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Ben's
Iditarod Journal |
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3/9/2007 As most of you probably know Ben has scratched from the race in Nikolai
yesterday at 11:00a.m. because of a knee injury. We haven’t heard details of what happened but we will share
them when we do get them. Go to the
Musher’s Gallery for some new pictures that Grace brought back to us from
Alaska. 3/7/2007 I just talked to Alice and she says hello to everyone and thanks for
all the well wishes. Ben’s Iditarod
rider traveled to Finger Lake to see Ben.
She left a message for Alice that all is well with Ben and she was to
tell Alice he loves her (what a romantic guy). Ben spent his 24 hour layover in Ramey Pass. The reason was because of the storm that
came in and the race officials wouldn’t let the mushers leave for their own
safety. It was –38’ there with 80
mile an hour winds, and –100 wind chill factor. They weren’t allowed to leave until they were able to get the
trail signs back up. There have been
a lot of accidents for some of the mushers, broken sleds and such. Ben is in great shape and evidently taking
his time to make sure all 16 puppies get to see Nome. He is currently on his way to Rohn. Bryan is already into Rohn and has 15
dogs. As soon as I get pictures from
up there I will post them. Ben’s
family had a lot of delays in coming home on Monday, they didn’t actually get
to leave til Tuesday. Stay tuned for
more stories later. To both of you, Run Fast but Run Safe….all our love from Argyle. 3/5/2007 Just talked to Grace, evidently there was misinformation on both the
Cabelas & Iditarod sight today.
It appears to be straightened out now. Ben had a fast trip all the way to Finger Lake and got in ahead
of schedule. He is currently in 43rd
spot. And all the puppies are in good shape.
Great Job!!! Ben!!!!!!! Bryan is on his way to Skwentna and is in 49th spot. Grace reports that Todd & Dusty saw moose on their snowmobile
ride on Friday and she has seen 2 bald eagles…I guess the rest of the wild
life has just been the Stamm family…..The extended family is getting ready to
depart back to the lower 48 tonight, sounds like they have had a great
adventure again. I will share photos and stories as I get them. Alice, if you get a chance to see this web sight, everyone from home
says hello and go Ben, go!!!!! 3/5/2007 The latest news is that Ben is out of Yenta as of 6:00 last night and
on his way to Skwentna. All 16
puppies are going strong. Very cold
on the trail last night. The current weather is STRONG WIND THROUGH
MONDAY NIGHT WIND CHILL ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM MIDNIGHT TONIGHT TO 12 PM AST
TUESDAY NORTH OF TALKEETNA Tonight...Clear. Lows zero to 15 below.
North wind 20 to 35 mph with gusts to 45 mph. Wind chill readings 40 to 50
below zero after midnight north of talkeetna.. Ben is in 70th
place but still racing. Stay warm
Ben!!!!! Congratulations to Bryan Mills as of this morning he is in 23rd spot, out of Skwentna on his way to 3/3/2007 From Argyle,
WI to Just thought we give you a little update from up north…..Ben has
drawn bib #15 and is ready to get started. The puppies are eager to run and
so is Ben. The weather today in Sounds as if the stress of pre-race jitters is there but that just
means he is ready to get on the trail.
