Teams leaving White Mountain Friday Morning

Sadie Lindquist at the Ceremonial Start of Iditarod 54.
March 7, 2026. Anchorage, Alaska.

After a very windy Thursday, the final nine teams who spent the day hunkered down in the checkpoint of White Mountain are readying their teams to leave the checkpoint and head down their final 77 miles of Iditarod 54.

The race was unofficially halted on Thursday as winds increased in the Topkok Hills and Blowhole (trail between White Mountain and the checkpoint of Safety). The section that is notorious for blowing teams off the trail and damaging sleds, hearts, and musher bodies was consideredly nearly impassable. The race gave the teams waiting to go the option to wait it out - but all teams still had the ability to leave if they felt they could handle it. The teams seemed to all have an unspoken pact that they'd leave together when the winds calmed. 

The White Mountain Nine prepared to leave as the sun was rising Friday morning, those watching on Iditarod Insider were witness to a waking dog yard of happy howls as the dogs realized that more adventure and trail awaited them and they were finally going to get going. Sadie Lindquist was first out of the checkpoint a little after nine and that energy brought about a hurry up from the rest of the mushers.

Because of their extended stay in White Mountain (of 24 or more hours) each team is allowed to leave whenever they want to. There's no stand in line and wait your turn from the order of how you got there - it's whoever is fastest to ready their team and leave they can. They can judge weather reports, talk to the veteran mushers turned volunteers in the checkpoint, etc to make the decision when to go. 

Sean Underwood of Iditarod Insider reported that the winds were dying down but still strong Friday morning, however reports had the winds being at their lowest strength come early afternoon - about when teams leaving now would be hitting the feared Blowhole. It's all strategic now on how to safely get to Nome. 

Teams have 77 miles from White Mountain to Nome. Winds can slow teams down significantly but these teams are now WELL rested, so it may not be quite the same marching speeds we watched some of the top 20 show. In nine or ten hours we should know who our red lantern is on way or the other. Nome is going to be busy tonight. Look for the first teams to come into the finish around 6pm AKDST Friday.

Adam Lindenmuth scratches from Iditarod 54

 

Adam Lindenmuth and team at the Ceremonial Start of Iditarod 54.
March 7, 2026. Anchorage, Alaska.

After doing their best to get to White Mountain for most of the day Thursday, Adam Lindenmuth tapped the SOS button Thursday afternoon asking for assistance into the checkpoint. Iditarod released an official statement on the musher's scratch after he and his team of twelve dogs were safely escorted to the White Mountain checkpointt where he was greeted by many volunteers as they helped to get him and his dogs rested. Both musher and dogs were reportedly in good health.

Lindenmuth was running a solid race and nearly 900 miles in the windstorm hit as he made his way to the former checkpoint of Golovin. The musher rested and then began their journey across Golovin Bay, all seemed to go well, but as winds apparently grew in intensity the GPS tracker showed the team having to stop many times on the sea ice and they crept along for much of the day.

"Rookie Iditarod musher Adam Lindenmuth (bib #2) of Willow, Alaska," the press release said, "scratched from Iditarod 54 today after activating his help button at 4:49 p.m., just miles outside of the White Mountain checkpoint. Race officials on snowmachine helped guide Lindenmuth and his team to the White Mountain checkpoint where he officially scratched at 6:50 p.m. today in the best interest of his team.  Lindenmuth had 12 in harness when he arrived at the checkpoint, all in good health.

The Iditarod Trail Committee recognizes Lindemuth’s remarkable resilience and grit, carrying him nearly 900 miles across the 975-mile trail. His unwavering commitment to putting his dog team first—even so close to the finish—embodies the true spirit of the Iditarod, and we look forward to welcoming him back to the trail in the future."

There has been no movement from White Mountain all day as the race has strongly suggested to the teams currently there to wait the storm out. While they haven't completely halted the race, the back of the pack have seemingly agreed to wait until Friday morning when reports indicate the winds will be back down to their normal strength and not the hulk like strength showcased Thursday.

There are currently nine teams still hoping to make it to Nome.

Iditarod champion should finish tonight

Jessie Holmes at the Ceremonial Start of Iditarod 54.
March 7, 2026. Anchorage, Alaska.

Jessie Holmes and his team of twelve dogs rolled into White Mountain at 3:10am AKDST Tuesday for their final 8 hour mandatory break. As stated in previous posts, Jessie Holmes and his team of dogs have dominated the race almost from the get go. The musher felt the pressure to defend his title and made that the only real goal for this season. Should he succeed, he will only be the third musher in race history to defend his title after winning his first one (other mushers have won more, but not consecutively after their first win). He will join his name with legends Susan Butcher and Lance Mackey if all things go according to plan today.

With Jessie coming in at 3:10am he will be able to leave as soon as 11:10am. The team has a four hour cushion (give or take a few minutes) on the next team (and currently only other team) in White Mountain. Travis Beals and his team of eleven came into White Mountain at 7:07am AKDST. The musher ran a solid race and managed his team well to have the ability to pick off quite a few teams that ran the race ahead of him. Beals mentioned to Insider that he felt that his team should be the champion team and that he was just running out of miles to catch Holmes. That seems to be the case with the nearly four hour lead Holmes has. Still, as we learned in 2014, solid leads mean nothing if Mother Nature wants to have her say. Beals will be able to leave White Mountain at 3:07pm AKDST.

The chase pack of positions third through fifth is where the real race is. Not knocking the top two, it's just that there is no clear cut winner for those placements between the trio of Jeff Deeter, Wade Marrs, and Paige Drobny. Drobny, of course, spent much of this race playing cat and mouse with Jessie Holmes sticking with him until the Kaltag Portage where Holmes managed to surge ahead from his already 1.5-2hour lead over the Squids. Marrs, much like Beals, sat back away from the leaders on his run to the coast choosing to bank rest so that his team would be ready to push on the coast. And, in somewhat of a surprise to fans Monday, Jeff Deeter made a huge move on the coast and finds himself in prime position to match or exceed his last finishing placement (4th in 2024 - Deeter did not finish in 2025.)

In a year where many fan favorite mushers spoke to Insider hinting that they were winding down their Iditarod racing careers (Michelle Phillips saying this is her last one as a musher but hopes to be a race judge in the future, Jessie Royer hinting she doesn't have many Iditarods left, and even Jason Mackey hedging on how long he'll keep running the race), the top five give hope that the next generation of Iditarod is in very capable hands. (Honestly, the current top 10 all should stick around a while. - excluding Phillips.)

The back of the pack saw a flip flop over night. When last we spoke Grayson Bruton was the race's red lantern winner, but how that is back to being Jody Potts-Joseph who has a worrisome long campout going on near Old Woman's(?) Cabin. With the champion finish closing in, the back of the pack may need to pick up their pace a smidge - though with Dan Carter being first time race marshall we have yet to know how he will handle that rule of being "non-competitive" at this point. Unalakleet is a major hub and an easy spot to move teams off the trail, so it's the "best bet" for where teams will be WD in this portion of the race. No guarantee that is what will happen here, however.

With Jessie Holmes being able to leave at 11:10am AKDST today, and a 70-77mile jaunt left for his team (mileage depends on who you talk to) there's still plenty of room for a race to go sideways. Most top teams make the run from White Mountain to Nome between ten and eleven hours so start looking for Holmes to finish between 9pm and 10pm AKDST Tuesday night (but watch those trackers sometimes team surprise us with a burst of speed and others surprise us by being blown off course - looking again at you, 2014!).

How do you think those last 70+ miles will shake out for the champ? What races within a race are you excited for? Comment with your thoughts below!