Wild and Free

Legend has it that Hobo Jim's song "Wild and Free" inspired a young man named Brent Sass to build a sled dog kennel and win the Yukon Quest. The kennel was going to be named after the song by Alaska's Balladeer.

That young man did build his kennel, and did win the Quest (several). But he didn't stop there. Soon after setting his sights on the Quest, he turned his attention to the "more Hollywood" race of Iditarod. His rookie year he was 13th.

Sass would have a somewhat infamous Iditarod career soon after. In 2015 he was disqualified for having a two-way communication device, which at the time was against the rules. It was a wifi capable ipod and fans and other mushers alike disagreed with the ruling but the musher graciously accepted the decision and vowed to come back strong the next year.

In 2016 Sass was poised to take a top placement when in White Mountain his team stopped on him. He had pushed them too far and even after 8 hours of rest they didnt budge. He finally coaxed them to Nome, winding up 20th, but he was met with harsh criticism for how his race ended.

Faced with the humiliation of having done what no musher worth their salt ever wants to do, Brent vowed to do better. The musher from Eureka, Alaska stopped racing. He took the time off to rebuild his kennel and mindset. He got back to just mushing for the fun of it while developing a healthier training program.

He returned to racing three years later running the Quest and winning in 2019. He returned the following year to the Iditarod where he finished 4th after winning the Quest the month prior. In 2021 he came in 3rd for the Iditarod. It seemed the wake up call of 2016 worked.

And worked it has. Brent has completed what many call a magic run. Early in the race he told Insider that his team was scary fast. Faster than he had planned to go, but they were staying on their schedule. When pressed about the competition of faster teams behind him he pointed to his arm where the words "run your own race" are tattooed.

Brent's magic run was still hard fought, though. The 50th Iditarod was going to make him earn it. In his run from White Mountain the 20mph winds from the North turned into 40-60mph gusts as he came out of the hills and into the infamous "Blowhole". He stalled for at least 40 minutes just shy of a known shelter cabin as fans watched anxiously.

As Brent and team hunkered down, Dallas Seavey and his merry band of 8 still charged through the wind. They took a 22 mile gap down to 10 miles. Brent was again on the move but stopped again as wind raged around him. Race fans knew they had seen this before. The same section of trail blew Jeff King so off course he had to scratch just miles from his 5th Iditarod win in 2014. Dallas Seavey won that year. Was history repeating itself?

 Either the winds died down, or Brent's team proved to him they could do it because they started up and took off for the final checkpoint of Safety. From there the continued up over the final mountain, across the beach and up onto Front Street.

Brent's redemption story is complete. Sass now joins a very elite club of champions of both the Quest and Iditarod. As if winning one wasn't hard enough, it is very rare for a Quest champion to win the Iditarod. Brent is the latest champion to accomplish that feat and he did it with style and grit.

This team has truly been Wild and Free.

Hobo Jim's wife shares final message from singer

As most have heard, Alaska's Balladeer Hobo Jim (James Varsos) passed away at home on Tuesday, October 5 with his wife Cyndi at his side. The singer-song writer was diagnosed with end stage, stage four pancreatic cancer a mere 17 days before his passing - a shock to all who knew him. While never one to spend a significant amount of time on social media, Hobo would post wonderful stories and throwbacks for friends and family to enjoy. During the height of the pandemic in 2020, Varsos would often put up a live feed and do free concerts for viewers playing requests and his all-time favorites (he even did one specific for children and made Alaskan millennials happy by playing his songs from the books Thunderfeet and Danger the Dog Yard Cat). 

Sunday, Hobo Jim's widow went onto his page to post Hobo Jim's final work he had saved to his phone. "Upon going through Jim's phone," she writes, "I came across this final message Jim wrote to all of you in his own beautiful words. "Thank you for loving him and embracing his music and love of Alaska. There is no one like a Hobo Jim fan. Here is to all of you. May God Bless you all, Cyndi."

Not surprisingly, Hobo Jim's mind was tuned to Alaska and her spirit that constantly called to his. Varsos spent 49 years of his life in the 49th state, most of those literally singing her praises. His songs spoke to many Alaskans on their lifestyle and why they loved their homeland. His memory will live on through the ballads, polkas, and folk music dedicated to his adopted state. 

The GoFundMe account is still active to help support Jim's wife Cyndi through this time. Hobo Jim's facebook page (and fan group page) is still up and fan tributes continue to pour in. 

Mushing community mourns the loss of Alaskan Balladier

Photo courtesy of "Alaska Bob" Parsons.

James Varsos, better known as Hobo Jim, passed away after a short battle with pancreatic cancer on the morning of October 5. His wife of 42 years was by his side and confirmed the singer's passing in a statement to Alaskan media on Wednesday. Hobo Jim was 68 when he died.

Hobo - as he's lovingly called by friends and fans alike - moved to Alaska in 1972 and immediately fell in love. The singer-songwriter wrote songs of the Alaskan way of life from commercial fishing, to mushing, and off grid life. His songs endeared him to Alaskans and in the early 80s he was given the official title of Alaska's Balladier. 

Varsos and his wife Cyndi settled and raised their family near Soldotna, Alaska (a town on the Kenai Peninsula). His homesteading life inspired many Hobo Jim classics, and many were inspired by his love for his devoted partner. He didn't just write for himself, several well known singers throughout the decades recorded songs he wrote (including Country Legend George Jones). 

