The Last Great Race on Earth!

(Capt. Weyermann wrapping up the support flights stage 1 with a cargo from Nulato to Nome)

...that's how the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race is know around the four corners of the world. And from about those same places, every year, a great number of veteran and rookie mushers sign up for the "one thousand fourty nine" - as the song goes! - miles from Anchorage into Nome.


(Capt. Weyermann arriving to Willow for the Race start)

And for the 7th year since 2001 Alaskan Winds is doing its Virtual Iditarod, one of the greatest times of the year for our pilots, when everyone leaves everything behind and it is just about flying! For some 10 days or more, Alaskan Winds Pilots root for their favorite mushers and follow them as close as possible, in the stunning Alaskan skies and through its majestic mountain ranges, flats, river beds, and into the great open spaces of the Norton Sound, where the Bering Sea winds blow fiercely, even when there's only clear blue skies above.


(Capt. Paz flying over the Skwentna checkpoint into PASW)

The race is on and, at the time of this writing, Team Norway's Kjetil Backen was the first Musher into Nikolai, at 10:39 Alaska Time.


(Capt. Fender enroute to Finger Lake)

Like if often happens, aircraft fall behind the mushers in the race - and I'm writing this note and not flying because, with the weather closing in as I was reaching AK6 Pass this evening, my plans to fly through Rainy Pass into Rohn had to be "revised"!


(Capt. Johnson also flying to Finger Lake)

So I leave you with some of the early images of the trail. They may not look much, but yes, that's the way it goes. You have to live it....


(Capt. Chambers parking at Winter Lake Lodge)