Race Updates
Iditarod 2008:
March 4, 2008 -
Well Peter has made it through the steps, the gorge and is currently
tackling the burn. If he makes it through the first 30 miles to the
Buffalo camp in one piece he should be home free. I haven't talked with
him yet, so I don't know who he dropped. But 15 dogs is a good sign. I
can't wait to hear how everyone is doing. Hopefully he will be able to
call me from Nikolai.
Willow Re-start -
Well here it is race day. We packed up 17 dogs and headed to the race
start. Why 17? still trying to make the final cut. In the end Peter
decided on the following team:
Snap, Dover, Moss, Stuart, Worsely, Orde-Lees, Angus, Babar, Balazar,
Emmie, Geezer, Grayling, Isabella, Simba, Wyatt, and Yankee. You can
find most of the dogs bios on the Dogs and Puppies page. I will
hopefully be able to update the rest of them soon. I don't have a camera
so I am searching for old pictures to update.
We had 5.5 hours to wait at the start. This gave us time to pack and
re-pack and put the finishing touches on gear, etc... Peter opted to
take a kennel in his sled for a safer ride if he decides to give a dog a
break and them in the sled. He was specifically thinking about Dover and
Yankee. Dover is a key leader so if he can give her a break and keep her
fresh he will do so. Yankee is young and a great up and coming leader,
so if he can give her a break to make it easier for her, why not? He
actually started with Dover in the sled. This made the sled pretty heavy
at the start, but Peter usually has a hard time slowing the team down
the first few days anyway so this should help.
Peter drew bib #93 so that will be tough to overcome. The perfect
strategy would be to put some long runs on in the beginning and get
ahead early. However, our training this year is not ideal for those kind
of runs early in the race. Peter plans on running roughly 4 hours and
resting 4 hours (exact run times will vary somewhat to use the
checkpoints, but basically try to keep the runs short and at least equal
rest if not a little more rest in the beginning of the race). This will
keep him in the back of the pack for some time, but hopefully it will
pay off during the second half of the race.
Positives: The team is looking strong and they seemed super jazzed to
be at the start line. There is a mix of Iditarod finishers and some
young ones. Hopefully the young dogs will get a good learning experience
and come home with heightened confidence.
Worries: One sled. We don't have a second sled on the trail, so
Peter's sled breaks that could be it. It is an old sled with a lot of
miles, but it is a pretty tough sled. We will just have to wait and
see. Peter has several girls in heat which can be a real
distraction to the team. Hopefully the boys will rest and eat like they
should and not be too interested in the girls. To top it all off, Peter
woke up Sunday morning with flu like symptoms. Hopefully, he can hold
that off until the finish line.
Ceremonial Start in Anchorage -
Sunday morning we met our Iditarider. She is from the Traverse City
area in Michigan. Her grandmother is taking her on an Alaskan adventure
which included the Iditarod. We opted for a single sled with Peter and I
both on the runners instead of bringing a second sled. The trail was
fast and crazy. A lot turns and sliding. We actually broke our break
within the first mile which made it quite a wild ride.
After the run it was running around town getting last minute gear for
Sunday. Then back to the kennel take care of the dogs and try to get
some sleep for the long days ahead.
Latest News
Summer on the Glacier
During the summer Peter and I, Therese, spend the summer on the
Denver Glacier in Skagway Alaska working for Alaska Icefield
Expeditions. The tour company is supported by Temsco Helicopters. The
tourists get a helicopter ride to the glacier and then they get a
dogsled tour. There is roughly 25 people living in close quarters for
the four months of the summer tourist season. Here is a view of the
mountains that we wake up to every morning with one of the Temsco helicopters. 
This summer, 2007, my camera broke so I wasn't able to get any
updated pictures. However, our professional photographer Emily Kreis was
kind enough to share some of her pictures. Please do not reproduce her
pictures without written permission. If you would like to see more of Emily's
photos or contact her, you can reach her at ekreis@gmail.com.
Otherwise enjoy the pictures.
Emily
and Mike Sanchez. Mike was Therese's handler. He helped take care of the
dogs, dog yard and prepare for tours.
After hours. Notice Mike gets the comfortable chair. On
nice sunny day the gang will sometimes hang out, play volleyball, or
football or just hang out with the dogs.
On weather days - days when it is too cloudy for the
helicopters to fly in - we can get pretty bored. So some of the crew
decided to hold "Glacier Olympics". This is Jacques showing good
form in the high jump.
Some of the crazier people in camp will go skijoring with
the dogs. As you can see, it works better if you know how to ski. Nathan
hooked up two dogs and went around the mile loop. Depending on trail
conditions it can be a wild ride.
Lazy Willie. I just liked this picture of Willie resting
and taking it easy. Willie is one of my favorite dogs and this is a great
picture which shows his sweetness.
Lazy Mike. Mike hard at work on a hot day. As you can see
life is pretty tough being a handler.
Mike at work. I thought I should just balance off the
other pictures to show that Mike did actually work hard too.
One last picture of the gang relaxing after a hard days
work.
Some final shots of our beautiful glacier.
