Unalakleet

Unalakleet is weathering an epic storm. People in the small community on Alaska's western coast boarded up windows and made plans to possibly evacuate to higher ground, if need be. The clinic and school are designated evacuation sites, and classes were cancelled, Wednesday. One family at the airport was sending an elderly family member to Anchorage. This town is not taking any chances.  "We're preparing for the worst," said Steve Ivanoff, who was getting his house ready for the storm, "I'm going to be boarding up some windows and just lifting, moving everything off the floor, that could get wet. " It's the potential for a storm surge and high winds that residents are most concerned about.

A family from Unalakleet is getting close to a dream come true -- a service dog for their autistic son. The dog, Juke, and the Erickson family are currently in Ohio, where Juke is learning to track 10-year-old Logan Erickson. In Unalakleet... he often runs away, prompting the whole village to search for him. Channel 2 met the Ericksons during this year’s Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, and several Iditarod mushers helped raise money for 4 Paws For Ability, the organization in Ohio that trained Juke.

(6:16 p.m.) Team 21 Spernak/Branholm is on the trail. (5:41 p.m.) Teams 11 Palin-Quam and 7 Davis/Davis are out on the trail. They're all flying. (5:24 p.m.) Team 10 is off, but going much slower than their predecessors, according to the GPS ping, but that could be just at one specific point in time. (5:12 p.m.) Team 10 is off! (5:08 p.m.) Iron Dog racers got back on the trail and on the clock Friday evening after spending nearly a day and a half under a yellow caution flag when conditions between Nome and Unalakleet were deemed too dangerous to be in "race" mode.

Kotzebue musher John Baker was the first Iditarod musher into Unalakleet Sunday morning, leading the race by nearly two and a half hours over his closest competitor, Ramey Smyth. Baker’s arrival in Unalakleet at 5:04 a.m. with 11 dogs earned him the Wells Fargo Gold Coast Award of a gold cup and $2,500 in gold nuggets. “I’m not too impressed with the speed they’re keeping,” Baker said of his run times. “I thought they’d want to go a little faster.

An Unalakleet woman was shot through both legs by her sister in a Friday hunting accident, according to Alaska State Troopers. A Monday AST dispatch says Unalakleet troopers were informed shortly after 8:20 a.m. Friday that a possible shooting victim, 27-year-old Janine Iknokinok, was at the local clinic with serious injuries to her legs. Troopers say Iknokinok had been riding a four-wheeler on a road into Unalakleet after a moose hunting trip with her sister, 18-year-old Savoonga woman Dinah Toolie, when their vehicle ran out of gas slightly under a mile and a half out of town.

An Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race dog died in Unalakleet early Friday morning in what its race marshal called “an incident caused by high winds and drifting snow,” four days after it was dropped from a musher's team. In an email to Iditarod staff, Race Marshal Mark Nordman says Dorado was dropped from Fairbanks musher Paige Drobny's team. Drobny reached Nome at 9:15 a.m. Thursday, finishing in 34th place with 10 dogs on her team. “An otherwise healthy dog, (Dorado) was dropped in Unalakleet on Monday, March 11, and was waiting to be transported back to Anchorage,” Nordman wrote in an email to Iditarod staff.

The Iron Dog snowmachine race was interrupted Thursday due to extreme weather in Northwest Alaska. Extreme weather blew in sea ice and took out the race’s usual starting chute. Race officials initially postponed the race for a tentative noon start. After a meeting with racers, officials decided that the safest way to continue with the race was to split the remaining 15 teams into groups to shuttle to Unalakleet, where the route is safer. Three groups of five teams will leave Nome in five-minute intervals for the “yellow-flag” journey to Unalakleet.

by Kevin Wells Sunday, March 15, 2009 UNALAKLEET, Alaska -- Historically, the Iditarod truly becomes a race at the Bering Sea coast: Lance Mackey won his first two championships by coming from behind after leaving the Yukon River. But this year, it seems the only way Mackey won't win is by making a serious mistake -- something he's already done when he fell asleep in between Shageluk and Anvik , and he still has a monumental lead. Off the vast Yukon River on his way to the frigid coast, Mackey is hours in front and acting on instinct.

STORY UPDATED AT 5:42 p.m. 3/10/13: After spending nearly 5 hours in Unalakleet, Mitch Seavey checked out of the Norton Sound community in first place at 3:10 p.m. Sunday. 15 minutes behind the leader was Aaron Burmeister who also spent nearly 5 hours at the checkpoint. 4-time champ Jeff King and his 13 dogs leapfrogged the competition to third place from Kaltag and left Unalakleet shortly before 5 p.m. Sunday. Here's what the Iditarod standing look like as of 5:13 p.m. Sunday: 1. Mitch Seavey - Unalakleet (Out)

Iron Dog day 2 ended with some leaderboard changes as teams pushed through Galena and declared 8-hour layovers in Unalakleet on Tuesday morning. Team 16, Minnick and Olstad, continue to lead the pack with Team 10, Morgan and Olds, in second place, and followed by Team 6, Huntington and West, rounding out the top 3. Several teams faced tow-in situations including Team 11, Palin and Davis, with a severely worn belt, but teams made the necessary fixes. Race marshall Chris Graeber said many team were stacked up going through Poor Man, which is pretty usual for teams on the trail.