The song that solidified Hobo Jim's legendary status came in 1982 when he released the famed Iditarod Trail song which quickly became the official song of the Last Great Race. What was once a "bar song" is now sung in classrooms around the country (if not the world). The catchy polka inspired hit both inspires and haunts those that hear it (mainly because it's an earworm rivaled only by Disneyland's It's a Small World"). 

Hobo Jim would write other memorable mushing songs including Redington's Run which he wrote in tribute to his friend and Iditarod founder Joe Redington Sr. after the musher passed in 2002. Hobo's classic "Wild and Free" was the inspiration for Yukon Quest Champion Brent Sass's kennel (known as, what else, the Wilde and Free Mushing). Hobo Jim was often seen playing concerts benefiting the different races and kennels. 

Varsos announced September 18 that he was diagnosed with end-stage cancer and doctors had given him 3-6 months to live. The singer would pass just 17 days later, a shock to most every one. Family, friends, and fans all took to social media in the days leading up to his passing sharing favorite memories and songs along with encouragement and love. Following the news of his death, the tributes continued. The mushing community was no exception as the emotions and tributes poured out from kennels all over Alaska. 

Hobo Jim left one final message on his facebook at the end of September. 

When Varsos announced his cancer diagnosis friends rallied and started a GoFundMe to support the singer and his wife. Their goal was $75,000 and they had just over $51,000 raised at the time of the singer's passing. They've chosen to continue to raise funds to help Cyndi Varsos, if you would like to contribute you can find the GoFundMe link here.

Do you have any fond memories of Hobo Jim? Favorite song? Share below.

This is the country where legends are born.

Dallas Seavey was not supposed to have ANY chance of winning. He'd waited "too long" to try and overtake the leader. Jeff King had a consistent lead over Aliy Zirkle, who had a consistent lead over  Dallas Seavey, who had a consistent lead over Mitch Seavey. When the runs began out of White Mountain I was still hopeful that Dallas could run down Aliy and come in second, but there was "no way" that he had enough mileage between White Mountain and Nome to run down Jeff.

It literally took an "act of God" to make it possible. Jeff's team was blown - literally - off course three miles from the checkpoint of Safety. He was 25 miles from the finish and the dogs basically told him to take a flying leap, they weren't going anywhere. But with the winds and cold it was unsafe for him and the team to stay out in it all curled up, so he went and got help. His race ended 25 miles from the finish (after travelling nearly 1,000).

Aliy kept a nice cushion between herself and Dallas. He made up *maybe* 10 minutes on her over two days. He was racing to keep third place and maybe get close enough to make a move on second. Aliy made it to the final checkpoint, with 65-75mph windgusts going on outside, she talked to some snowmachiners who told her not to go back out. It was going to get worse. Aliy stayed for 2.5 hours. She gave up her entire cushion. There was no power in Safety, there was no way to know where Dallas was or when he would be coming into the checkpoint.

Dallas showed right on time. He’d battled the winds too, but his dogs kept going. They were trained for adverse conditions. They believed in their musher and trusted him. He signed in and out of the checkpoint in three minutes. He saw Aliy’s name, but in his hazy state he thought she was gone. He didn’t see Jeff King’s name and figured his name was on a different piece of paper. He was running for third. He told his team of seven to hike up and out into the winds they went. Joe Runyan had blogged just a few minutes before that any musher who dared to venture out from Safety that night was “foolhardy”. They could get injured, they could get frostbite, they wouldn’t make the 22 miles to Nome.

Fifteen minutes of going back and forth deciding what to do, Aliy Zirkle gave chase. Her indecisiveness meant she would be the 2^nd place finisher for a third straight year. Aliy had the faster run time from Safety to Nome. She ran it fifteen minutes faster than Dallas. If she’d left just after he did instead of sitting there weighing the options, she’d be champion.

When Dallas came across the finish line with 6 dogs on the line and one in the sled – he was completely confused with the crowd and fuss. He came in third, why all the pomp and circumstance?! It took him a good minute or two for it to sink in. The whole time he ran with a light following him to Nome he believed his Dad had caught up and was running him down. He truly believed he was outrunning Mitch Seavey. Dallas dazed and confused asked Race Marshall Mark Nordman, “Where’s Jeff?! Where’s Aliy?!” Two minutes after Dallas came under the Burled Arch, Aliy Zirkle finished her race.

The last time the winner was decided on the race from White Mountain to Nome was in 1991. Rick Swenson passed Susan Butcher and the other frontrunners to come in first during one of the worst snowstorms in race history. Dallas had just turned four years old around the time of the race start.

This is the second closest race finish in the history of the sport (the fastest less than a minute separated 1^st and 2^nd place and was decided by the nose of the first dog. Dick Mackey beat Rick Swenson in 1978 for that one). It SMASHED the previous fastest time finish so much so that the next 3 teams also finished faster than the previous record.

Dallas came into Nome in 8 days, 13 hours, 4 minutes, and 19 seconds. Over five hours faster than John Baker’s record setting pace in 2011. It was 3 hours slower, though, than what had been predicted for Jeff King.

This race will be one for the history books. Little to no snow on much of the trail, the farewell burn that destroyed sleds and mushers alike. Monster run times. Happy healthy dogs in what appears to be record  number. And in the final leg of the race, when it should’ve been smooth sailing, hurricane force windstorms blow the leaders away.

In the words of Hobo Jim: “This is the country where legends are born.”

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