2026 Knik 200 postponed due to trail conditions

It's deja vu for the South Central Alaska mushing community. There's very little snow in the MatSu Valley to start the race season. While the snow came on time this past October, November saw nothing but rain and ice. December temps dropped to well below the average for this time of year, and with those temps came hurricane force winds. Each weekend another windstorm blowing what little snow Knik and Wasilla still had completely away.

Teams once again have to travel away from their home trails in search of snow. Most are finding trails in and around Denali and Fairbanks, but with their feet of snow has also come extreme cold temperatures (that even prompted the Alaska State Troopers to warn residents to stay indoors until things warm up - mushers didn't listen). 

The Knik 100 was canceled due to weather as well as just not having any trails. Mushers were understanding and even thankful the race didn't try to make it work, but worry soon grew that the Knik 200 would soon suffer the same fate. There were rumors that the race would move to where there was snow for trails, but the board announced that they would decide and let mushers know on December 29.

So Alaska waited and hoped the wind would blow in some snow clouds. It didn't.

Well, there was that one day that had snow for about two hours, but it all blew away as fast as it fell.

And now, the Knik 200 board has announced that the race is not canceled, but postponed to the end of January. "We know that not all of you will be able to join that date," the board wrote in a simple facebook post Monday, "but hope that some of you still can!" With the new dates of January 24-25, the race will run at the same time of the very popular Kuskokwim 300 in Bethel. Several teams are signed up for both races, and it will be interesting to see what race they stay entered in. 

Many things will come into play as the deciding factor of where teams end up - mainly training hours. If South Central does not see snow soon mushers will be forced to spend a lot of time and money on the road traveling to trails that are runnable. That could force some to back out of the Kusko and stick with the Knik. Teams have until January 17 to drop out of the Knik 200 to receive their full refund.

John Beargrease 40th run canceled due to lack of snow

As the Midwest continues to experience a historically whacky winter of no snow nor freezing temperatures, the mushing community has anxiously watched their season disappear. Most teams were still training teams with ATVs instead of the traditional sleds over the Christmas holiday. Races preparing for late January and Early February starts made statements warning that decisions would be announced after the new year.

Gunflint was first to announce a postponement of their race. With a race date of January 6, they had to announce a change of date as soon as possible. December 23 they announced that they would postpone the race until February 10, saying they took into account dates of other races so as not to take from anyone. Race officials say they need at least two feet of snow and frozen lakes to be able to pull off a race and will be watching weather reports obsessively.

Then today, January 2, the news broke with the release of the statement by the John Beargrease board that there would be no Beargrease in 2024. They could not find a future date that would not interfere with other races and so they've chosen to postpone the 40th running for a year citing the new date as January 26, 2025.

"For Immediate Press Release:

RE: John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon 2024 Race

January 2, 2024

After months of waiting for the weather to cooperate, the Board of Directors for the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon has made the decision to postpone the 40th running to January 26, 2025. This was not an easy decision. But, with concerns over the weather, safety of the dogs, mushers and volunteers it was the only decision that we felt comfortable with.

There have been many discussions about postponing to a later date this winter but the weather is unpredictable. Likewise, in the effort to find a postponement date and in the spirit of sportsmanship, there was not another date that didn’t impede on another established race.

The Beargrease will continue to have several fundraising events so stay tuned to our socials and website for how you can continue to support this amazing race that we all love so much."

Mushers in the region had already made alternate plans seeing the writing on the wall that their winter season was in jeopardy. Ryan Redington and Wade Marrs posted over the weekend that they were on the road with a full dog truck headed for Knik Alaska to run the Knik 200. Redington also announced he was on the roster for the Kusko 300 - replacing Brent Sass who has chosen to focus on training for bigger races this season. Any team from the Midwest facing no snow for the season who plan to run the Iditarod will no doubt have to make similar decisions to head north earlier than originally planned - with no Beargrease to run in January those moves could happen at any time.

With no winter weather in the forecast for the foreseeable future, races are now asking everyone to "think snow!"

Alaska's winter weather causing problems farther North

The "other thousand mile sled dog race" known as The Yukon Quest issued a press release today giving a trail update and possible alternate route for part of the race next month. With three weeks until the start, Quest trail officials have reported that the river is unfrozen near Whitehorse.

