Iditarod Blog

We have an Iditarod Blog, http://iditarod08windypups.blogspot.com/. Our main blog is for our kennel journal. We will go to our Iditarod Blog (above) to chat about Iditarod.

Dogs over Ten Years Old

We have been fortunate to have dogs live long with us, but it gives us a core group of dogs over the age of ten. Over ten are: Chena, Sierra, Skinny, Lillen, Buddy, Tanni, Martin, Power, Glory,
King, Balto, Drummer and Victor. Some of these are still running in teams, the others are enjoying long walks and sunbathing. Three of these dogs are pups of our original Scuba, three are her grandpups. Three are retirees from Alaska. Four came to us as rescues.

Fantasy Iditarod

Well, if we can't be there, we'll 'enter' online. We have 3 SPK participants in Fantasy Iditarod, modeled after Fantasy Football. Each of us has chosen ten bib numbers. On Thursday after the bib drawing, when we know who has which bib, we must pare our ten down to five.

The link for Fantasy Iditarod is : http://www.colomtnmushers.org/fantasy-iditarod.html

Training Runs, Six

We had some guests today and we ran some nice training runs. The trails were fast, but sides still soft/ deep if the sled veered off. We opted to stay on internal trails to save dog feet and to avoid the risk of leaping the hardened snow banks near the highway. We're hoping for more snow, but the trail base is excellent. We geared our day to working on skills, hills, curves, speed, gear, etc.

Total dogs run was ten, six teams. Skinny ran lead in one team; Lillen ran lead in one team; Buffy and Ruthie both had multiple times in lead and Sherpa led once. Buddy was once again THRILLED to be chosen to run on TWO teams and he pulled his weight in wheel with great spirit.

Tomorrow we plan to run some dogs who need more time/running. It's pretty easy to pick the best runners, again and again... some of the others need practice.

Photo: Guest , Ron, with a happy four dog team, (Buffy, Ruthie, Buddy, Quattro) honing skills, although he's already a good dog driver and likes the speed the dogs dished out.

Sulatna

December 1994 to February 25, 2008

Mother: Poppers (Butcher)

Father: Yukon (Peters)

Sulatna In Memoriam 1994 to 2008

Sulatna loved to climb up the overhanging tree at the cottage while Chena and I swam below.

The Sulatna era has dimmed today, with the passing of this beautiful blue eyed, gentle, intelligent, fast, quirky , almost indescribable, gee haw command leader, best friend.

In the past few days Sulatna has been hiding in a basement corner or running up the stairs to jump into my lap and look me in the eyes. She has been battling a peripheral nerve sheath tumor for two years .

We are too sad to say much beyond a very special Godspeed, dear Sulatna!

Iditarod Coverage

Iditarod starts on Saturday, March 1st, in Anchorage. For now the restart, is scheduled for Willow, on Sunday. The bib draw is on Thursday prior to the Start. The link to Jon Little's Cabela's coverage is our favorite site for following online: http://iditarodblogs.com/news/

Word is that The Discovery Channel will be filming, following a number of specific teams, from Start to Finish of Iditarod. As I understand, there is nothing live , but the production will be aired in October or November. http://dsc.discovery.com/. Per some of the participants, they will be doing some "neat things".

Jessica Klejka, age 17, of Bethel, AK , won the Junior Iditarod by TWO seconds, with Cain Carter, stepson of Lance Mackey, coming in 2nd with Lance's core group of dogs set to run Iditarod. The Junior Iditarod was 140 miles this year. http://iditarodblogs.com/news/2008/02/24/jr-iditarod-won-by-two-seconds/

Of course, our loyalty lies with Aliy Zirkle and Allen Moore, and also, this year with Sue Morgan and Trent Herbst and Karen Ramstead. Another fun team to watch will be Molly Yazwinksi (I may have wrong spelling), running dogs from Susan Butcher/David Monson kennel. We are also participating in the Fantasy Iditarod initiated on Sled Dog Central. We did get 3 sets of teams set up.

Fun Runs, Warm Temperatures

Yesterday the temps were a bit warm making the trailsides soft and the runs a bit more challenging (slow/hard running) as even the groomed/repacked trails wouldn't set up hard.

We had a great group of five fit people, new to dog sledding, who were up for the challenges as were the great dogs.

We ran five teams and even Skinny and Lillen (retirees) got to run on the last six dog run.

