. All for sudden I caught a whiff of wood smoke. I opened the cabin door and sure enough, it was warm. And on the stove, were 2 big pots with hot Water. That was better than any Christmas gift. Hot water in the middle of nowhere. The dogs were fed within minutes, fleece blankets draped over them, they were soaking up the sunrays. Knowing I would stay a while I gave everybody a full massage with Zalox. I love that stuff, it does wonders for sore muscles not only on the dogs, I gave myself a good rubdown in the warm cabin. Right before the start of Iditarod there was quite a bit controversy about Zalox, as the rumor had that it contained parts of Aspirin and thus had to be banned. That would have been interesting as many Mushers, myself included, did not send out any other liniments. Luckily that rumor got resolved in time and Zalox ended up being legal. It is great stuff which you can find here: www.tensquaredracing.com
The dogs looked great, much to my amazement all 15 dogs were still completely injury free. I guess all the training miles paid off after all. It was a bit different with my gear. My cloths were in dire need of drying out. Having the whole cabin to myself I could spread out nicely, hanging stuff on any hook I could find. Just when I crawled onto the bunk bed a plane landed outside. Plane or not, I need sleep, and I need sleep now. Later I would find a photo of myself sleeping in that bunk bed on the front page of the Anchorage Daily News. I totally overslept. I wanted to be on the trail by 3 p.m. but left an hour late. Right when I was getting ready to leave 2 snowmachines pulled up. Those were 2 gentlemen from the BLM, checking on the cabin and that I did not leave any trash outside. I guess Mushers leaving trash is a big problem for ITC. They pulled out right ahead of me which at first annoyed me, but this time that did not really matter. It was blowing hard and their trails, or any trails, were gone within minutes.
Good old Diesel and Austin were in lead. Not my fastest combo, but with a tailwind I thought they could do the job. A team appeared behind me and it turned out to be Jeff King. I did not want to get passed, so quickly stopped and changed out Austin for Grisman. We were getting closer to Unalakleet and it was dusk. I kept my headlight off for Jeff to not see me. That no seeing thing seemed to work real well, as I did not see any more trail markers. I kept on going for a while and sure enough no trail markers. We were running on the Unalakleet River, which was more or less all glare ice and turning the team around was easier said than done. On my way back I could see a headlight coming my way and than turn off the river. So thankfully I had an idea of where I missed the trail. But Diesel and Grisman did not want to see that turn and took me back the way we came. Any yelling “ haw “ just seemed to mean to go faster to them, but in the wrong direction. I had already given the dogs my wetsnack and thus could risk to flip my sled over, but they were still dragging me along. I finally managed to get a snowhook in and called the knuckleheads onto the right path. They were highly motivated after the long rest during the afternoon and were barking their heads off, as to say: “ Let´s go, we have to catch that team. It took only a few minutes before we caught up to Jeff again. I stayed behind him all the way into the checkpoint, Jeff seemed to know where he was going…. as to be expected from him.
Despite my “move“ of going through Kaltag I had dropped to 6th place. The race was definitely on. It was windy resting here, but I had seen worse. The dogs ate well and the veterinarian examining my team thought they were skinny. I wanted a second opinion on that, because they looked anything but skinny to me, matter of fact some of them were heavy in my books. Stu Nelson the head vet looked the team over and commented that they were just fine. Much better. In general most vets on the Iditarod are very experienced and good, but every once a while there seem to be the odd “ pet vet out there” who thinks dogs have to be 5lbs overweight. The run in here took only 7hrs so I did not plan to stay very long. Any mistakes now would be costly. There is not much for sleeping quarters in Unalakleet anyhow. Looking for a place to take short nap I decided to sleep right in front of Mitch. He asked me what I was doing and I told him I would leave, whenever the first teams leaves, which I assumed would be him. “ I will wake you up when I go.” There is not many mushers I would trust with this statement, but I know Mitch pulls not bs. So I curled up in a different corner and sure enough a mere 45 mintues later he nudged me awake. “ Are you up “. Barely I guess, but up. Outside the wind had picked up and booting up the team was a very miserable experience. I had noticed through much of the race, that other mushers were faster than me with that chore, in particular Aaron Burmeister and John Baker. And sure enough, I had not even half of my team done, when Aaron was ready to go. I asked him what he thought I would do wrong. I tell you in Nome was his answer. Good point but not much helpful now. He quickly added that most things I needed to change I could not change now anyhow as they started with type of booties I was using and how I packed them. My hands hurt badly, it did not help that my fingertips were frostnipped pretty good the night before.