Ben has a lot of family and friends in The rest of us have Ben & I will try to put an update on as we hear news from everyone. Stay
tuned.. 2/27/2007 The trip back to Ben's "Iditarod 2004" Journal Musher's Journal Update 12/3/03 Fall
training was a tad bit slow due to the heat. Now that deer season is over in
the great With over 100 teams entered in the Iditarod " the last great race" -- last year our goals were to finish the race and take as many of our puppies as we could to Nome---- This year we will focus more on racing. If we can make it to Ruby with 12 healthy dogs, at that point we will decide to make it into a race. Mushers Journal Update 12/21/03 Seems like the days are going faster than last year. Dogs seem to know where they're going. Just came home from a 300 mile qualifying run in the U.P.-----started with 12 dogs, finished with 12 dogs----- that's a very good sign. We were lucky enough to meet Eric Morris who sells the great Red Paw dog food. Eric invited us to go train with him. He has hundreds of miles of trails near his kennel. This will be great for our dogs and also a great learning experience for me. Hope the Holidays bring you joy & lots of snow & cold weather for our dogs!!! Musher Journal Update Feb 4th Last fall
was total chaos with moving training camp to northern Much to our
surprise Bryan Mills, who lives in Marengo, WI., above his bar (the Northern
Spirits) called and said he needed a couple of months vacation and said he
would enjoy riding up with us. So we headed our truck north and
somewhere near We loaded
Bryan in a corner of the truck and headed north----some 20 hours later after
stopping for gas & stopping to water & feed the dogs, like a bear
coming out of hybernation, Bryan woke up and said "Boy is it
cold".Immediately we dug thru the truck and gave him some solid food. So
for the next 48 hours we drove staight thru to arrive at our cabin in a little
over 3 days. Bennie said the funniest thing Musher's
Journal Update Feb 10th As for training up here----- the snow is right at Musher's Journal Update Feb 18th When we go to town we take bets on who will see the first moose----- finally when we crossed the railroad tracks we went real slow and all looked to see the moose Bennie saw each time and sure enough we all saw that 10 ft. bush that Bennie counted as a moose!!!! Musher's Journal Update March 4th We got more snow and we're still training out of the cabin - we cut a new trail out of back side of our cabin thru the woods so we don't have to run on rocks. All our training is done on the trails. All the dogs are happy and healthy and we got a clean bill of health at the Vet check yesterday. We are making all kinds of new friends as we had several of the vet techs out to the cabin for Chef Mill's famous Kabobs, campfire, and sled dog rides. All the family is starting to gather up here for the start of the race. It is good to see everyone: brother Gary & wife Cathy, brother Greg & wife Ruth, sons Matt, Cody & Heather, nephew Shawn (his mother, Ben's sister Barb is arriving right before the banquet this afternoon), sister Grace & son Todd & family are arriving about the same time this afternoon, our son Scott is arriving March 9th in time to fly to Nome with Mom. Friends
Robbie & Sue Weber from The festivities start today - Bennie has his Musher's meeting today and the banquet is tonight. Will update again soon!!!
Musher's Journal update 3/28/04 We started
our journey home yesterday,as we are driving thru To all of you who have followed the race and helped support the race----" We say Thanks". Our race started great with over 20 of our family & friends to help us get to the starting line. The dogs improved greatly & performed like true veterans. Snow conditions were extremely deep with blowing snow & deep drifts thru the entire race. Our first major screw up came at Skwentna, the 2nd checkpoint------ some of my neighbors had flown out to see me on the trail, they brought food, water & hot apple pie----- this somehow consumed 3 hours of my racing schedule. For the next day and a half and some of the worst trail, I thought alot about the 3 hours I had wasted. As I pulled into Nikolai I realized I was still in good shape And my dogs felt good. All the mushers were sleeping in the school-house. While all the mushers slept on the gym floor on matts---- I found alittle utility room that was dark & warm--- curled up in a corner, used the mop for a pillow, scheduled 3 hour of sleep but, much to my surprise didn't wake up for 6 hours. As I jumped to my feet &ran to my sled to try to get some water & feed in my dogs, I realized I had now blown 6 hours of race time!!! As fast as me & my dogs could leave town, we were gone. It snowed alot & there was alot of wind. An hour & ahalf out of town I somehow got off the trail in a big swamp. Once again I lost over an hour of good race time. The dogs were doing good & I decided to stay on my first half of the race schedule til I got to Ruby, which I continued to do. In Ruby my race would start because the dogs knew the trail, so I cut the rest, never got any rest myself, just sat by the dogs & made sure they were content. Traveling down the Yukon I could tell my dogs weren't feeling good because I couldn't get the speed I should so I decided to take my mandatory 8 hours----at the end of my 8 hours I felt good as I had slept 8 hours in Galena---- when I booted my dogs I knew that over half of them were sick but, I decided to leave anyway, deciding if I went slow the dogs might get feeling better. After running a mile & ahalf, if I continued down the river I would probably loose 5 dogs because of the virus, so we shut her down. At that point I knew I was 2 days ahead of the tail-enders----so we stayed 2 days to get my dogs better. Some 24 to 30 hours later my dogs got up off the snow & I knew it was time to go. We ran to
Kaltag & my dogs kept getting stronger. At Kaltag I knew I was way
behind my schedule but, our spirits had not been broken. So off came my bibbs
& on came my running pants& off came 2 of my upper liners. We shot
out of Kaltag like a dog sled on a mission!!! 6 miles west of Kaltag we
dropped about 8 ft. onto an open creek, started up the other bank and for
some unknown reason, broke both my back runners off my indestructable "
Hans Gatt Sled." There I sat with a sled I couldn't ride & couldn't
steer----you could run behind. In all the disbelief, we ran, we pushed, hung
onto the handlebars & somehow made it 11 miles to a shelter cabin.
