Boy, am I ever glad to be home.
CPAC was a lot of fun, made even more so by my wife’s decision to come along this year. It’s a chance to listen to some great speakers, but mostly, it’s a chance to share notes and compare techniques with colleagues, and to hang around with friends, and I’d note that the Venn diagram of those two groups is pretty much a circle.
Being back home, in Alaska, that’s even better. Cities are too crowded, too noisy, and they smell bad.
We came back to find our minimal snow layer still in place, and because of that, the Iditarod has officially moved its start to Fairbanks. Not enough snow, you see.
The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race will now start in Fairbanks, not Willow, due to a lack of snow, race officials announced Monday.
The last-minute change follows alarms raised by some mushers over the weekend who said stretches of the trail were not safe for their teams. Race officials still plan to hold the parade-like ceremonial start in Anchorage on Saturday, March 1. The teams will then pack up and head about 350 miles north for the official race start out of Fairbanks on Monday, March 3.
In the Iditarod statement Monday, race marshal Warren Palfrey said officials determined that a stretch of trail is “unpassable” into the checkpoint of Nikolai, about a quarter of the way into the thousand-mile race.
Not enough snow. In Alaska. It’s been a weird winter, to be sure. We normally have at least a couple of feet of snow in the yard by late February, but we have less than a foot now, and last year’s dead fireweed is poking out of the snow along the woods back of the house. And that’s the same problem the mushers are having hereabouts – not enough snow.
“After a heavy discussion with our lead Trail Breaker and other friends of the race including local knowledge, and with no new snow on the horizon, there is simply no way we can allow the teams to progress through that 20-mile stretch just before the Salmon River, 20 miles from Nikolai,” he said in the statement. “It is a shame because the remainder of the trail is in great shape all the way to Nome.”
Let’s hope that at least up that way, north of Broad Pass, they don’t run into any such trouble.
See Related: Alaska Man Monday - Great Kids, Our New Congressman Kicking Some and Taking Some, and the Iron Dog
You Think Your Winter Weather Is Weird? In Alaska, It's Raining.
Alaska Man score: 2.5 of 5 moose nuggets. Deductions for the weird winter weather, but bonus to the brave mushers for perseverance.
Another big Alaska tradition that won’t be as affected by the lack of snow is the Fur Rendezvous. The “Rondy” as it’s called, is a lot of fun, even if it does require driving to Anchorage.
The Fur Rendezvous has been a staple of Alaska winter life for 90 years. Founded in 1935, the festival started as a celebration that coincided with miners and trappers coming to town to sell their wares. While Alaska’s trapping and sled-racing lifestyles are still featured in the two-week event, there’s much more as well.
A lack of normal snow cover has caused some perennial events to be tweaked or altered.
At the link above, you can find a calendar of events. You don’t mess with tradition, and if PETA wants to object to this celebration of (among other Alaskan things) Alaska’s great fur-trapping tradition, then let them come on up here and try to do something about it!
Alaska Man score: 5 moose nuggets. Tradition!
Now, have a look at my CPAC experience.