Reliving the 1000mi Iditarod Trail Invitational – Day 11

Christof Teuscher

The daily grind continued. A strong wind was blowing right into my face, so I decided to get out my ruff. It’s amazing how the fur breaks the wind around the face and keeps it warm.

After a few hours of tough moving with terrible trail conditions, I reached the Iditarod Cripple checkpoint just past 8am. Cripple, current population of 0, is an old mining district. During the Gold Rush (1908-1925), $35 million in gold, including some of the largest nuggets ever mined, were taken from the area. The first musher who makes it to Cripple receives a trophy and $3,000 in gold nuggets. I only got breakfast, but that was unexpected and better than gold. The Iditarod folks let me hang out in a warm tent, where I quickly loaded the resupplies of my 3rd dropbag as well as stove fuel for the remaining 535ish miles.

It was hard to believe that I hadn’t even reached the halfway point yet. I tried to focus on Ruby, the next checkpoint, which was still about 70mi away. Yet, the current trail conditions made that thought difficult. The wind had covered the trail almost entirely with a foot of fresh snow. Just as I was about to leave, a group of six snowmachines pulled into the checkpoint and then continued on. Yay, I hoped that would improve the trail’s state. It did for an hour or so, then the snow was all blown in again and filled the trail with fresh snow.

I stopped for a lunch and snow melting break in the middle of the day, when the temperature reached a high point. While I melted snow and refilled my thermos bottles, I ate a dehydrated meal. Eating and drinking enough can be very challenging in these conditions. Yet, if you are not on top of your calories and fluid intakes, things won’t go well. A calories deficit accumulated over days is very hard to fix. According to my spreadsheet, I had just over 7,000 calories packed per day. On most days, I did indeed eat that much.

The day ended with a nice sunset, the northern lights in full swing, and another bivy. Seeing the musher’s headlamps silently floating by all night was rather magical.

It’s amazing how the fur breaks the wind around the face and keeps it warm.

The Cripple Iditarod checkpoint. Cripple, current population of 0, is an old mining district. During the Gold Rush (1908-1925), $35 million in gold, including some of the largest nuggets ever mined, were taken from the area. The first musher who makes it to Cripple receives a trophy and $3,000 in gold nuggets.

I only got breakfast, but that was unexpected and better than gold.

A runner and Iditarod volunteer, who had just just competed her first winter trace (the Susnita 100), handed me a 2nd breakfast. Thanks!

I must eat calories! I ate a lot of nuts, cheese, and chocolate.

A lunch and snow melting break in the middle of the day, when the temperature reached a high point. It takes time and fuel to melt snow for about 1 gallon of water.

The wind had covered the trail almost entirely with a foot of fresh snow. I had to wear snowshoes all day and the going was very slow and tough.

Another sunset…

Another display of the northern lights. After a while, you’ve seen it.

#iti2022 #iditarodtrailinvitational #ultrarunning #nome #alaska

Reliving the 1000mi Iditarod Trail Invitational – Day 10

Christof Teuscher

I left the Carlson Crossing safety cabin in the middle of the night, fully loaded with hot water for a day, and with completely dry gear. An hour later, I broke through ice in an overflow section and got my shoes and socks wet again. There was a lot of overflow to deal with on that day. I stopped counting how many times I put my waders on. You rarely know before crossing the overflow section whether waders are necessary, but you want to err on the safe side. The trail was soft, there was fresh snow, and the going was tough.

The first musher who passed me before the Cripple checkpoint was Brent Sass, who would end up winning the 50th Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in 8 days, 14 hours, and 38 minutes. Dallas Seavey (pictured) followed closely behind. Dallas is a veteran who won the Iditarod five times already. He finished the 2022 race in 2nd place, just an hour after Brent. In 2016, Sass’ dog team refused to leave for hours in White Mountain after he tried to keep up with other dog teams. After what he called the most embarrassing moment of his life, he got a tattoo that says “Run your own race,” which reminds him not to get pulled into his competitors’ tactics.

Iditarod mushers must start with at least 12 dogs (16 is the maximum). Teams must finish the race with at least 5 dogs, and no dogs may be added on the way. Dogs may be withdrawn from the race for various reasons. There are over 50 vets at the Iditarod who will examine, evaluate, and treat dogs.

Over the next days, I would see many dog teams “float” by silently. That was especially beautiful at night. It was very fascinating to watch the mushers, to talk to them, and to see how they take care of their dogs. Dogs always come first. I kept telling myself that I was lucky I only had to take care of myself. That turned out to be already sufficiently challenging.

In Sass’ style, I continued to “run my own race,” as relentlessly and calmly as I could. As a clueless Nome-rookie, my goal was to finish. I made conservative choices, had redundancy with gear and calories, and avoided risk. I think that paid off.

Wolf prints, but sadly no wolf. Wolves like to follow the mushers because there is always food left behind.

Lots of overflow on that day.

Waders on, waders off. Repeat. All day.

Dallas Seavey was running in 2nd place before the Cripple checkpoint. He also finished in Nome in 2nd place, just an hour after Brent Sass, who won the 50th Iditarod in 8 days, 14 hours, and 38 minutes.

#iti2022 #iditarodtrailinvitational #ultrarunning #nome #alaska