Latest news and photos of Rosie's World Run. To read about her Wales (UK) to Sibera run stage please click here, or the news archive link on the left.
31/12/5 Hi, this is a transcript from a conversation my sister had with Rosie, that she kindly typed up for the website. This is from Mum on Boxing Day "It is still dark outside and there is a crescent moon shining over the frozen sea, but the sea is not frozen enough to run on so I will have to climb the mountains to get to the next village. It is dark but it still feels like Christmas as well.
Last night the entire village came to the church and everybody's present in the whole village was put under the big Christmas tree. There was such a pile of presents and they called out names and I got loads of presents too. It is impossible to be in a village like Elim and feel lonely. The people are wonderful. I had a traditional Eskimo Christmas. I was one of the few non-native people apart from the parson and his wife, and one or two other people
My diet now for the next few days is mostly dried fish and seal oil, which is part of the native diet and seal oil has vitamin C in it. There is also my usual diet of quick cook pasta.
I am off in the sledge now, Denis's sled continues to be wonderful and is looking after me. I am a bit nervous, because you never know what lies ahead. I hope I have enough food and warm clothes. I am also excited as it is very beautiful. It is amazing how some of the hardest parts of the world are also the most beautiful! It is as if the beauty makes up for the hardship. Love an d hugs for all at home. Mum"
Bob was kind enough to send me these photos of Rosie by post.
30/12/5 Hi everyone received these messages from Bob and
from Rosie. Rosie messaged last night that she was at the Kwik River safety cabin. She said it is a good cabin. She could bring the sled inside. The cabin is 22 miles from Koyuk. She is moving
along pretty well. The 55 mile stretch from Koyuk to Shaktoolik may be a walk over the ice (wind!). If the ice isn't good, she will have to walk
around the bay adding considerable miles. The winds can be dangerous. So far there has been a window of relatively good weather. She just left
N64 47.16 W 161.40.47, All for now, Bob
'NOISE OUTSIDE TENT - BEAUTIFUL FOX - CURIOUS, UNAFRAID, HUNGRY. SHARED MY BREAKFAST OF DRIED FISH WITH HIM! -
MAGICAL 'MUM
28/12/05 Just a minor update, had a brief chat with Rosie just before she set off she had a lovely Christmas at Elim.
25/12/05, Happy Christmas everyone, spoke to Rosie today, She is in Elim and is being wonderfully well looked after this Christmas time by those in the village. She wanted to wish everyone a very happy Christmas
and a big thanks to all her friends and supports. Bob Collins came down for a quick visit on Christmas Eve and I had a nice chat with him, he really is a lovely guy.
The Village of Elim is made up of about 350 People, Rosie has been telling me about the Christmas custom of people bringing all there presents to church to put under a big tree and they are given out after the Christmas service. They have a wonderful sense of community there.
I learned more about when Rosie was stuck in for three days curled up inside her
sled unable to move due to the horrendous weather, it was a total whiteout with winds gusting to 50mph and a wind chill of about -35.
Rosie has started to get into the tree line which she is very please about, she says she likes the sounds of nature, and described local birds called
'camp robbers', the scenery is amazing according to her. She is aware how dangerous the conditions are but is determined to be as safe and as careful as possible, because a mistake here would wipe out all her hard slog though Siberia.
Her next destination is a place called Koyuk about 47 miles away. She said she has been overwhelmed by the kindness she has received since coming to Alaska and is very thankful.
Rosie's latest positions 25/12/05
20/12/05 Hi, thanks very much to the many people who emailed this great link to an article in the Anchorage Daily News today about Rosie. 'Plucky global walker lugs sled over Iditarod Trail to promote charities' Please click here to view article I have just been speaking to my sister and she said that Rosie had run though the night to get to a phone to be able to speak to her 4 year old grandson Michael, on his birthday yesterday. That's so nice of her.
16/12/05 Hi everyone, Rosie is about 12 miles outside of Golovin and has been hit by really bad weather, she is being hit by wind gusts of over 50 miles an hour, apparently the whole area is getting it really bad, although she is out to the opened she has found a place that offered some natural shelter. There is actually a safety cabin a few miles away but the weather is too bad for Rosie to reach it in the current conditions. She has been in regular contact, Charlie who she met in Golovin has been out to meet her. Rosie has taken shelter inside her
sled, this apparently has been a very good barrier against the high winds. The weather is expected to ease soon, so hopefully she would back on the move before long.
Here are some recent text messages I've had for her.
