I have no new pictures, but this is of Daniel coming into Unalakleet, so somewhat the sea-area travel looks like...maybe. I don't know. I've never been 😎
Last we left Ryan, we were operating with no tracker and only sparse inReach communication. He and Daniel stayed the night at the Foothills Cabin (23.5 miles from Unalakleet)....sounds like it was too warm and wonderful to pass up. Plus, they encountered some skiers heading south for fun, and I think enjoyed the company of new friends. The guys got moving in the morning, about the same time their trackers finally started cooperating, (roughly 9am yesterday morning, 3/20). Ryan and Daniel arrived at Shaktoolik 2pm ish...not arriving? His mailed drop box of supplies (turns out only two out of the four have actually shown up, but having just heard this, I'm imagining it was more of an annoyance than anything else). He indicated there were fellow racers boxes to raid, as well as a store to buy goods. It cracks me up, but he was jazzed that he could get a bag of chips. Like, walk across Alaska and all you get is this amazing...bag of chips. To each his own…
We chatted for a bit via a very frustrating sat text chain (picture me answering a text only to get the same text two more times, and then three other texts about other things, and then circling back to the text I answered 18 texts ago). I think he understood me when I relayed sad basketball news, happy stories from a visit with the Haaks (sidenote: thank you so much to the Haaks for allowing me to ruin their long weekend of fun with constant chatter about this race, etc. Y’all’s company is always appreciated, but even more so this weekend. And you make good Ahi tuna), and directions on how to leave Shaktoolik in the right direction (thanks Troy and Stick for the navigational pro tips!!).
After a bit of back-and-forth on how to attack the next couple legs, the guys decided to get a good rest at the checkpoint, wait for the wind to transition down from “dangerous” to “sustained”, and get up early for an all day push to Koyuk (Checkpoint #19, Mile 788) by way of a short stint at Little Mountain Cabin (Mile 759). The decision might’ve had something to do with the school kids that regularly would be arriving early were having a remote learning day because they were stuck in Anchorage and couldn’t fly home. All night and morning with no little bodies making big noises. Score!
He texted it was going to be a great day. Apparently, great day = less wind and a Pop Tart for breakfast (presumably brown sugar, because frosted strawberry would’ve been just a good day). The guys left for Little Mountain Cabin at 4:20am, arriving roughly five hours later. We exchanged a few messages, where he indicated it was "an amazing walk", the cabin was "super cool," and they were leaving in a few minutes, but had a fire going and drinking a cup of coffee....I was happy to see the stop only lasted 2 hours and Ryan didn't attempt to establish residency like I felt he might be compelled to do.
Next up is the big sea ice crossing of Norton Bay. Sure, they’ve been walking on ice for a lot of the race, but that’s little river ice. We're now getting into big scary sea ice.
In 2020, this is where the race ended for most 1000 Mile participants, as a storm caused the sea to swell over the ice. Only the lead three bikers, who had already crossed the bay prior to the storm, were able to carry on to Nome. This year's winner, Petr Inman, was among those lead three. If you’ve been following the race up until now you’ll recognize all of the other eight names…Beat leads the 1000 on foot (currently Mile 883), Asbjorn just had to scratch in Shaktoolik due to frostbite, and the 6-Pack finished a few days ago with just about the biggest smiles you could imagine!
Former member of the ITI Throuple, Chris, made the crossing in about 13 1/2 hours. So keep that time in mind if you’re wondering how things are going. (That said, a lot of the variables are different… the weather, the amount of rest, typical pace, etc. But, a reference marker for sure). Just an FYI as I look at Ryan's tracker....you will see they racers are all set right of the red Iditarod Trail. They are not lost, listing, or lollygagging. This is the trail that was broken for the snow machines, sled dogs, and ITI racers, and they're on the right track!
Screenshot on the right is of Beat's track to show what the "right" way will look like
Fingers crossed the wind continues to be less of a factor (currently blowing N/NW 6-10mph), there are no earthquakes or sea swells, and that maybe a few Pop Tarts made their way into the sled, ensure the great day continues ;-)
This looks really scary! I am holding my breath until they make it across!a. Glad they have each other!
ReplyDelete