Surrounded by ice and tufts of grass and warmed by balmy weather for much of the winter, Southcentral Alaska fans of the Iditarod Sled Dog Race have had reason to be concerned about the prospect of witnessing the start of Alaska's sporting Super Bowl.
Not to worry, Iditarod race director Mark Nordman said Tuesday.
"People have the conception of not much snow," Nordman said, "and that's not quite right for much of the trail.
"I would definitely say as that as of today, we're definitely planning to go the traditional route. We have commitments to our fans to do that if we can."
A final decision on which route the Iditarod will follow will be made Feb. 12, Nordman said, because the first food drop for mushers takes place the following week.
A year ago, miserable snow conditions along much of the trail forced Iditarod officials to move the start north to Fairbanks after a wet and sloppy ceremonial start Saturday in Anchorage. Seventy-nine racers hit the Chena River on Monday morning and headed toward such new Iditarod checkpoints as Huslia and Koyukuk.
Nordman and Andy Willis, the Iditarod logistics coordinator, flew the length of the trail last week, gauging snow conditions. A few highlights from Nordman's assessment:
• "We can get up the (Susitna) River to Skwentna no problem."
• "By the time we get to Puntilla (Lake, some 140 miles from the start) there's a huge amount of snow, about 4-5 feet. And it's good snow all the way up there."
• "To the top of Rainy Pass (the high point of the trail at more than 3,000 feet), there's good snow, and we can get through Dalzell Gorge (en route to the next checkpoint in Rohn).
• "Out towards Rohn (on the other side of the Alaska Range), there's not much snow at all, but that is traditionally a very low-snow place. But we had a huge trail project a year ago from last October that's made a huge difference."
• "Once we get to about 50 miles from Nikolai (on the far side of the Farewell Burn), the snow is good."
• "We're light on snow on the coast, but it's been that way many years before."
The upshot? "It's much better than last year," Nordman said. "We went out and looked last year too, and there was no discussion. That was not a trail we were going to put dogs on."
A portion of the trail has received a significant upgrade since mushers last raced over it. In October 2014, Iditarod Trail Committee staffers and a group of volunteers spent a month on a $200,000 project clearing and smoothing an 8- to 10-foot-wide trail for about 20 miles outside of Rohn en route to Farewell Lake.
"It was awful, you can imagine roots going every which way over the trail after the (82,000-acre) Turquoise Lake fire (in 2010)," Nordman said. "It was definitely something we needed to get done for our event."
Contact Mike Campbell at mcampbell@alaskadispatch.com