N64 31.18 W162 44.58. CURLED IN YELLOW SLED- WAITNG 4 GALE 2 END- SAFE, BT DANGEROUS BLOWING SNOW SO HVE2 RIDE ITOUT. M
HI WINDS + BLOWING SNOW, ZERO VISIBILTY, CURLD IN SLED SAFE AND OK. LOVE 2 C U. U R SUCH A COMFORT 2 ME. LOVE UV MCH, MUM
Rosie's position, 16\12\05.
13/12/05 I am a little behind with the news, this weekend Rosie safely arrived in Golovin, she left White Mountain on Friday and had a wonderful send off by the people of White Mountain, she would like to thank them all very much for the kind hospitality they showed her. Bob came over to White Mountains to pick up some of Rosie's equipment she did not need right now, to send on later, It was a great relief for her to have the sled lightened a bit, it is now under 75pounds.
The trip to Golovin was good, I have been informed that she has an excellent new cooker designed by Dean Pushruk which has been given to her by Dean, so will be enjoying some good hot meals
when out in the wilds.
She has bid of a sore throat, and is standing rather hoarse, but suspects it is just due to going from cold to hot environments, there has been a minor snag with the CB radio, in that it is rather hard to keep charged up, but Bob is looking to see if there is a battery adapter for it for normal batteries.
Rosie still has a satellite phone for emergencies though. I have been learning more about the area Rosie's running, it is quite an extraordinary environment with great variations in the weather conditions, I have been sent a link to the local weather forecast website, it is state-of-the-art
and will be very useful if the weather turns bad. It's quite an interesting link it is
here if you
are interested regards James.
06/12/05 Hi everybody, I am delighted to report that Rosie has made it to White Mountain at 2:05pm on December the 5th
2005. She was met down on the river, by the school children, who had made a banner to greet her, I would like to thank everyone involved for this wonderful welcome, particularly Andrew
Haviland the school principal in White Mountain and also Fred Ross and Dean Pushruk who went out to meet Rosie twice to deliver her new
sled and again to bring out some hot food.
Regards James.
Rosie
getting the warmest welcome from the school children of White Mountain.
The person with Rosie is Dean Pushruk. They were taken by White Mountain
school teacher Fred
Ross.
4/12/05 Hi everyone, things are still pretty tough going, the powder snow is proving troublesome. I've been told that snow shoes can only do so much, and they are many places where Rosie will be sinking up to her waist in snow. The two men who brought her the sled are going back out to see her and bring her some hot food. So far they have found that their snowmobile tracks were already covered by snowdrifts.
Rosie's new sleeping bag has safely arrived at White Mountain to replace her current one that got damaged. There is quite a story attached to this sleeping bag, it being sent by Geoff from England, re directed during transit
involving loads of phone calls by Geoff and finally directed to its final destination by Bob. This is great news, as it could have easily been lost in the system or customs.
Thanks DHL as well, as they have been great as ever.
Below are Rosie's latest position, as she heads for White Mountain.
Regards James.
2/12/05 These are some of the messages that Bob has sent me the last few days and really show the effort that he and others have put in to helping Rosie out as well as a huge thanks to Bob, I would also like a thank Denis Douglas, who dropped everything and immediately arranged for his
sled to be loaned to Rosie, making sure that he arrived at the right place by the fastest possible means.
Also Will Peterson, Will met Rosie while in Ancorage, It was Will contracting his friend Denis, and then Denis contacting Bob Collins that really brought this whole thing together. This is hugely appreciated by all Rosie's friends and supporters.
Denis' sled has been on many adventures with him is called, The Spirit of
America.
Rosie situation is so much better now, not only is a sled working very well and her supplies replenished. She has been lent a radio transmitter so she can be in contact with the local villages along the route. It is what the locals use when
traveling through these trails for safety.
Here are some of the recent emails from Bob
30 11 5
Hello James: Thank you for the message. I should be sending you a further
update within a few hours after the two men on snow machine reach Rosie. The
sled and other supplies were scheduled to arrive in White Mountain around
11:30AM (AST). I spoke with them again this morning after going to the airport
with more food and other items for Rosie. I confirmed the new GPS
coordinates Rosie sent me late last night. (She moved about 3/4th km yesterday I
estimate). The men were standing by at the airstrip with their snow machines
(snowmobiles to those outside Alaska) ready to go. They told me they expected to
reach Rosie's GPS position in about 2-3 hours due to the terrain.
