It's a Heat Wave

---

It's warming up here. No minus something temperatures in the morning. We start out at about 5 above zero and warm up to 28. Awesomeness!

Sad news from the Iditarod trail. A dog has died. I don't have details but I'll fill you in when I know. BTW - I am sworn to confidentiality in my role as a volunteer. I don't put anything on this blog that is not already news on TV and newspapers. The things I take from the website are there for everyone to see.

Today was a slow day at Anchorage Network Center. Many of the mushers are taking their 8 hour or 24 hour mandatory layovers. Once they start moving again the positions will start to change.

I heard they were flying 80 dropped dogs back to Anchorage so I hung around to see them. They didn't show up by 7 p.m. so I went back home.

More musher profiles:

Linwood's team came into Galena without him. Apparently he fell asleep and fell off his sled. He walked into Galena an hour later! These mushers get very little sleep on the trail so falling asleep on the sled is common.

Linwood Fiedler

Bib Number: 6
Hometown: Willow, Alaska
Website: http://None

View full career in the archives

Biography

Linwood Fiedler, 62, was born in Vermont. He received his BSW at Carroll College and his MSW at University of Montana. He began dog mushing in 1977 and lived in Montana before moving to Alaska in 1990, after finishing eighth in his second Iditarod. He says he moved to Alaska “race Iditarod and raise my family.” For the last 16 summers, he has operated a glacier tour business in the Juneau area. Linwood says, “Mushing is what surrounds our life at the Fiedler home. I’ve been fortunate to have a wife and family that support me. After many runs to Nome and the hardships and victories it has brought me, my sled dog focus has been the joy of training and running my dogs to Nome. In each race, I try to do the best I can while caring for my dogs first.” Linwood and his wife, Kathleen, are the parents of Justin and Dalton. He says his hobby is flying super cubs.

Here's a Norwegian guy.

Joar Leifseth Ulsom

Bib Number: 38
Hometown: Mo i Rana, NORWAY
Website: http://www.RacingBeringia.com

View full career in the archives

Biography

Joar Leifseth Ulsom (29) holds the record as the fastest rookie to have ever run the Iditarod, and is one of only two mushers to place top-7 four times in just four Iditarod starts.

The 2013 Iditarod Rookie of the Year is from Mo I Rana in Norway by the Arctic Circle. Joar traveled with his dogs from Norway to Alaska where they currently reside since fall of 2011. He works full-time with his small kennel of dogs and Russian team mates for the GoNorth! Adventure Learning non-profit as part of Team Racing Beringia.

Racing Beringia is an online education program for students in K-12 classrooms around the world to explore the region of Beringia spanning from the Yukon in Canada, across Alaska to Chukotka, Russia (RacingBeringia.com).

Joar and his team have raced throughout Beringia starting with the Yukon Quest in 2012. Setting a new time record for the Nadezhda Hope race in Chukotka (Russia), Joar became the first non-native winner of the “toughest race in Eurasia” in 20 years. He is now a 2-time Nadezhda Hope champion, with a second victory in 2014. Joar and his team also placed 1st in 2012 Chukotka Sprint Championship.

Back in Norway Joar started out as a kid by borrowing his neighbors two house dogs to pull him around on skis. Watching Iditarod movies is what fueled his dreams growing up. In 2007 Joar started mushing and building up his own team. He received a degree from an agricultural college in Norway and worked as a cowboy while he ran the great races of Scandinavia before coming to Alaska. With this fifth Iditarod, the run for Racing Beringia continues in 2017.

Joar is a member of Rana Trekk-og Brukshundklubb and Go North! Adventure Learning. He enjoys hunting, fishing, camping and “the North.”

---

Photos

002
Working for the Iditarod race with the GPS tracker on the computer screen.