Winter Weather Advisory - Joar Heads Into the Storm!

Joar Leifseth Ulsom is the rabbit of the race!  He bolted out of Ophir and camped a ways outside of the checkpoint.....then resumed his march towards the checkpoint of Iditarod...the halfway point!  Right now he is about 20 miles from the halfway prize, and according to the weather is bucking a bit of a winter storm!  Yes, they area is getting winds up to 40 mph, and its suppose to snow another 2 to 4"!  But he is moving along somewhat slowly.....averaging around 6 mph.  If this works, and the chase pack also has to break trail and fight the storm, this bold move of Joars may prove to be a pivotal moment in this race!  And he is doing it with 16 dogs....we shall soon see how his Team looks coming into Iditarod (if the Iditarod crew made it there for a photo op). Joar will be able to leave Iditaorod at 12:30 am (EST) Friday. 

Mitch is seeing his 24 hours over in Takotna, about 100 miles behind where Ulsom is resting in Iditarod.  Its been storming, and Mitch is about to head straight into it with a rested Team.  Unlike past years, the trail is reportedly soft and slow, enough to make Mitch abandon his tactic of carrying dogs in his specially made sled.  The trail is just too soft for the dogs to pull that extra weight, so he has resorted to Mushing with all of his dogs on the gang line....hmmm, what a concept!  The problem is his specially made sled is heavier than a conventional sled, so not only do all his dogs have to be on the line, but they have to haul a heavier sled.  Sometimes Mushers have lighter sleds stashed at the checkpoints in case the Alaska Range busted a sled up....at this point its unclear if Mitch has such a sled to switch into.  No doubt he has a sled on the coast where he intended to finally run all his dogs at once....but here in Takotna he may be SOL unless he has one specially flown in....which might be impossible with the weather that has set in.  Mitch could rest a total of 7 hours and still be able to leave the Iditarod checkpoint about an hour before Joar can...but that is a big IF....if the trail is bad, then he would have to cut rest...and if he cuts rest his speed will diminish....its all such a delicate balance.  

Nic Petit is back in McGrath a mere 18 miles behind where Mitch is...and I suspect he will be on fire when he comes off his 24.  He may even get to Takotna just when Mitch is released from his 24 hour rest (plus start differential).  He will either run through Takotna and Ophir, and rest on his way to Iditarod, like Ulsom did, OR he could stay in Ophir for a rest and make one big push (80 miles) to Iditarod....thus seeing Ulsom before he finishes his 24 hour rest.....the wild card is the weather.    

Now that's just the top 3 teams...there are plenty of other Teams hawking over these 3 front runners, and if breaking trail is hard, they will gladly stay behind them.  If the trail is soft and punchy it will be interesting to see if its better to be in front breaking trail, or behind on a punched up trail?  My guess is there is a sweet spot somewhere in the middle....it will be interesting to watch what happens next!