Some areas have little snow due to the very high winds the past week. Other areas have very high drifts. The is a very deep ravine (@5-800 feet) that they will circumnavigate. One snow machine will break trail. The other is hauling a sled with Hercules' replacement sled. They will use that to haul Hercules back. I received a text message from Rosie about an hour ago. She is very good and is on the move so as to keep warm.
She is SLOWLY moving up the trail. The men are well trained and confident they will find her. They said she will hear them coming long before they see her. They said this same trip, if taken later in the winter after more snow and on a broken, packed trail due to snow machine traffic, would normally take about 45 minutes. (They would be able to cut directly across the ravine). They said Rosie is about 19 air miles from White Mountain but about 25 trail miles due to the ravine. They said the whole village of about 250 people is now aware of Rosie's trek. They, and especially the school, are eagerly awaiting her arrival.
The men expect that Rosie is three days/two nights away
from White Mountain with the new sled. One of the men told me that he plans on
going out to check on Rosie everyday (even though she does not know that yet). I
do not know if you want to wait for a report from them and Rosie before you add
anything to the website but I thought you both would like to know the latest
news as it happens. I expect to hear from Rosie or them within the next two
hours. All the best, Bob
Hello James and Geoff: I just received a call (7:30 PM AST, 30 Nov 05) from one
of the men who went to deliver the new sled and gear to Rosie. Everything went
as expected. Their total trip took over 8 hours over terrain they described as
"rough" and "nasty". The terrain is frozen moguls with large
snowdrifts. One fellow damaged his snow machine and lost his goggles and face
mask ( I will replace from Nome as soon as he gets me the specifics and put them
on the next plane to White Mt.) I say this to emphasize how rough the terrain is
that Rosie is crossing.
The man told me that he and the other man could not move Hercules through the terrain despite both of them pulling together. They returned to White Mountain with Hercules and 80 pounds of gear. More on that later. They said Rosie is in great shape. She kept all the extra food and other things I sent out. I was guessing as to what she would have consumed and wanted. She has more than enough now. They said the new sled and snowshoes will enable her to move more quickly. They said it is good equipment.
She is traveling light now. She was two miles from an A frame shelter when they made contact. She made it to the shelter in under an hour with the new gear. Those 2 miles would have taken 3 days at her previous pace. I guess she probably felt like running after not being able to move for days! She is well situated for the night. She has a whole gallon of fuel for her stove. She will leave the excess for someone else who may need the shelter. Despite no door, she is in a "comfortable" setting to take the time to familiarize herself with her new routine. They left her one of their local search and rescue handheld radios.
The local villages all use these for communications from
the trail. I will get her one here in Nome for future use. She will
use it to stay in contact with villages on the trail. The village radio
network will know where she is at all times in the future (word is out on the
trail already - I suspect she has already become an eagerly awaited celebrity in
each village). In addition to the village network radio, I think she will
be needing additional or new snowshoes. I will discuss that with her after
she reaches White Mountain. They repeated their pre-trip estimate that she
should make it to White Mountain in three days/two nights. They will go out and
check on her. They said she is in good spirits. Feel free to contact me at
anytime if you have any concerns or questions. Bob
1/12/ 5
Hello Geoff and James: I thought I'd send you more detail to put the
events in context. Late last night (30 Nov 05) I received a text message
from Rosie. She likes the new sled. She can move easily on it. She was in
it (has tent built over the bed) when she was messaging. I am guessing she
testing it while she was still at the A frame. She expected to be back on the
trail early this AM.
I don't know if I mentioned this earlier, but over the
weekend I did speak with Steve Holland, who designed and built Hercules, at
Rosie's request. Rosie was very concerned that he be notified in person that
Hercules was not going to continue for this portion of the journey. I had a long
talk with Steve. He seems to be a very good man. He completely agreed that this
is not the terrain for Hercules and that Rosie should go to an arctic expedition
type sled.
The support she received, and continues to receive, demonstrates the respect, admiration, and concern everyone has for her. Even people who have not met her want to help. A very good example is the fellow who has loaned her his sled. He deserves special mention. His name is Denis (one "N") Douglas. He is a friend of Will Peterson. Rosie met Will while she was in Anchorage.
When Rosie messaged that she was having a serious problem moving Hercules, she mentioned that Will know someone who had offered a sled. I called Will who in turn called his friend Denis. Denis immediately called me. He dropped everything he was doing in order to get his sled to Nome as soon as possible. Even though he was preparing for an important imminent trip out of state, he packaged up his sled and took it to a local airport for shipment to Anchorage.
