We Made it to Nome!
Iditarod 2009 was a huge success.
After overcoming the technical and physically demanding challenges of crossing the Alaska Mountain Range, the frozen creeks and lakes preempting the desolate Farwell Burn and the notorious steep and relentless climbs and descents of the interior we met our greatest challenge, The mighty Youkon River. We traveled up the river for 180 miles through tempertures exceeding -50 F, wind gusts of 40 to 50 mph and complete exposure. The Youkon is merciless and the entire time the wind was in our face. It was a struggle to keep from blowing over and the dogs never flinched. We then had a short repreive through some beautiful dwarfed forests as we made our way to the coast. Then it was the barrren and lonely sea ice for hours and hours. This was like crossing the surface of the moon with nothing more to look at then frozen ice chunks and ripples in the snow. The crunching sound of the sled runners crossing the dehidrated snow at -20 f reminds you of the sound styrofoam makes when it is broken. This sound is the only thing that confirms that we were moving. We could see the shore line from 45 miles away and it never seemed to get any closer until it was within 5 miles and after what seemed like forever we were on land again for a well deserved break. It was more sea ice for another 50 miles with the occasional land crossing. Steep hills brought us to Golovin bay and more sea ice to cross. Finally we were in White Mountain. Nome was within stricking distance we just had to make it over the big hills the preceed the mountain known as little Mckinnley. The dogs were on fire, they ran up and over these hills and averaged over 9mph with over 1,000 miles behind us and 22 left to the finishline. But mother nature said not so fast. We slowly made our way through a ground blizzard in Cape Nome experincing the strongest winds yet and visibility was down to almost nothing. We lost the trail and struggled for over an hour to find and markers. After finding a few broken peices of what was once a trail maker we slowly regained the course. We went up and over the nole and were pleased to find large tripod makers that brought us into the the town of Nome and the well deserved finish line.
08/09 Sponsors, those who help make a dream become reality.
Without the help of others we would be unable to succeed. We appreciate all of our current sponsors support and would like to give a special thanks to General Physics Corporation for really stepping up to the plate and covering our Iditarod entry fee and travel cost to and from Alaska.
Iditarod Sponsor 2009
Come experience the thrill of running your own dog team and meet our exceptional athletes just outside of Steamboat Springs, CO. Learn more at www.GrizzleT.com or call (970) 870-1782