When it got time to pull the hook, I was surprised that I was the first team out of our group. Back in second place, by mere seconds as a long string of headlights filed in behind me. Leaving Unk is always somewhat confusing. The trail was mostly ice but Nemo and Popcorn kept the show nicely on track. Actually more than that, they were on fire again and I quickly left most lights behind, every light but one, Jeff’s. We passed and re passed each other a few times while snacking our dog teams in different spots. Jeff had more power uphill than I did, which I did not expect, as normally hills are my teams strengths. While the weather was still nice up on the blueberry hills, it started to blow again once we hit the flats. Jeff easily pulled away.
We arrived in Shaktoolik after a 6hr 30 run. Not great, but not horrible neither. Last year I stopped here. Not a day had gone by all summer, where I did not think about that mistake. So this time I did not even hesitate or question. The answer was simple. We are going through. While I fed my team, loaded up water and more dogfood, a few other teams started coming in, all clearly pulling over to camp. Perfect I thought to myself, this move should put a little distance between us. A checker led us around the community building and onto the trail again. After initially missing the trail, the team left sharp and focused. There is a great video about that on the Iditarod Insider. I had wished all year to get another shot at this. Going through, leaving Shaktoolik with 15 dogs again, same as I could have done last year. This time leaving in 2nd place, a place I had been trying to hag on to since Iditarod.
Shaktoolik......, alle 3 mit 15 Hunden, schwer geil, bei Lance und mir sind die 12 h falsch, 0h37 , 0h19min..
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Position
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Musher (bib)
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Time In
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Dogs In
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Time Out
|
Dogs Out
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Rest Time
|
Status
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1
|
Lance, Mackey, (47)
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03/16/2009
04:20:00 |
15
|
03/16/2009
04:57:00 |
15
|
12h 37m
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|
|
2
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Jeff, King, (41)
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03/16/2009
09:32:00 |
15
|
03/16/2009
13:03:00 |
15
|
3h 31m
|
|
|
3
|
Schnuelle, Sebastian (34)
|
03/16/2009
09:40:00 |
15
|
03/16/2009
09:59:00 |
15
|
12h 19m
|
|
I glanced back a few times, just to see that nobody was following. I put in another Audio Book, this time some fiction thing by Terry Pratchet in my i-pod and settled in for the run. Sitting there on my seat I was getting cold and snow was blowing in my hood. Geez, this is pretty windy I thought to myself. The trail goes for 15 miles overland, a few ups and downs before it reaches the “Rock“ and a shelter cabin there. 
The wind was gradually getting worse and I was having second thoughts about this move. The dogs picked up on that vibe and started slowing down. We rounded the rock, over one last sand bar and now it hit us full head on. It had taken us close to 3hrs to cover 15 miles, not very encouraging. I hunkered down between the seat and sled to get out of the wind the best I could. We were engulfed in a raging ground storm. Clear blue sky overhead, but I could not see the coastline in the distance and the rock behind us had also disappeared within minutes. This was not good. Our speed slowed to a crawl, and the dogs started to wonder all over the place. I was wondering how the hell we would make it to Koyuk and started having nightmares about camping out on the ice. How the journey to Koyuk continues…. . Well you have to wait to the next and last Iditarod newsletter.
Most of the pictures in the album from Jeff Schulz or Anchorage Daily News can be ordered as prints or on mugs, etc.
Sab