He called a friend in Anchorage who took the sled from the small air service to Alaska Airlines for shipment to Nome. Denis carefully monitored the whereabouts of the sled at all times by calling the cargo managers. He prevented the sled from sitting anywhere or becoming lost or delayed. He made sure it was on the first available flight to Nome. He told me that he knows what Rosie is going through based upon his own experience.
During the times he was on the trail, there were nights he thought he would freeze to death in his sleep. He said he was surprised when he woke up. He said he knows Rosie is tough and experienced. However, he also knows the trail and what she needs in order to complete the trail. He said the longer she remained stalled between villages, the greater the risk.
Even though he has not met Rosie, based upon her
experience, he is confident she can complete the trail under the right
conditions and with the right equipment. Those are among the reasons he moved so
quickly to get his sled up to Nome. He even followed up with several calls
from out of state to check on her status. He is looking forward to meeting
Rosie. That will be a fascinating meeting to observe. Two very experienced
winter wilderness trekkers comparing notes. Rosie generates that kind of
interest, enthusiasm and support. You are fortunate to know her so well. Bob
1/12/05 There has been some important developments about Rosie's current situation. She is basically grinding to a halt. The trail that she is following has not been 'broken' by that I mean the massive drifts of powdery snow have not been packed down by vehicles or snow ploughs, this means she is disappearing up to her waist in powdery snow. Hercules is acting rather like an anchor in this soft terrain.
And what more the bottom of Hercules has been smashed through. She is averaging about a mile the entire day.
In the last few days there has been major activity from Geoff Hall and Bob Collins in coming up with some creative solutions to assist Rosie and
it is pretty amazing what they have come up with, particularly Bob who has pulled out all the stops in
organising a plan to get Rosie the vital equipment and supplies she needs.
Bob has arranged for a proper snow sled to be found, and has hired two men to go out into the wilds and deliver this snow
sled to her, along with supplies of food and fuel, which is running very low. These two men will then take the damaged Hercules to 'White mountain' where Rosie is headed for repair. This is a really big deal, and I am so grateful to Bob
organizing this.
N64 35.27. W163 58.46. WHITE OUT - V DEEP
SNOWDRIFTS - THE TENT IS HEAVEN. GOING VV SLOWLY BUT AM
FINE. LOVE, MUMX
THEY R BRINGING SLED V GENEROUSLY LOANED BY WILL
PETERSON AND DENNIS DOUGLAS AS HERC NEEDS TLC. BT
I AM FINE A UTTERLY DETERMMD 2 WIN THRO
BOB COLLINS REAL STAR - ON T CASE RE NEEDS V
TOUGH BUT AM OK. LOVE, MUMXXX
Rosie latest position on 27 11 05, N64 34 69 W164 01 56
25/11/05 some more new photos, many thank Bob.
24/11/05 Hi, just got a great picture sent to me by Bob Collins.
Re-scan of above photo
Also please follow this link for some great Photos and Avs taken by Charlie Bader
http://www.anchoragetrails.com/rina/index.html
I Have posted this link before, but it is so good, you must take a look if you have not already done so.
Regards James
22/11/05 Rosie is finding things very tough at the moment, she left a message on my answer phone sounding as determined as ever, but this Alaskan stage is turning out to be considerably harder than we all expected. It will be several hundred miles till she is running along a road. At the moment she's following the coastline and facing storm force blizzards and massive snow drifts.
That link to the photo that I posted on the last update is a very good representation of how things
are, it all looks very chilly.
To make matters worse she accidentally burnt her sleeping bag while trying to dry it out.
Also her tent has been damaged in high winds thankful this has been sorted out
by some great helpers, at the moment she is using a Bivibag as well as a tent, I don't know if anyone outside England uses that term, but it is just a weatherproof outer say you can sleep outside without a tent.
Geoff Hall and Bob Collins has been a huge help to her in these vital matters. through the crackling answer phone she asked me to thank on the web site THG, Terranova and those at TelAlaska. Also Geoff, Ena and Bob Collins who has really gone out of his way to help Rosie with her equipment and planning, there were a few other she wanted to thank but I could not hear due to a poor connection.
please contact me if any of these spellings are wrong.
Incidentally if anyone has any photos of Rosie I would be very grateful, the news page is looking a little bit empty picture wise. Anything from the last few weeks would be great.
Here is some interesting news sent to me by Bob.