With a few dogs out of commission for various reasons (feet, etc), we had a willing core of:

Leaders, Ruthie, Buffy , (Skinny, Lillen), Matilda; Team/Wheel, Herman, Medio, Kiddo, Quattro, Sherpa. They'll get a day off today, and tomorrow, weather permitting, we'll have some good runs again.

Photo: Upper Loop, Bob running well; Herman, Kiddo in wheel.

Picture Worth 1000 Words: This Morning

Lunar Eclipse and Frigid

The temp at 4:27AM is minus 17. This has been a flip flop winter. Temps are supposed to be up to 30 again on Sunday, up/down/up.

Took this photo of the moon about 8:40PM last night. The next lunar eclipse, I believe, will be in 2010.

Copper had surgery on his foot laceration yesterday and stayed the night at the clinic. He'll be happy to get home today.

Snowbanks and Trails

We hooked up six dogs early yesterday, knowing the trails were great. It was a nearly perfect 8 mile run, although on the takeoff our team had to leap a snowbank created by the plows over night, to get to the trail. The second snowbank caused a quick fall but they rallied well. Later on in the trail we met the large groomer coming toward us, so we had a smooth team turnaround , mostly thanks to Ruthie and Matilda, and they were off. It just cut us short one mile on this usual run. Not a single snowmachine yesterday.

Dogs run: Buffy, Ruthie, lead; Matilda, Sherpa, swing; Kiddo, Quattro, wheel. Copper has an injured foot, sad to say, so he'll have some quick repair surgery this a.m., and he'll have to watch from the sidelines for awhile, we think.

Leaders know their trails. I tried to lead them around the snowbank on the way home, but they went right back over the big snowbank again, smoothly.

We had hoped to enter a small race first weekend in March but just heard it probably won't go on, due to other races competing for teams.

Jackpine 30, faster or shorter?

Looking at past results the Jackpine 30 had much faster finishing times than when we first ran it:

2004:

Our team is Julia Newton, finishing third that year, approx 15 minutes off of first, with a four hour, seven minute time . (that included crossing Pelissier Lake in ankle deep slush).


David Gill
10:42:00 AM
2:33:10 PM
3:51:10
2
Ron Modin
10:48:00 AM
2:49:13 PM
4:01:13
3
Julia Newton
10:32:00 AM
2:39:16 PM
4:07:16
4
Kate Larsen
10:52:00 AM
3:09:59 PM
4:17:59
5
Rose Smyth
10:38:00 AM
3:20:06 PM
4:42:06
6
Kim Harron
10:58:00 AM
4:01:27 PM
5:03:27
7
Judy Rybinski
10:36:00 AM
3:43:40 PM
5:07:40
8
Randy Foust
10:44:00 AM
4:07:00 PM
5:23:00
9
Steve O'Mara
10:56:00 AM
4:32:28 PM
5:36:28

(There were 15 teams in this 2004 finish).
***********************************************

2005: Our team, Julia Newton, came in tenth in 2:48:18, a much improved time for our team but further back in the pack (tenth). There were 24 teams and longest time out was a little over five hours. That was the year the dogs let Julia run after them after they dumped her, down Marquette Mountain ski hill, woo hoo!!


Jack Pine 30 2005 Results
Place
Name
Hometown
Start Time inGwinn
Trail Times
1
Kate Larsen
Hancock, MI
11:08 a.m.
2:27:30
2
Larry Fortier
Gaylord, MI
10:56 a.m.
2:30:02
3
Ron Modin
Chatham, MI
10:44 a.m.
2:31:46
4
Darlene Walch
Gwinn, MI
10:42 a.m.
2:39:19
5
Elizabeth Mills
Munising, MI
11:06 a.m.
2:40:45
6
Maggie Heilman
Somerset, WI
10:46 a.m.
2:41:42
7
Brad Quayle
Ishpeming, MI
10:30 a.m.
2:43:02
8
Judy Rybinski
Marquette, MI
10:36 a.m.
2:44:15.
9
Rose Smyth
Laona, WI
11:12 a.m.
2:47:50
10
Julia Newton
Florence, WI
10:34 a.m.
2:48:18
11
Shaynee Seipke
Gladwin, MI
10:48 a.m.
2:48:40 (and 13 more teams for total of 24 finishers).

This year(2008) the winner, Mark Churchill, won it with a time of 2:25. It is a challenging race trail, sometimes a lot of snow and in good years they can cross a frozen lake (in bad years, they skip the lake or run across it (as in 2004) in ankle deep slush.