Staying there til daylight it was time to think---not really ready to quit
& knowing I still had 400 miles to cover, by morning I knew I would have
to let nature take her course. At the crack of dawn I headed to the
woods & found me 2---10 ft. spruce trees that would serve as runners for
the rest of the 55 miles to Unalakleet. With dog leashes, shoe laces & a
few wires I had barrowed from martin traps I could now steer my sled &
somewhat ride my sled but, it was a slow ride! At Unalakleet my luck
changed---- I was able to barrow a sled----at that point I knew everything
would be fine & I would be able to finish the race----not as fast as I
thought but, at least I would get to After 10
hours of rest my dogs were well rested & ready to go----we left
Unalakleet, as if shot out of a cannon but, much to our surprise about 2
miles out of Unalakleet taking a hard left over an 8 ft. ice jam, once again
we found our sled in 2 pieces. Much to my surprise, I never got mad! I just
totally lost control---- I had 11 dogs screaming to get to As I pulled into Koyuk drinking all the water I could get my hands on & eating what seemed like alot of cheese ,(Klondike Cheese Co. Monroe WI. ) instead of being depressed about all that had happened I seemed to be happy & really proud I still had 11 dogs that were trying their best to get to Nome----and to Nome we went!
Gilbertson Septic Service went all the way
to
Ben & Alice at the restart in They celebrated their 38th Wedding anniversary on the start of the race on Saturday. He didn't forget to kiss her before the start of the race.
9/20/03 - 100 Bird Flurry Shoot at ARGC in Argyle - here's Ben's Mom Jeanette, Son Scott, and Nephew Todd.
Ben's
Journal will be up and running with Fall training beginning very, very, very,
sooooooooonnnnnnnn!!!!!!! Ben is currently very busy trying to raise
money to get back to Ben's "Iditarod 2003" Journal
Xmas Day, 2002
We recently traveled to the UP to do our last qualifying race for the Iditarod, the Seney 300. This race consists of 325 miles of constantly changing weather and terrain conditions. The race started with melting snow and extremely icy trail conditions.
Running thru the forests on old beat up logging roads, crossing through the dense forest on little dog trails, crossing creeks and rivers truly simulates some of the conditions of the Iditarod. As the race progressed the weather turned to snow. On our last leg of the race we experienced an accumulation of 10" to a foot of snow on a 45 mile run. Lloyd Gilbertson and Al Hardman, who put on this race, are truly inspirational to all mushers. Both racers have finished the Iditarod in style and both mushers are willing to share their knowledge and experiences with all us Iditarod want-to-be's. Terry Hindsley, the race judge who has completed the Iditarod, has helped me tremendously at the check points explaining the do's and don'ts. Tom Gustofson, our race vet, has helped us tremendously with the care of our dogs. This has truly been my most inspirational event in my 4 years of mushing. PS, If you race with Rick Minard bring your own alarm clock. Just so you know the rest of the story - Rick & Ben ran most of the race together. On the last leg of the race Rick was concerned about Ben's health and thought he needed more sleep, so he slipped off without waking him in the wee hours of the night. MUSHER'S JOURNAL UPDATE 1/13/03
Snow is hard to find. We traveled back to the U.P., stayed at Al's cabin, run about 300 miles, did some overnight campouts. Alot of our dogs have 1200 miles, we would like all of them to have 2000 miles befor the race. The food drop has to be prepared now. A special Thanks to Wayne Smith & Peggy who have paid to fly all my food for me & my dogs to the check points. So each and every time me and my dogs stop to eat we will know that Wayne & Peggy provided this for us.
