March 8, 2015
The Ceremonial Start was yesterday, Saturday in Anchorage. The ceremonial start is Anchorage’s version of Mardi Gras and Super Bowl tailgate rolled in to one.
There has been so little snow in Southern Alaska, that the actual race start was moved to Fairbanks and will take place Monday, but the Iditarod would be hard pressed to not have the initial day of fun be in Anchorage regardless of circumstance.
On Friday night, they were still trucking snow to downtown and building up snow along an 11 mile course from downtown Anchorage to Campbell Air Strip. At 7 AM Saturday, it was raining cats and dogs. The sun came out shortly before the 10 AM start and 78 mushers had their names called and stories told on 4th Avenue and headed out to a wild and wet adventure. Trent’s Iditarider was Dr. Gerald Elkhan, a retired North Carolina State professor. It was Gerald’s eight time as an Iditarider passenger, and I suspect it was his wettest. Our handler Jake Swift rode behind Trent in the tag sled. Couple of shots from the start and a video below.
We
decided to leave Anchorage immediately after finishing the Ceremonial Start
stage, and were off on the 400 mile trip to Fairbanks for the actual race
start, at about 3:00. On the Parks Highway, about 50 miles before
Denali Highway and Denali National Park, we ran in to one of the most intense,
if not the most intense, snowstorms any of us Idaho snowstorm veterans has ever
seen. There was about 3 feet of snow
that fell in a 4 hour period and the plows were unable to keep up with
accumulation. An Eighteen wheeler, and
several trucks and cars ran off the road and the whole thing felt like being on
the set of Weather Channel’s “Highway Thru Hell”. It
took us about 2-1/2 hours to make the 50 miles to the next bastion of
civilization, Cantwell Alaska (pop 202).
Thank goodness we were able to make it the one mile off the Parks Highway
to the Cantwell Lodge, which was open, had rooms, and a fine bar and burger. Car next to the Cantwell Lodge, dug out and
ready to go Sunday morning below.
We made
it the final 150 miles to Fairbanks at about 2:00. Trent needed to pick up a few last minute
items to prepare for the race. We
stopped at Cold Spot in Fairbanks, which can only be described as The Home
Depot of Mushing.