The Iditarod Trail Committee released the results of its investigation Tuesday into the death of a sled dog named Dorado, promising changes after it suffocated under snow at the Unalakleet checkpoint Friday morning. According to a statement from Iditarod spokesperson Erin McLarnon, the race's system for returning dropped dogs to Anchorage involves collecting them at regional hubs like Unalakleet, then flying them to Anchorage. In Dorado's case, the dog was dropped Mar. 11 in Unalakleet by musher Paige Drobny.

Necropsy results of a dropped Iditarod sled dog found in snowdrift in Unalakleet show the dog died after being smothered by weather conditions. Dorado, a five-year-old male from the team of Paige Drobny, died of “asphyxiation as the result of being buried by snow in severe wind conditions,” according to Iditarod Race Marshal Mark Nordman. A board certified veterinary pathologist conducted the procedure. Histopathology studies, which examines tissue cells, will also be conducted to complete the necropsy.

With nearly all of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race's mushers across the finish line in Nome, officials are trying to understand how the race's first dog death since 2009 happened early Friday. According to race standings as of 5:30 p.m. Friday, only nine mushers of the 65 who left Wasilla at the race's restart are still on the trail. A total of 45 teams are in Nome, the latest arrival being Mike Williams Sr. at 3:35 p.m. Friday with nine dogs. Meanwhile, Iditarod officials say a cause hasn't been determined for the Unalakleet death Friday morning of Dorado, a dog dropped at the checkpoint Monday by musher Paige Drobny.

An Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race dog died in Unalakleet early Friday morning in what its race marshal called “an incident caused by high winds and drifting snow,” four days after it was dropped from a musher's team. In an email to Iditarod staff, Race Marshal Mark Nordman says Dorado was dropped from Fairbanks musher Paige Drobny's team. Drobny reached Nome at 9:15 a.m. Thursday, finishing in 34th place with 10 dogs on her team. “An otherwise healthy dog, (Dorado) was dropped in Unalakleet on Monday, March 11, and was waiting to be transported back to Anchorage,” Nordman wrote in an email to Iditarod staff.

STORY UPDATED AT 5:42 p.m. 3/10/13: After spending nearly 5 hours in Unalakleet, Mitch Seavey checked out of the Norton Sound community in first place at 3:10 p.m. Sunday. 15 minutes behind the leader was Aaron Burmeister who also spent nearly 5 hours at the checkpoint. 4-time champ Jeff King and his 13 dogs leapfrogged the competition to third place from Kaltag and left Unalakleet shortly before 5 p.m. Sunday. Here's what the Iditarod standing look like as of 5:13 p.m. Sunday: 1. Mitch Seavey - Unalakleet (Out)

ASAA Volleyball Mixed 6 Division--Semifinal Matches Noatak def. Elim 13-25, 27-25, 25-14, 25-22 Unalakleet def. Glacier View 25-21, 25-15, 25-15 Championship Match:  Unalakleet vs. Noatak, 4:30 Saturday   ASAA 2A Girls Volleyball Division--Semifinal Matches Craig def. Kenny Lake 25-17, 14-25, 25-17, 25-23 Dillingham def. Klawock 25-22, 19-25, 25-20, 19-25, 15-11 Championship Match: Craig vs. Dillingham,  6:30 Saturday...

The Iron Dog is the unique sporting event that is a hybrid. It is a 2,000 mile snowmachine race, and that makes it the ultimate test of endurance. But it is also a distance race done at a phenomenal pace. It would be the equivalent to seeing a marathon foot race in which the humans run at the speed of 100 meter sprinters. The north-bound trail trail of the Iron Dog race follows the northern route of the Iditarod sled dog race to Nome. This portion of the course has 16 checkpoints where drivers fill up their snowmachines with gas and can take a layover.

ASAA Mixed 6 Volleyball Tournament Scores Quarterfinal Round--Thursday Elim Def. Emmonak 25-18, 25-18, 24-26, 25-14 Noatak def. Akiachak 25-16, 25-19, 25-9 Unalakleet def. Thorne Bay 25-8, 25-16, 25-18 Glacier View def. Alak 25-18, 23-25, 26-24, 25-4 Semifinals--Friday Elim vs. Noatak, 1:30 Unalakleet vs. Glacier View, 3:15   ASAA 2A Girls Volleyball Tournament Scores ...

Alaska State Troopers said Monday that the body of a missing Alaska boater was recovered and the search for another boater has been suspended near Norton Sound. The body of 48-year-old Debra Kimoktoak was found over the weekend and the search for 41-year-old David Slwooko was suspended after the two boaters were reported missing Sep. 25, according to Alaska State Troopers. On Sep. 28, a Bering Air Helicopter pilot reported spotting a body on shore about 30 miles south of Unalakleet and 26 miles east of St. Michaels.

An Unalakleet woman was shot through both legs by her sister in a Friday hunting accident, according to Alaska State Troopers. A Monday AST dispatch says Unalakleet troopers were informed shortly after 8:20 a.m. Friday that a possible shooting victim, 27-year-old Janine Iknokinok, was at the local clinic with serious injuries to her legs. Troopers say Iknokinok had been riding a four-wheeler on a road into Unalakleet after a moose hunting trip with her sister, 18-year-old Savoonga woman Dinah Toolie, when their vehicle ran out of gas slightly under a mile and a half out of town.