Aliy took several short videos during her nine days on the Iditarod trail. This is the second to last video in the series. We hope you have been enjoying them over the last few weeks.
In this video the team travels in the infamous “Blowhole” near Safety about 35 miles from the finish line. For Aliy, every year since 2001, she and her dog team have endured moderate wind to ridiculous hurricane force gusts while traveling this section of trail.
During this year (2018), there was no wind. Zero. This was an entirely new experience.
The “Blowhole” near Safety is created because there are uniquely shaped mountains just to the north of the trail. When wind blows down through these mountains it is forced through natural wind tunnels. This tunneling increases the wind strength tremendously. When there is significant wind blowing south, the wind that channels out of the mountains and into the “Blowhole” can be Hurricane Force (over 72 mph). Even when there is only a little wind blowing from the north, the layout of the land usually keeps the “Blowhole” breezy.
The extreme wind danger in this area is almost unbelievable. Aliy experienced it firsthand in 2014 when she and her team endured the wind’s unyielding fury. And this year was no exception for two mushers: Jim Lanier and Scott Jansen were rescued by helicopter after they unsuccessfully struggled to guide their dog teams through the “Blowhole”.
In this video from 2011, the team travels the “Blowhole”. The wind gusts were over 40 mph.
Wow! The difference between your rides in 2018 vs 2011 and 2014 is unbelievable.
Quito might have been confused here. We’ve always gone Gee, what’s up?!
It’s so awesome to see you having a magical ride this year.
🙂
As many times as I’ve experienced and seen videos of Alaska’s landscapes the vastness never continues to amaze me! Thanks for sharing these incredible scenes. We love Alaska and will never tire of our visit to the 49th State.
Hey, you deserve a free ride at least ONCE!!!
Guess some of the youngsters on the team will be thinking “…so this is what they told us about? No prob!!!”
Thank you again for sharing these moments with all of us!!!
Thanks so much for sharing these fabulous videos! New leaders
and the pros were probably wondering where the winds were.
Every year is different but Cheers to SPK for the info!
What an amazing contrast in the 2 videos….the infamous Blow Hole! You never know what it’s going to be like.
Wow! The difference of the winds in the two videos is amazing! One year has strong winds and one year has no wind! Thank you for sharing these amazing Iditarod videos! I been enjoying watching them!
Having lived along the California coastline, I have watched waves come crashing into California due to strong tropical storms in the Pacific. I have never experienced hurricane winds near the sea, though. I have experienced them in Colorado, many times along the front range, but those were prolonged gusts intermittent with brief lulls .. and not accompanied by drifts of snow. Seeing this video again and thinking about 2014, all praise to Quito for getting you through it.