WILLOW, Alaska — Matthew Failor isn’t convinced the Iditarod needed to change its path across Alaska this year.
The Iditarod Trail Committee announced Monday it had made the “difficult but necessary” decision to move the official restart of the 2025 race to Fairbanks, about 290 miles north of the normal restart in Willow, due to a lack of snow in some areas.
Failor, who will begin his 14th Iditarod run on March 1 during the ceremonial start in downtown Anchorage, said he respects the decision. But his own experience on the trail across the state tells him the traditional and planned southern route would have worked.
“It’s hard for me to know because I wasn’t on the trail. The trail breakers the Iditarod sends out have a lot of experience and they’ve done it before,” the Mansfield native and veteran sled dog musher said Tuesday.
“Obviously, I trust their judgement. (But) I know from my experience as a 13-time Iditarod musher, we have gone over many (non-snow covered) sections of trail.
“In my opinion, I was ready … my dogs were ready,” the St. Peter’s High School graduate said on a bonus edition of the News Man Weekly Podcast that drops on Friday.
Since its inception in 1973, low snow conditions have prompted organizers to switch the start to Fairbanks on three other occasions, most recently in 2017.
Race Marshal Warren Palfrey said the event’s trail breaker crew spent a week prepping the trail from Skwenta through to Rohn, which he said was historically the most challenging terrain of what’s been dubbed The Last Great Race.
“After a heavy discussion with our lead Trail Breaker and other friends of the race, including local knowledge, and with no new snow on the horizon, there is simply no way we can allow the teams to progress through that 20-mile stretch just before the Salmon River, 20 miles from Nikolai,” Palfrey said.
“It’s a shame because the remainder of the trail is in great shape, all the way to Nome,” he said.
The portion of trail race officials deemed impassable is in the so-called Farewell Burn area, outside of the checkpoint in Nikolai, about a quarter of the way into the thousand-mile race.
The area was the site of Alaska’s largest forest fire, which consumed a million and a half acres in the summer of 1978.
Failor said mushers used that route in 2014 when there was little or no snow cover in areas.
“Everybody survived. There were some broken sleds and some mushers broke some ankles and ribs and stuff. But none of the dogs got hurt in those sections.
“I think people, we humanize (the dogs) and (people) see one photo and they fear the worst. When you have no snow, the dogs have great footing. They can easily move over grass and dirt. The sled doesn’t glide, so the sled takes a beating and the musher’s ankles and feet take a beating, too,” he said.
“I think a lot of mushers got scared because they feared the worst. They would rather run on all snow. But we signed up for the Iditarod because we want to run the Iditarod trail,” Failor said.
Despite the lack of traditional winter snowfall, race officials said at the end of January they were hoping to still use the traditional southern route followed in odd-numbered years.
But a continued lack of snow during February has made that impossible, officials said Monday.
The ceremonial start in downtown Anchorage will still be March 1 at 10 a.m. (AKST). The mushers and teams will then be transported to Fairbanks for the official re-start on March 3 at 11 a.m. (AKST).
Shannon Noonan, director of marketing and communications for the race, admitted moving 33 mushers and sled dog teams to Fairbanks poses a logistical challenge.
“It is a necessary adjustment to ensure that the race can proceed safely and fairly,” Noonan said Monday.
“The Iditarod remains committed to upholding its legacy as the most challenging and exciting sled dog race in the world. We appreciate the understanding and support of the community, mushers and fans,” Noonan said.
The revised route will go from Fairbanks to Nenana and then on to Tanana. From there, mushers and their dogs will have checkpoints in Ruby, Galena and Nulato before traveling to Kaltag, Eagle Island, Grayling, Anvik and Shageluk.
Teams will then loop back through Grayling, Eagle Island and Kaltag before heading to Unalakleet and continuing to Nome using traditional race checkpoints.
Failor said the revised route will include hundreds of miles on the frozen Yukon River, which he said is a mile wide in places.
“(That) can be very challenging. In the wind, there is no place to hide. Some of those people hoping for a Fairbanks start might be eating crow. They might be regretting it.
“I would rather run 50 miles on dirt than 600 miles on the Yukon River. So we will see what happens.
“Be careful what you wish for.”
