Talkeetna

The ceremonial start begins on Saturday, March 2 at 10 a.m. on 4 th Avenue in Anchorage. 67 mushers have signed up including last year's champion Dallas Seavey of Willow. Former Iditarod champions are also back in the running and they include four-time champs Lance Mackey, Martin Buser, Jeff King. The field of teams are mainly from Alaska, with some hailing from the U.S. and Canada and several other International teams. The 2013 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Starting Position 1 Jan Newton 2013 Honorary Musher   2 Martin Buser  Big Lake  Alaska 3 Scott Janssen  Anchorage  Alaska 4 Jodi Bailey  Chatanika  Alaska 5 Lance Mackey  Fairbanks  Alaska 6 Ken Anderson  Fairbanks  Alaska 7 Michelle Phillips  Tagish  Yukon Territory, Canada 8 Newton Marshall  St.

The 2012 Iditarodstarting order was announced at the Dena'ina Center on Thursday, March 1. The ceremonial start begins on Saturday, March 3 at 10 a.m. on 4 th Avenue in Anchorage. 66 mushers have signed up including last year's champion John Baker of Kotzebue. Former Iditarod champions are also back in the running and they include five-time champ Rick Swenson, four-time champs Lance Mackey, Martin Buser, and Jeff King. The field of teams are mainly from Alaska, with some hailing from the U.S. and Canada and several other International teams.

Alaska State Troopers say three people were injured, one of them seriously, after a single-vehicle rollover crash Sunday in Talkeetna. Troopers responded at about 7:19 a.m. to the scene on Beaver Road, where a 1988 Volvo sedan had left the roadway and impacted a ditch before rolling onto its roof and striking a tree. Talkeetna resident Storm Newgren, 18, was flown to Anchorage with serious injuries, while 23-year-old Richard Holt of Anchorage and 18-year-old Sarah Ellsworth of Talkeetna were taken to the hospital.

A small earthquake shook Southcentral Alaska Thursday morning, giving many commuters in the region an early rise from bed. The National Weather Service and the West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center in Palmer both say the 5.4-magnitude quake struck 40 miles southwest of Talkeetna at exactly 6 a.m. There were widespread reports of the temblor being felt throughout the Mat-Su Valley and in Anchorage.

Alaska State Troopers are looking for a 47-year-old Wasilla man last seen in the Petersville area more than two weeks ago and reported overdue July 13. John Gamble had accompanied friends to a mining camp near Cache Creek early this month, but opted to remain behind when they left July 2. Just after midnight Friday, troopers were notified that Gamble's GMC pickup truck was stuck in the mud on a trail near Dollar Creek. Other items normally carried by an individual were found on the scene, prompting authorities to initiate an extensive search for Gamble.

Troopers have called off the search for missing musher Melanie Gould, of Talkeetna, after no sign of her has been found except for her truck, parked off the Denali Highway. Gould, 34, who has finished in the top 20 of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, was reported missing by friends and coworkers after she failed to show up for work for two consecutive days at two different jobs. Also concerning them was that she had apparently made no arrangements for care of her small dog yard.

Alaska State Troopers are continuing to search for a missing Iditarod musher. Friends and family of Melanie Gould said they became concerned last weekend after Gould failed to show up at work on Tuesday and Wednesday at the Talkeetna Roadhouse, which they say is very unlike her. According to troopers spokesperson Megan Peters, Civil Air Patrol flights were searching for Gould Tuesday, with an estimated 20 ground searchers in the area. There has been no sign of her yet. The major cause for concern about Gould is that she also left her dog team at her Talkeetna home, and her friends said they did not know about any upcoming trips that Gould had planned.

Two climbers died and two more were critically injured on Mount McKinley after a fall in Denali Pass Wednesday night, bringing the death toll for this year’s climbing season in the Alaska Range to seven in less than a month. The National Park Service says mountaineers at the 17,200-foot high camp saw the four-person rope team fall from the pass, at nearly 18,000 feet, at about 11 p.m. Wednesday. Air National Guard pararescuemen from the 212th Rescue Squadron reached the falling climbers, confirming that two had died in the fall.

Alaska State Troopers were in a standoff overnight Thursday in Talkeetna that ended in the arrest of 52-year-old Debbie Cardwell, who surrendered peacefully. At about 11 p.m. Thursday, a family member of Cardwell notified troopers that a shot was fired at a residence near Mile 87 of the Parks Highway. When troopers arrived and talked with the family member outside the home, several shots were fired. One broke out a window of a trooper car. The Special Emergency Reaction Team was called to the scene, and Anchorage Police assisted with two officers and a tactical vehicle.

For locals, summer in Talkeetna is about making a living during a brief but frenzied tourist season. Winter, though, is about living in a small town with a view of a very big mountain. And that makes this “drinking town with a climbing problem,” as one local bumper sticker puts it, an inviting mid-winter destination. The most enjoyable way to get to Talkeenta is by train. The Alaska Railroad’s Aurora Winter Train leaves Anchorage on Saturday mornings at about 8 a.m. and stops in Talkeetna by 11 a.m. on its way to Fairbanks.