Whatever it is, it is a very nice race, well done by the volunteers. We were sorry to miss it again this year and are hoping for a team in it next year.

Winter Storm Warning; UP 200 Winner, Ed Stielstra

We're having the best/worst storm of the winter today, accumulations of from 8 to 12 inches of snow, forecasted, with winds up to 29 mph, for blowing snow, poor visibility. Our neighboring county has requested that no one travel at all until the blowing/snowing stops.

This will dampen our plans to run two teams to Pentoga in the morning with visitors. We doubt they would be able to make it here, let alone for us to clear trails to make it out of here with sleds. so we'll wait until it calms down.

We haven't heard officially but we're guessing that the ski jumps were cancelled today and jumpers will have to stay around a bit longer. My son and family went off the road in their 4wheel drive Sequoia today, but were able to be towed out of the ditch.

Yooper /Iditarod veteran, Ed Stielstra, won the UP 200 today. I believe it was two years ago that his wife, Tasha, won it. Congratulations to the Stielstra kennel. Thankfully this storm comes at the tail end of the three race weekend.

Pine Mountain Continental Cup Jumps; UP 200; Jackpine 30

Winter sports all compete for the same time frame . The UP200 got underway on Friday night, the Jackpine 30 ran on Saturday, and Saturday and Sunday , the annual ski jumps on giant Pine Mountain were underway.

Photos are of the jump and landing, billed by foreign jumpers as 'very pleasant, with a bit of a short landing and steep drop " (understatement). Newer hills are carved out a bit longer, but this hill has a great history of jumping. Local jumpers have done well over the years with 18 North American champions.

Julia's son, Daniel, age 18, is pictured in his second trial jump yesterday. He is scheduled to fly to Poland today for competition in the World Juniors, but it was iffy if Poland has enough snow for this to go on. We've been watching these jumps for many years and each year it is amazing to see them fly off the scaffolding with seemingly no concerns. Of course, they start at age five, increasing their jumps over their training years.

Happy Valentine's Day to All of My Dogs!

Dogs have GREAT hearts!! They deserve the very best of everything on Valentine's Day! (and, of course, on every day).

Photo: Sweet Frita :)

Annual Dress Right List, Part One

Photo: Sierra in minus forty six windchill, yesterday. She takes her yard guarding very seriously, no matter what the temps.

Short of being a Norwegian Elkhound, it takes a bit of experimenting to learn to dress for the different winter temps and conditions.

Each year I try and often reject new gear. Following is my tried and true list. I keep this for myself, but it might help someone else to review it for one's own use.

Winter Dress Rules:

One: Layering. Do not dress too warmly for activities requiring you to move around a lot, e.g. hooking up/running dogs; cleaning the dog lot; xc skiing, etc. When you take off with dogs the last thing you need is a sweaty underlayer. Better to be a bit cold in the hookup and have a jacket on the sled.

For standing still, add more layers, but be careful on the feet. We only wear one pair of socks

(wool/wool blend) in almost any conditions. We do use chemical foot warmers in very cold weather. Too tight layering of socks will make your feet colder. If in extreme temps (e.g. minus thirty/forty) possibly wear two pairs of socks and boot large enough to accomodate them.

If going for a long run, take extra wool socks in a pocket.

2. Cotton is rotten (as the backpackers say). Never wear cotton in a winter environment, period, anywhere, including underwear. Sweating makes it wet and it does NOT dry. There are new types of layering materials for underwear that we've been trying, more later.

Materials to consider, polypro, fleece, wool, bamboo, Under Armour materials, etc.

3. Wear adjustable outer layers, e.g. removable neckwarmer, glove layers, outer jacket, hat layers, boot layers.

4. Be able to move! There are technical types of gear that allow maximum warmth and breathability and still afford flexibility in movement. Seven top layers, for example, make it very difficult to move around.

5. Experiment before you go on a big trip, try out your gear, break in your boots, etc.

That said, we'll give our favorites in the next post.

Weather

We can't figure out how to put the weather link on here, so trying this. I AM going back out, but now that I read it feels like minus forty five out there, I'm a bit less excited about it. However, it IS minus 45 in Two Rivers, that makes it awful up there, don't know what their wind is.

http://www.accuweather.com/us/wi/florence/54121/city-weather-forecast.asp?partner=accuweather&u=1&traveler=0

YQ 300 Flu Bug; Get Well greetings to you guys!!

