FAIRBANKS — Plan B is getting a plan B.
Recent warm weather in Fairbanks has forced Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race organizers to begin seriously considering a backup plan for the race's restart location, which was itself a backup plan.
Fairbanks won't lose the restart, but if the warm weather becomes enough of a problem, organizers may relocate the starting line from its planned location on the Chena River to a trail on land.
Since the Iditarod Trail Committee elected to move the restart from Willow to Fairbanks on Feb. 11, the plan has tentatively been to place the starting line on the Chena River at Pike's Landing restaurant and hotel — where it was placed in 2003, when the race previously moved the start to Fairbanks.
Plan A for the start is to have mushers take off from outside Pike's Landing and travel several miles down the Chena to connect with the Tanana River, on which they'll travel for the next several hundred miles.
Overland trails instead
If the ice on the Chena is too thin, however, race planners will have to reroute the first few miles of the race using overland trails to connect with the Tanana.
Earlier this month, Iditarod staff and Fairbanks organizer Howie Thies deemed the Chena ice thick enough to hold the necessary volunteers, dog teams and equipment. But now that temperatures in Fairbanks have spent the last several days flirting with the freezing point, Iditarod and Fairbanks North Star Borough leaders have elected to begin seriously pursing a plan B.
"That small letter b may be becoming a capital B," Fairbanks North Star Borough Mayor Luke Hopkins said at a joint meeting of Iditarod organizers in Fairbanks on Monday.
Iditarod CEO Stan Hooley, who attended the meeting telephonically, expressed the belief that whether or not the backup plan is needed in the end, the weather is forcing the decision to actively pursue creating a solid plan B.
"We're not hearing good things about what the river looks like today," Hooley said. "I don't want to divert too much attention from plan A here, but I also don't want us to be naive about what's happening out there."
Despite the new urgency of creating a new plan, race organizers remained outwardly optimistic it won't be needed.
Thies showed no concern for the river ice. During a joint meeting of organizations working on the Fairbanks start, Thies — who attended by phone — said the river ice would definitely be ready to go on March 9.
"You never can tell what's going to happen in Fairbanks ... but I think we're fine," Thies said.
Flooding the ice
To improve some of the problem sections, organizers spent the last week flooding water on top of the existing ice and letting it freeze to increase the thickness.
That flooding had to be paused as temperatures lingered around freezing. To effectively use the flooding technique, temperatures should be in the zero- to 10-degree range, according to Thies.
Despite the temporary hold on flooding the start location, Thies said he had heard good things about how the ice was holding up in the area. Hooley at least seemed somewhat appeased by Thies's confidence.
"I'm glad to hear Howie is a man of faith," he said. "We certainly hope winter weather returns to Fairbanks."