Hello Geoff and James, Thank you for the kind words. Rosie has left the road system about 32 miles east of Nome near Bonanza Creek/Solomon. She will be going along the coast. She was very glad to have the Quasar tent and repaired outer. Even though the bag is perfect for high wind, I do not know how she could have made it for the next 200 plus miles in just the bag. The two in combination as conditions dictate will make her safer, especially when - not if - she has to stop for extended periods. I cannot stress enough - (and she agrees) - that this may be the most difficult segment of her journey. People do not realize Nome is much closer to Siberia than it is to Anchorage. People may have a tendency to think she is safer now that she is in "Alaska". She has experienced more wind in the last month than she had in the entire trip thus far. Plus, this part of Alaska and the upcoming interior have "Siberian cold". In Russia, she was largely following a road. Here, she could take 4 to 6 months just to get to the road system that leads to Anchorage. She has over 200 miles of more or less coastline before turning inland for 800 miles. The combination of wind and cold will be extreme. I will send more later but I thought you would like to know she was well situated with her tent. I remain in awe! Much more later regarding needs and details. She has told me so much about her friends and family, I feel I know you all - and am looking forward to meeting you all at the finish line. All the best, Bob
18/11/05 I am very grateful to Bob Collins, who was good enough to sent me this news update about Rosie. Thanks Bob.
Hello James: Your mother left Nome midday
yesterday (14 Nov 05) on her way to White Mountain along the Iditarod Trail. Last night and this
morning, the weather was about 5F with gusts to 40MPH (which converts
to about -22F or -30C windchill). She is walking along the coast of the
Bering Sea with almost no natural shelter from the wind in many places.
She asked me to paraphrase her thoughts for you: As she enters
this upcoming critical stage of her journey, she needs to keep her
absolute focus. Small mistakes have serious ramifications. She is more
prepared now than ever before for another arctic winter.
Hercules has been further modified thanks to the
kind folks at TelAlaska. She has a
survival kit and an emergency "MayDay" beacon, again due to the
kindness of her new friends at TelAlaska. Among the many people in Nome she wanted to thank are: Randy; Andy, Millie and Devon; Chuck and
Linda; Rusty; John, Marguerite and Ava; Dave, Roger and Sine; the doctors and
staff at Norton Sound Regional Hospital, and numerous others. A more
appropriate thank you will be forthcoming as soon as she has the
opportunity to redirect her focus.
She expressed her love and affection for her family, her Michael, Ann, Geoffrey, and her many, many friends and supporters, including Rosemary and Steven Seaton of Runners World. She apologizes for not having had the contact with all of you and them that she would like to have had. Although at times she feels she has created a form of "exile", she remains committed to her family, friends, and the causes in which she believes. Hopefully she will be able to respond to her e-mails after she arrives in Anchorage or possibly earlier from the trail.
She asks the members of the media who have been
patiently waiting to speak with her for their continued patience. She
will attempt to contact them from the trail. She needed her time in Nome
to prepare for the very difficult next stage. Her trip from Wales,
Alaska to Nome was more difficult than expected. She is very much
looking forward to returning home to Wales and celebrating with one and
all the successful completion of her journey.
Also here
is a link to a great photo of Rosie taken by Laurent Dick, That really shows
her out in the wilds, Thanks to Dan
R. Therrell for forwarding it to me.
8/11/05Hi everyone just received two great news write ups from Charlie Bader supplying vital local information and Bob Collins who recently met Rosie, they give a real feel for what it is like for Rosie on the ground at the moment.
James- It has been around 0 F for a few nights... That ought to freeze up
the swamps, creeks and even the small rivers. Not much snow, however, but
that is good if you are on foot/bike. It's been colder on the other side
of the Alaskan Range. Here's a link which deals with the current range of
sea ice.... It's very important in some parts of Alaska and Siberia. Seal
hunters, polar bear migration, shipping and of course world adventurers! http://pafc.arh.noaa.gov/ice.php
The maps show 2 things- a letter and a key. Rosie needs to cross a place that is currently a "G" which decodes to 60-80% ice coverage NEW (not very thick) ice. The 5 day forecast shows the ice ranging 0-4" and 4-12" thick. By the time Rosie gets to Golovin, she should find plenty of ice. Norton Bay is even wider- about 20 miles across. By then she should have some snow machine tracks to follow, if they don't get blown away. It would be prudent to make sure she has a compass before she crosses, as you know what happens to GPS batteries in the cold! During the Iditarod, the dog mushers cross Norton Sound, which is further out into the Bering Sea.
