Photos: The Iditarod's final push to Nome

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In a 25 mph wind, Jeff King tries to keep going in a straight line, on the trail before Safety, the last checkpoint before Nome. Mar 10, 2014

Only two years after a humbling defeat near the shores of the Bering Sea, grizzled Jeff King from the community of Denali Park in the heart of Alaska is poised to claim the crown as one of the greatest -- if not the greatest -- Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race champions of all time.

On Monday, King waited out an eight-hour mandatory rest in the White Mountain checkpoint on the east side of the Topkok Hills about 80 miles from the race's finish line in Nome. He pulled in there with a lead of 57 minutes over Aily Zirkle of Two Rivers.

Blizzard-like conditions were shaping up along the coast east of Nome as he waited to leave White Mountain, but the weather was not expected to be anything near as severe as the storm that rocked the race in 1991. That was the year the legendary Rick Swenson from Two Rivers cheated death in a life-threatening storm to come from behind out of White Mountain and steal a victory from arch-rival Susan Butcher, the late great from Manley.

READ MORE: Would fifth victory rank Jeff King as greatest Iditarod musher ever?