In frigid temperatures, Bethel musher Pete Kaiser and his team of 13 sled dogs pulled into Cripple on Thursday, March 12. The interior checkpoint is a little over 100 miles up the race trail from McGrath and marks the halfway point of the almost 1,000-mile race.
After almost five hours of rest, Kaiser struck back out on the trail. From Cripple, the race runs north toward the Yukon River before bending westward along the Seward Peninsula coast towards Nome.
After dropping three veteran dogs in the first days of the race and another dog at the Cripple checkpoint, Kaiser embarked on the second half of the race with 12 dogs on the line.
It’s the 2019 champ’s 15th run of the race. It’s also Kaiser’s return to the trail after not competing in 2025. The decision to compete is one Kaiser said that he makes as the race season and life around it shake out, registering just three weeks before the Iditarod’s start this year.
Kaiser told KYUK that his team is a blend of veteran Iditarod racers and younger dogs, novices to the length of the race, but dogs that Kaiser described as adaptable and able to learn.
It’s been a cold race trail through Alaska’s interior, with temperatures close to 60 degrees below zero at night. Though warmer temperatures are forecasted for the second part of the race, so are ground blizzard conditions and strong winds which could pose challenges along the Seward Peninsula trail.
In addition to chilly temperatures, for some, the first section of the race has included other obstacles. Iditarod Insider reported that Fairbanks musher Jody Potts-Joseph encountered a bison along the route, though she was able to pass by safely after moving her team off the trail and yelling out to the animal.
Defending champion Jessie Holmes has been in the lead for much of the first 500 miles, with Kaiser playing leapfrog among the top 15 racers.
Kaiser took his mandatory 24 hours of rest at the Takotna checkpoint on March 11. As of Friday afternoon (March 13), it appeared Kaiser began his eight-hour mandatory rest in Ruby. That's in addition to another eight hours of rest all mushers will take at the White Mountain checkpoint, about 80 miles before the finish line.
