One Man's Alaska

Dana Stabenow is a famous Alaska author, and her latest book, Though Not Dead, is a New York Times best-seller. I just read that you can win a free eBook version of one of her excellent earlier books, Fire and Ice, just by signing up the mailing list for the Official Iditarod.com newsletter.

2011 Iditarod race news, March 14, 2011, evening: By this time tomorrow we should have a 2011 Iditarod Race Winner. Current Iditarod race leader John Baker is now in to the White Mountain race checkpoint, where all mushers are required to take an eight hour break (rest) before taking off on the final leg to Nome, Alaska.

With the 2011 Iditarod well underway, I thought I'd see what I could learn about Nome, where the Iditarod race ends. Here are the Nome, Alaska facts, information, and history items I've uncovered in my research.

Nome, Alaska location

Nome, Alaska is located on the western tip of Alaska, about half way up the main body of the state of Alaska. Here is a map of Alaska (courtesy of Google Maps) that shows the location of Nome relative to other Alaska cities like Fairbanks and Anchorage:

2011 Iditarod standings, March 14 - John Baker continues his lead in the 2011 Iditarod race. As mentioned yesterday, the Iditarod race has currently become a battle of who can sleep less, with mushers resting only two or three hours at a time, and in some cases stopping only a minute or two at race checkpoints.

Iditarod race FAQ: How fast do Iditarod dog sled teams run?

One thing I've been curious about regarding the Iditarod is the speed of the dog teams. Certainly dog sled team speed will vary by the terrain, but with all the Iditarod checkpoints we should be able to find some good dog sled team speed information.

From the adn.com community website, Iditarod musher John Baker left the Unalakleet checkpoint a little after nine o'clock this morning.

According to the adn.com writer in Unalakleet, "Both Hans Gatt and Sebastian Schnuelle said this morning that they don't think they can catch him." As Mr. Schnuelle also said, "I have tons of horsepower, but I don’t have speed. I don’t have a team which has a second gear."

2011 Iditarod News, March 13 - I'm so glad to hear that Mitch Seavey has had successful surgery on his hand/finger. I read several references to Mr. Seavey in a story on the Anchorage Daily News website, including this comment:

Seavey, his finger saved by a surgeon after severely cutting it earlier in the race ...

2011 Iditarod Current Standings, March 12, 8am - As I wake up this morning and check the current standings, we have a new leader in the 2011 Iditarod race to Nome, Alaska. John Baker of Kotzebue, Alaska is now in the lead.

John Baker is forty-eight years old, a self-employed pilot, raced his first Iditarod race in 1996, and has been in every race since then. Mr. Baker has eleven Top-10 Iditarod finishes.

2011 Iditarod race, current standings: It's the evening of March 11, 2011, about 7pm, and the Iditarod mushers continue to blaze their trails across the Alaskan wilderness.

As mentioned this morning, musher Hugh Neff appears to be in the lead, having come through the Grayling checkpoint just five minutes before John Baker, and 47 minutes before four-time defending champion Lance Mackey.

Here are the current standings of the top fifteen 2011 Iditarod mushers at this time:

While checking out the Palmer, Alaska weather forecast for tonight, I followed a link to this web page which shows our average high temperatures are now entering the thirty degree range.