The last great race!

After much hype here in Alaska the Iditarod was finally here. After a large parade in anchorage which drew thousands, the teams head 70 miles northwest to willow where they start. The start of the race at willow had hundreds of people seeing the mushers off on there 1,000 mile journey to nome. Not really being crowd people kristen and I headed further north to deshka landing where we could hike to the trail about an hour into the race.

Can you find the suburban?

Sitting by the trail waiting for the dogs.

These folks were true alaskans, the bumper sticker on his snowcat said "If it's called tourist season, why can't we shooot em?''

53 mushers entered this year, each with a team of 14 dogs. They don't use the same dogs the whole race, other teams are waiting at further checkpoints.

Lots of planes today dipping down pretty low to watch the race.

Kristen was in love with the fur these guys have. It get's pretty chilly mushing all through the night.

Beautiful dogs, Lucy found love at first sight at least a dozen times. Sled dogs eat a mix of dog food and salmon which makes them really strong but also gives them beautiful coats.

Kristen likes the teams with the pink booties. This is John Baker last year's winner who pulled into nome 8 and a half days later.

This guy was already sitting and eating a candy bar. Doesn't seem too bad, until it's -20, a whiteout, your dogs get tangled and you haven't slept in 3 days.

The musher with the white dogs stopped real quick to say hi to someone he knew and got passed.

His dogs were so upset, howling and barking until he got going again.

More dogs.

Kristen was rooting for the lady in pink.

A casualty of a long day at the iditarod.

It was a beautiful sunny day  in the valley. Kristen said she would consider running the iditarod if everyday was like this. Unfortunatley snow is forecasted for all week so no such luck for the mushers.
8 days to valdez! snowiest city in the united states, can't wait. toodles

More skiing at Hatcher's

Hatcher's pass is 20 minutes up the road so it has been our weekend getaway spot. You can probably see in the progression of pictures how much light we are getting back every week. It's been great. It's been a pretty warm february with temps above 15. About four to five feet of snow on the ground with zero snow days so far. We will probably get another deep freeze before breakup in late march but it feels like winter is almost over. Anyway enjoy the pics:)

We have a few stitches that turned out nicely too. Be sure and click on the pictures to enlarge them.

We're taking the ferry to valdez and going cat skiing there over spring break in march. Should make for some scenic views! Hope everyone is well. cheers

Backcountry skiing in Hatcher's pass

We have had some clear beautiful days lately and so we went for a hike to do some skiing back in the hatcher's pass area last weekend.

A common sight in  our driveway.

A beautiful day but a long hike to the peaks ahead.

Oe of the many mines hatcher built and operated in the 1900's.

Slow going posthole ing in just our boots but making progress. A split board with skins would be nice but i don't have 1500 dollars.

Made it to the top just before sunset.

Kristen makes it to the top! What a woman...

Nate's buddy Rob and his dog dushka.

Quite the sunset from up here.

Rob finding a good spot to drop in.

Kristen's ready for the well deserved run after the 2 and a half hour hike.

It goes so fast...
That's all for now. see ya