This winter has seen unseasonably warm temperatures in most of Alaska - causing problems for many of the sport's big races. The Tustumena 200 has postponed their race to Feb 21 in hopes that the Kenai Peninsula would see freezing temps and snow. So far all the Kenai's seen in a dusting of snow and lots of freezing rain. Trails are non existent at this point with many Peninsula mushers heading north for training when not running along the beaches with their four wheelers as a sled.

The Copper Basin 300 ran without a hitch, and no big changes to the route were reportedly made. The Kusko 300 ran mainly on river ice and asked spectators not to park on the river as they'd done in years past. Again, no problems were had by the teams, and Pete Kaiser brought the win back home to Bethel. The Northern Lights 300 is planning to kick off this weekend - with reports of overflow and open water.

With three weeks till show time the Quest is not making any plans to change course at this time. Stating in their press release: "There are still three weeks until the start of the race, and a lot can change. Trail crews are out on both sides of the border and we will have a more comprehensive trail report available next week." Crews are working on alternate routes should conditions worsen.

There are 26 teams ready and waiting for the race, four of which are champions.



And while I'm on the subject of sled dog races and the Northern Lights 300 - GOOD LUCK JODI BAILEY and Dew Claw Kennel! She's an amazing musher and person. I just love her!

Jodi Bailey at the finish of the 2012 Tustumena 200.

Will Iditarod happen this year?

Dallas Seavey's sled dogs steer the team
around a corner of the Ceremonial Start.
Anchorage, Alaska // March 2, 2013

That's the question on a lot of people's minds these days. I'm getting asked almost daily on social media and here on the blog. Truth is - I don't know. I'm not an Iditarod Insider (I mean, I do have a subscription, but that's a different type of insider). Like most everyone, I'm at the mercy of media reports as well as tidbits from trail groomers on social media.

So - where does that leave us as far as knowing if the race will take place? In the 43 years that the Iditarod has been held, they've never had to cancel - and officials aren't looking to change that any time soon.

In interviews with the media last week Race Marshal Mark Nordeman said they were monitoring the trails, and were discussing a Plan B. They had to use trails out of Fairbanks in 2003, and his hope is that IF they can't run from Willow they can follow 2003's route.

Quite simply, no, the Iditarod at this time will not be cancelled. There are options.

Still, it's fun to speculate what those options are. Reports surfaced on facebook in the last couple of days - showing the Yentna River with massive overflow and open water - but with ice bridges that were at least 18 inches thick. Safe enough for teams to cross. As long as weather conditions don't worsen (aka get warmer, and rain) the area is passable.

Less sure are parts of the Yukon River as well as parts on the Bering Sea Coastline. My guess is the Norton Sound will NOT be used to cross from Shaktoolik to Koyuk. River reports around Koyuk haven't been great, and I'm not even sure the sound froze over this winter. The Sound is always dangerous (sea ice can be tricky even in the best winters!) and I can't see them chancing it unless the ice is thick and well set.

The trail looks pretty snowless in photos in the burn area - but reports from the burn and the gorge both say the trail looks better than it did last year. But, this is January. We have a month and a half before it's the same time period as when the mushers saw it last year.

We're just going to have to wait and see... and pray for snow.

A Snowless New Year for Alaska

Well, I've been pretty whiny the first couple of days of the New Year - I know, so what else is new, right? - mainly due to our lack of winter weather. This has been the most dismal winter I can remember - and last year was pretty pathetic! I am concerned for many reasons, but basically I'm just tired of the dead brown look outside my window. This is not the Alaska I know and love. I want my snow.

I went out this evening hoping for a beautiful sunset, and didn't get much color in the sky. But I had fun with the beach waves anyway. All photos were taken in Kenai on the same beach where I shot photos of the Funny River Forest Fire last summer. You can find these photos as well as other landscape photos of Alaska in my gallery here, you can purchase them should you so desire.

Hoping to get more photos in the coming days, as well as blog more. But mostly, I hope Alaska gets some snow. (And by Alaska I mean South Central Alaska)