Once again, the ugly wrath of a mild winter is forcing Alaska sled dog race organizers to move, shimmy and sweat over whether they'll have trail suitable for the pulling athletes.
On Tuesday night, organizers of the Copper Basin 300 Sled Dog Race decided to move the start of the 300-mile race 20 miles north of Glennallen, the second consecutive major sled dog race to shift its start due to unseasonably warm and dry weather. Ten months ago, the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race was forced to shift its start from Willow to Fairbanks.
Farther west in Bethel, the world's best and richest middle-distance race was facing rapidly deteriorating conditions too, with the Kuskokwim 300 board of directors planning to meet Wednesday night to consider options. The $123,300 Kusko is due to start Jan. 15, and 33 mushers have signed up.
Even Iditarod officials are starting to worry about Alaska's Super Bowl of mushing, still eight weeks away.
"It's getting more and more difficult here," said Kuskokwim 300 race manager Zach Fansler. "A few weeks ago, it was just magnificent with the best snow base I've seen in many, many years. That's gone. It smells like spring here. It's muddy in spots, not like a real winter. And the forecast doesn't look great. We're down to ice on the river; all the snow's melted."
Warm weather is thinning Kuskokwim River ice, on which much of the race is run. Bethel temperatures reached 38 degrees Tuesday.
"The forecast doesn't look great," Fansler said. "More of the same. We're looking bad through the weekend and hopefully then it starts to turn around and re-freeze."
Iditarod CEO Stan Hooley said pilots will fly the Iditarod route later this week "getting a first-hand look at various parts of the trail so that we will better know what conditions truly are.
"It's obvious that we need winter to return to Southcentral, sooner rather than later."
In Glennallen, bare ground and rutted, icy trail are forcing organizers of the Copper Basin 300 to start at Gakona Lodge, Mile 1 of the Tok Cutoff, at 11 a.m. Saturday. The rerouted course will be an estimated 15 to 20 miles shorter than usual.
"After five days of above-freezing temperatures and intermittent rain in Glennallen, the race route along the Glenn Highway corridor from town west about 6 miles significantly deteriorated," Copper Basin race organizers said in a press release. "In addition, ice conditions on the Gulkana and Gakona Rivers will not currently allow safe crossing by mushers and dog teams, and it is unlikely those conditions will improve by Saturday."
Race manager John Berner said there can be 15 to 20 degree temperature swings in as little as 10 miles around Glennallen. And when temperatures linger near freezing, that can spell the difference between rain and snow.
Forty-eight mushers behind teams of up to 12 dogs plan to start the 27th Copper Basin, chasing a purse that race organizers say will be at least $15,000. Among them are seven of last year's top eight finishers, including defending champion Allen Moore of Two Rivers.
As an Iditarod qualifying race, the Copper Basin typically attracts a number of young and less-experienced mushers ultimately aiming for the big race to Nome.
Contact Mike Campbell at mcampbell@alaskadispatch.com