Husky News

Thousands of people lined Fourth Avenue downtown and sections of the 11-mile route to Campbell Airstrip on Saturday to bid a record 96 Iditarod mushers farewell for their formidable winter journey across the wildest reaches of Alaska.

With a biting 20 mph wind coming off Cook Inlet and funneling into the snowy alleyways, hundreds packed close together at the start line on the corner of Fourth and D Street, well protected from the wind.

Louis Nelson Sr. of Kotzebue unloads his team in downtown Anchorage. Nelson was the 79th racer to start. MARC LESTER / Anchorage Daily News

But those who braved the below-zero windchill, strolling the side streets that connect to Fourth Avenue and other wind-ravaged sections, got a feel of what mushers will surely face on the 1,100-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

“This should be an adventure,” 64-year-old rookie Gene Smith of Omak, Wash., said.

Smith spent this winter in Knik and drove only about 40 miles to reach the ceremonial start line. He had it easy compared to some mushers who traveled by truck, by airplane and even by dog sled to Alaska’s biggest city.

The team driven by Jennifer Freking of Finland, Minn., rounds the Cordova Street corner during Saturday’s start of Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. BOB HALLINEN / Anchorage Daily News

Let’s start with Joe Garnie, one of eight mushers who traveled here from the Seward Peninsula — a region of Western Alaska where the main hub is Nome. From there, mushers and dogs catch airplanes south to Anchorage.

Garnie, a 54-year-old racing his 15th Iditarod, mushed his team 75 miles from his remote home in Teller to Nome last week on

the Nome-Teller Highway, which is closed to vehicles in the winter.

Once in Nome, Garnie and his team boarded an airplane for Anchorage and his first Iditarod since 2004. Garnie, five-time Iditarod winner Rick Swenson and Chugiak’s Jim Lanier are the only three mushers this year who raced the Iditarod in the 1970s.

“He’s the only one from the (start of the) Rick Swenson-Susan Butcher era,” Kotzebue’s Ed Iten said. “I look forward to seeing him out there. He’s a down-to-earth, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of guy.”

The fast pace of the big city wasn’t something Garnie anticipated on his way in from Teller. He would rather dodge Anchorage, fly directly to Willow and run his dogs to Nome.

“I can handle blizzards, cold weather and bad trail on the Iditarod,” Garnie said. “I can’t handle Anchorage.”

Iten, a 54-year-old running his 10th Iditarod, faced a nasty snowstorm along the 26 miles of roadless terrain that separates his home from Kotzebue.

“It was a good training run,” he said.

Iten crossed Kotzebue Sound to catch his airplane to Nome, his dog sled packed with everything needed for the Iditarod. Headwinds up to 40 mph slowed his team by 1 1/2 hours, turning the trip into a solo race to Kotzebue.

“It’s not like getting in a car and driving to the start of the race,” he said. “It was stake to stake, a full-blown blizzard. If you don’t catch the plane, you don’t go to the race.”

Turned out Iten was weathered in at Kotzebue for two days, giving him plenty of time to relax before the big race.

Living in such a remote region comes with astronomical expenses, Iten said. Shipping dog food is the most costly, so sponsored flights is one way Kotzebue mushers stay solvent.

“Without these two airlines (Northern Air Cargo and Lynden Air Cargo), we wouldn’t have a chance,” said Louis Nelson, a three-time Iditarod finisher.

Nelson, a 65-year-old who lives outside of Kotzebue, had clear skies and excellent trail conditions for his sled dog trip into the town. He’s an Inupiaq Eskimo who lives a subsistence lifestyle, and though it’s a pain to reach Anchorage, it’s part of Bush living.

“I wouldn’t trade it for anything,” Nelson said. “I do it everyday, happy as a lark.”

Two of Nelson’s sons — Robert, 39, and Darin, 38 — are Iditarod rookies this year. He gave Robert some advice before Saturday’s start.

“The only words of wisdom he gave me was don’t get lost and don’t be late,” Robert Nelson said. “Well, I got lost and was the last musher to show up (Saturday).”

The truck hauling the borrowed dogs that Robert Nelson is using pulled onto F Street around 9:10 a.m. — 50 minutes before the start.

Luckily, he wore bib No. 70, giving him plenty of time to harness his dogs, drink coffee and even chat with old friends on the avenue.

Robert Nelson wasn’t burning the midnight oil Friday. He woke at 5:30 a.m. Saturday to drive to Wasilla and pick up his dogs, but he miscalculated the trip length.

“My dad just shook his head and said, ‘Make that your last mistake,’ ” Nelson said.

A few years ago, Nelson met Bryan Mills while traveling the Iditarod on a snowmachine. The Wisconsin musher, who finished 44th in last year’s Iditarod with a broken leg, leased Nelson his team because the leg isn’t fully healed.

Nelson is looking forward to racing with his dad and younger brother — at least for a few miles.

“With two rookies trying to follow our old man,” Nelson said, “I told him, ‘Geez Louie, what color’s your sled so at least I know what to follow.’ ”

Tom Roig’s journey to Anchorage started in Canada. The Shreve, Ohio, musher had just driven across the Canadian border when he lost control of his Dodge Ram and its 16-foot trailer with 17 dogs inside.

The wind blew snow ferociously across the highway, causing icy spots that spun his rigs 180 degrees and into the median, so the Iditarod rookie dug snow around his truck for three hours until a tow truck arrived. Both of his cheeks were frostbitten in the process.

“From the Lower 48, just getting to the start line is an accomplishment,” Roig said. “It’s a logistical nightmare, a real challenge.”

Just wait until he faces the Iditarod Trail today.

Source: The Anchorage Daily News