It’s kind of a nasty time of year here in our corner of the Great Land. After record-low snowfalls and unseasonably warm temperatures, everything now is drippy, slippery and nasty. But it’s never so bad that it couldn’t get worse – in fact, a lot worse. There’s a volcano a’brewing.
Unrest continues at Mount Spurr, the closest active volcano to Alaska’s population centers, and scientists at the Alaska Volcano Observatory are still watching for a possible eruption.
Starting in the spring of 2024, the researchers noticed an increase in small earthquakes at the volcano, which sits on the west side of Cook Inlet about 75 miles from Anchorage. Spurr was also growing outward, and a lake had formed in its summit crater.
The Alaska Volcano Observatory raised its code for Spurr to yellow, or "advisory" status, in October.
Since then, the elevated seismic activity at Spurr has continued, said Matt Haney, the observatory’s scientist in charge.
“We locate, these days, up to 100 earthquakes per week or even more at the volcano,” Haney said Tuesday.
Alaska Man score: No score. Nothing good about this, and there’s nothing we can do about it, so why worry?
See Related: 'Chaos Would Reign': The Alaska Volcano That Could Shut Down the Northern Hemisphere
As for the Iron Dog: We have a winner!
Iron Dog 2025 champions Robby Schachle and Brad George raced across Big Lake this sunny Saturday to the finish line, where a crowd of friends and family were there to greet them.
Schachle and George took an early lead on Day One of the race and were able to hold their position all the way to the finish. With a total course time of 53:32:56, Team 20 riding Skidoo reached the Iron Dog arch nearly an hour ahead of second place.
What’s more, the dynamic duo showed that an ounce of lead is worth a pound of catch-up:
“I feel like we won the race on the first day,” George said. “Once we got that lead, all we had to do was cruise and we could make it happen. It felt awesome.”
The most challenging section of the race was the Farewell Burn, a roughly 50 mile section of trail between the checkpoints of Tatina and Nikolai that this year had no snow. George said they were the only team that ran the trail to McGrath prior to the race and were able to come up with a game plan and prepare their sleds to deal with what racers this year would consider the most challenging section of trail.
“We prepared the sleds for that and it paid off,” George said.
Alaska Man score: 5 moose nuggets. Well done to all involved! Iron dogs and iron people – that’s Alaska for you.
See Related: Alaska Man Monday - Great Kids, Our New Congressman Kicking Some and Taking Some, and the Iron Dog
And here are the Iditarod mushers, 33 of them this year. And this year’s going to be a bit different.
The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog race looks a lot different this year due to historically scarce snow.
The competition kicks off Saturday with a shortened ceremonial start in Anchorage. Then, for the fourth time in Iditarod history, teams will officially start their race on Monday in Fairbanks. From there, they’ll dash to Nome.
It’s not exactly a “dash,” more of a “slog,” and this year, the lack of snow could cause trouble – even with the Fairbanks start.
The new trail heads west out of Fairbanks passing though Nenana, Manley, Tanana, Ruby, Galena and Nulato before reaching Kaltag. From Kaltag, mushers will loop south through Eagle Island, Grayling, Anvik and Shageluk, before rejoining at Kaltag. From there, the route is mostly the same — passing through Unalakleet, Shaktoolik, Koyuk, Elim, White Mountain and Safety then Nome.
Let’s hope for a safe run for both mushers and dogs. It’s hardly been a normal year!
Alaska Man score: 5 moose nuggets. As per the Iron Dog, a great Alaskan tradition.
Now, a quick look at the only time of year our homestead isn’t beautiful.