Within the next 3 days we must load all our equipment, clothes & dogs and
drive 3750 miles to our cabin where we will make the final training runs
& preparations for the race. MUSHER'S JOURNAL UPDATE 2/6/03:
By now most of your know we have made the big transition to the great state
of our generator (for the cabin) to the front of the truck and charge the truck battery for about an hour. And then, down the road we would go! Thanks to Steve Johnson and Jim Bruehlman, who donated their time, installing brakes on the dog trailer the day before we left. This probably did more than save our trip as we had to drag the snow down the steep mountain roads. But never the less we made it to our cabin and training went well for 3 or 4 days. Ben was running out to Yenta & back in the wee hours of the morning. Ben started preparing his food drops for the race. Since we have no meat saw, he does it the old fashioned way by thawing the meat a little bit, beating on it with his hatchet and cutting it up with his Bowie knife. It's quite a sight to watch from the kitchen window! Now, thanks to El Nino, our weather has changed. It has rained for three days, rivers are impassable and lakes are flooded. As I sit here writing, we're traveling 150 miles north (Cantwell) to higher mountains in search of snow. We cannot make excuses not to run our dogs. We must find ways to exercise and keep our dogs in shape. So, it's probably bologna sandwiches & sleeping in the truck for us! MUSHER'S JOURNAL UPDATE 2-27-03
As most of you know, the trail has been changed three times. As we write this we're still not sure which route we're taking. One thing for sure, it will be a historical year - the longest Iditarod ever!
Weather conditions to train from our cabin have been impossible. We travel
120 miles each way to find snow every third day. But today as we flew
our last food out, blizzard
conditions hit the north ( We have no water in our cabin so each morning it is kind of a treat to go to the spring to get the 30 gallons of water we need for the day. We usually see moose. We would like to thank everyone who has sent us cards and e-mails and all who have supported our quest. A special thanks to Terri Mooradian, our next-door-neighbor, who has a computer. She has been a big help with race information and our e-mails. Also special thanks to Rick Horstmann and Linda. Every time there is a change in the race he prints it up and brings it over to our cabin. Some of you might not know that Dave Wisnefske has created and totally updated our web page. We're extremely grateful and appreciate the kindness Dave has shown. One thing you guys can count on - if we can get these puppies to run through downtown Anchorage at the start, once we hit the swamps, hard woods and rivers, we will feel more in our element and the next time we update we will be in NOME! Pre Race Photos by Steven E. Landfried shown with Ben below at the Restart
Here are some photos from the Pre-Race Banquet and of Bennie, Alice & one of the dogs just before the start of the Last Great Race
And here's the moment we have been waiting for, the start of the Iditarod for #12 starter Rookie Ben Stamm
MUSHER'S JOURNAL UPDATE 3-8-03 Letter
from
One member of our crew has not been on the web page, our grand-daughter Spencer. Enclosed is a picture of Spencer "Helping grandpa pack dog booties for the race"
Ben called me from the check point in Galena at 5:30pm today, saying he was going to sleep till 7pm and leave about 8 or 9pm. He thought he would get to Nulato by 2am.
There was a bad virus going through the dogs. His dogs were really
sick. Ben took his 24hr. layover in Ruby because the dogs were so
sick. Ben and the vets worked on Jessie James for eight hours.
(Jessie collapsed on the trail. ) Ben was so happy Jessie pulled out of
it. He flew Jessie back to
When Ben finishes he'll write an update. Dave, thanks so much for your help. See you when we get home.
MUSHER'S JOURNAL UPDATE 3/23/03 4 years & 14 days the quest for the Iditarod was
successful. We owe alot of thanks to our friends and family who helped us get
here. Thanks to Dave Wisnefske for providing the great web-page &
providing the info. Also thanks to Steve Landfried who traveled from Nome is a great city, where we were blessed to stay with Mike Lynstad, the school principal. He provided us with a great place to stay. Many of the villagers
from the Islands outside The Iditarod itself was a little harder than Bennie expected----- 1200 miles is a little longer than it sounds on paper! The start of the race was
great--- a lot of our family was there and the start went well. But, by the
time we got to Manley with only 150 miles covered, our dogs from The trail would seem
extremely easy one hour but was always cold---450 miles of river where the
nights would get -35 degrees. After midnight it seemed like the wind would
always pick up.It took a little effort to keep me & my dogs warm.Snow was
not a problem but ground blizzards with all the wind seemed to be a constant
threat. We got caught in one such storm and it took 20 hours to cover 70
miles on the river. As we write this we're traveling thru Thanks again for clicking on and being a part of this great adventure.
Iditarod Finish Line just after Bennie Crossed it. Address: Ben and Alice Stamm HC Phone: (907) 733-3411 Email: traprben@hotmail.com _____________________________________
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