Randy Chappel was too sick to start the race and about 50 miles into the race, Allen Moore had to scratch, going to the hospital, too ill to continue. Of course, Aliy withdrew, as well, and got the 2 teams home. They were at the Valley Center Store, just down the road apiece from their kennel, a timely place to make the decision. Think this photo is the place they mean as it is frequently a checkpoint on Chena Hot Springs Road.

When I read Aliy's blog, the Two Rivers, AK weather was posted at minus forty five degrees.

Even healthy people are going to have trouble with that stuff. Hopefully, Allen (and Randy) will mend fast.

It's too cold for anything! Here, not unbearable, but I wore my down jacket and beaver hat to feed/do chores this a.m. Back out shortly... it's very windy, about minus ten, temp, winds 25-30mph, some impressive gusts.

Winds and Yukon Quest

Winds are still fierce here, so we continue to empathize with the Yukon Quest mushers.

Local Weather: (Wisconsin) Today: Mostly sunny and cold, with a high near -4. Wind chill values between -30 and -40. West northwest wind between 21 and 23 mph, with gusts as high as 39 mph. Tonight: Partly cloudy, with a low around -11. Wind chill values between -20 and -30. West northwest wind 17 to 20 mph decreasing to between 5 and 8 mph.

In comparison, we're a picnic:

Yukon Flats and Uplands Weather: Tonight...Partly cloudy. Patchy valley ice fog through the night. Otherwise clear. In valleys lows 40 below to 55 below zero with light winds. Above tree line lows 15 to 30 below and northeast winds to 35 mph with wind chills to 45 below and areas of blowing snow.Sunday...Partly cloudy. Patchy valley ice fog in the morning. Areas of blowing snow in the high country through the day. Highs 25 to 40 below. Light winds below tree line. Above tree line northeast winds to 25 mph with areas of drifting snow.


Kaz is updating the SPKennel Log faster than the YQ people can do on their site, so , once again, this is the link to Aliy's/Allen's dog blog: http://spkenneldoglog.blogspot.com/
Sounds like things are moving along OK in both the YQ and YQ 300, although adjustments have been made to the trail and rest times, because of bad weather.

Can't help but think about soaking in the wonderful Chena Hot Springs waters under the stars:)

Fierce winds preceded by quiet ski run

Less than an hour ago, Sulatna accompanied me while I skiied around the trails. It was a bit warm, getting dark, beautiful, and very still. Just now the winds have come up fiercely, in stark contrast. The dogs are hunkering down... things will be blown about tonight, for sure. It feels as if we're playing Yukon Quest out there. Wind chills are expected to get to minus 30-40.

We were visited by either a fox or coyote in the night. I heard "yip, yip, yip" near the front porch, then smelled the musky scent of a fox, the dogs barked and that was that. When I opened the door this a.m. two large rabbits were hiding out on the porch.

Yukon Quest Trail Map with elevations

http://www.yukonquest.com/site/yukon-quest-trail-map/

Doesn't look like a hint of postponing for very low temps/ windchills, so we'll be watching.

Weather Link Two Rivers, AK

Doesn't look good today for the Yukon Quest area weather.

http://www.accuweather.com/us/AK/TWO%20RIVERS/99716/city-weather-forecast.asp?partner=accuweather&traveler=0

Even Paul Harvey...

Commenting on the Fairbanks weather, Paul Harvey reported, today, that East of Fairbanks it is minus sixty seven degrees. Well, it's bitterly cold and the Yukon Quest begins in Fairbanks on Saturday, brrrrr, and heads East . Hope this cold snap ends before then. It's always cold at Quest time, but that is crazy cold. Looks like I can't apply the term "bitterly cold" to our upcoming minus 13 :)

Will stay tuned for the race and the weather. http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?zoneid=AKZ222

Tim Mowry, in The Daily NewsMiner , says it's the result of an air mass from Russia... some hope of it lifting, depending on cloud cover, he reports minus 62 at Chandalar Lake.

Teams and Trails

Perfect trails, although the Michigan part was bumpy, the snow was deep and mostly well packed.

We ran three six dog teams with different combos. Senior Skinny and senior Lillen ran in the third team. Both were more than eager to be taken along and both looked great. The first run was into Michigan, the second two on our trails. Julia came out to take her first runs of the winter. Copper ran with Quattro for the first time, and no nipping. He's becoming a gentleman, well behaved on the picket line, steady and ready in the hookup.

SNOW: more than last year, consistent trails, but warm up/down weather. (We didn't get the dumping that Chicago and Madison got, thankfully. I'm still shoveling gates from the last six inches.)

Dogs run today: Buffy, Ruthie, Kiddo, Quattro, Copper, Sherpa, Zoom, Kiddo, Skinny, Lillen,

Matilda, Herman.

Susan Butcher day in Alaska , approved

The State Legislature approved a Susan Butcher Day in Alaska, to be celebrated the first Saturday each March (also the day of the Iditarod Start).
http://www.newsminer.com/news/2008/feb/05/legislature-approves-susan-butcher-day/

Living in Teams

This idea is working out pretty well... the dogs live, untied, in pens, with team members. They run with other dogs as well, but each has a core team . They work out the living rules among them and there are no surprises in the hookup or on the line, usually.

Buddy is a rescue , but before he aged into an arthritic shoulder, he did run the UP200. He lives with Ruthie, a leader, and Josie, a skittish little team dog. Until she died, Liller, gee haw command leader, lived with them. Since Liller is gone , they are trying to establish a new set of rules for their 'team'. Yesterday when we hooked them all up on the first team out, they were bursting their buttons. Buddy looked at me with his big blue eyes and a big 'smile'. His face is the white face in wheel in this photo. Josie is in wheel with him.

Different view of Lillen's pup, Cowlick

Cowlick is the small dog in the photo. She is ten.

Anna and 3 teams

Anna ran three teams today. The high temp late in the day was 39 degrees, so we were pushing it , finishing up at noon. In three teams we ran ten dogs. Buffy ran lead on all 3 teams, Ruthie ran lead twice, and Sherpa ran lead once. Soon Mat and Rosie will be back sharing lead . The runs were relatively spotless. I groomed the trails early as we had some fresh snow. For being so warm, it was not too punchy for decent runs.

Copper ran solo wheel in the 5 dog with his girl pals. Other team dogs included, Buddy (who was so excited he stopped a second after take off, he was on the first team and proud of it); Josie, Herman, Medio, Zoom and Kiddo. Zoom is too chubby ; Anna's father said Zoom needs more 'zooming'! :)

Photo: Upper loop , Anna with her 5 dog team. Buffy and Sherpa are leading. Chubby Zoom and Kiddo, in swing; Copper in wheel.

Unlimited Finisher, Three Bear

Teams from all over the Lower 48 were here and the Jamaican team was also at the Three Bear Race. We didn't get a photo of them running, just one of their truck and dogs at rest. We did see and photo the Perry team from Colorado. I don't know who this finisher is, will check bibs later to i.d.

Here Puppy, Puppy!

Cooperation in the 6 dog, catch me if you can! Lots of fun at this race.

Becky's 6 dogs in the dual start, Three Bear Race

Go, Becky! Looking good in the dual start chute at Three Bear Race. (Becky on left in photo, Bib 22).

Three Bear Sled Dog Race, Land O Lakes, WI

The race is Land O Lakes, WI Trailblazers, Sprint, is always a good one. Our first kennel race was held there 14 years ago, when Jenny won the 4 dog (her first race). It was bitterly cold then and the race was held up until the bank sign said minus twenty degrees. Our first pups ran in that race.

This is a photo of one of the 2 dog finishers, the best part of the race! It happens that the smaller leader in this photo is Cowlick, daughter of our Lillen. I don't know the musher, but we were talking as we waited for his child's team. Fun!

And Becky, age 23, started training with us, 14 years ago. She ran her six dog Siberian team yesterday... photo in next post.

Yukon Quest

The Yukon Quest has a new site, www.yukonquest.com

SP Kennel, Aliy Zirkle/Allen Moore, will have 3 teams in the Yukon Quest 300,
http://www.yukonquest300.com/servlet/content/532.html

It all begins February 9th.

Wyoming Stage Stop

http://www.wyomingstagestop.org/2008/2008dailyarchive/cumulative.htm

This is the link to the current standings in the Pedigree stage stop race in Wyoming.
Melanie Shirilla has pulled ahead of Wendy Davis . They had to cut a stage short for fierce
(60 mph) winds, first time in that race.

Jason Barron won the Beargrease in Minnesota.