It is invariably windy and they have a difficult time following the trail. The forecast calls for wind- 35 mph. Wind chills to 35 below. Hopefully it gets better by the time she gets to Norton Sound. There's a real strong low over the Aleutian Islands and a high pressure ridge over eastern Siberia. http://pafc.arh.noaa.gov/home_sfcmap.php Thanks for the updates! Charlie Bader
Hello James: My name is Bob Collins. I live in Nome, Alaska. Saturday morning, I met your mother about 45 miles north of Nome as she was pulling her sled "Hercules" up a steep hill. A short time earlier there had been a "white out" with below zero temperatures and blowing snow.
Even though she was "on a road", that road is closed during the winter due to extremely dangerous weather conditions. We invited her to dinner, about 30 miles down the road, should she make it by then. She said she "accepted in spirit" but was not certain of the timing. Despite adverse weather, she made it with time to spare. She spent the night in order to dry out her gear. I cannot overstate the hardships she is overcoming.
Her spirit and condition are phenomenal. I will always consider myself privileged to have spent an evening with her. She has my total admiration, support, and respect. She truly does inspire others to become better human beings. Bob Collins
6/11/05 Hello everyone, sorry its been a little quiet on news front at the moment, everything is going well, I haven't had confirmation yet but I am presuming she has reached Nome. I received a text saying that she was not far away. she has arranged to meet a German journalist called Marijke who writes for a glossy magazine in Germany and the BBC photographer
Luke Tchalenko, who went out to see her in Siberia for her article for the Daily Telegraph some months ago. I hope to have more details about this soon, and of course some fresh news and maybe some pictures if I am lucky.
In her recent message Rosie has said everyone has been very kind and welcoming to her and she particularly wanted me to say a special thanks you to Charlie and Carolyn in Anchorage who have been a wonderful help, supplying her with useful local information, and lots more besides.
Warmest regards James
29/10/05 Hi just had a great chat with Rosie, she is staying with a nice couple called Rita and Henry where she enjoyed a hot bath and loads of food. The journey from Wales to Brevig was much harder than she expected, it took two weeks instead of one as she expected, and she totally ran out of food for two days, but survived by making a soup out of her Brian Welsby vitamin pills.
There was very little shelter from the blizzards, one of her tent poles snapped in the wind, and the ground was quite soft an slushy and hard to run over, the particular problem came when crossing the streams as Hercules had a tendency for his wheels to fall though the ice and be very hard for Rosie to pull him out as the ice was so slippery. Rosie had to attach a rope and pull from the other side.
It was doing this such maneuver that she slipped and cracked one of her ribs two days out side of Brevig but managed to carry on okay. She was well looked after at the clinic and given some pain killers. She says it is okay and will not stop her continuing as she managed to get to Brevig with it being cracked. As mentioned the next stage should be a little easer as she will be following a road, which is good news. Regards James
28/10/05Hi everyone got these messages from Rosie a couple of days ago. It all sounds like it has been quite a tough journey, I have been giving her news of Michael, her three and a half year old grandson, he is doing very well and is a lovely little boy. I am glad to report she has made it to Brevig. I have just had an email from Charlie letting me know that Carolyn has just spoken to her. With any luck the journey should be a lot easy from Teller to Nome as there is a road. Charlie also mentioned that things are freezing up a bit and this should make the ground a bit firmer and easer to run across. Hope to speak to Rosie soon. Regards James.
STRUGGLING IN GALES + TERRAIN TERRAIN WILL BE BETTER
WHEN COMPLETELY FROZEN, NOW HALF FROZEN BOG,
SNOW, WATER BT BREVIG 12M. BATT LOW. LOVE U.
MISSING PRECIOUS TIME W GRANDSON WORST PART, YET
FEEL MIKIE IS WITH ME. LOVE HIM DEARLY - LOVE U ALL SO
MUCH. MUM
20/10/05 A brief call. Apparently blizzard conditions are prevailing on the route from CPoW to Brevg, the next town! Lots of snow, but distinct absence of trail. Hercules is hanging in there and is manfully following his mistress where buggies fear to tread. All kit functioning superbly is the report (as usual), and certainly Rosie's voice was easily at maximum cheerfulness!! Progress is tending to be quite slow, and could be very slow, only a few miles per day. Brevig is next town but is is still 30 miles ahead. The queue of writers waiting to interview is being kept waiting a little longer, unfortunately. Hopefully this applies to the bears as well. Position is N65/29/26, W167/23/73
Rosie's position 19/10/05
Photos Rosie took in Siberia, just received cd packed with pics she took.
Here are some taken over her run though Russia and Siberia.
16/10/05Hi loads of interesting news about Rosie here, my warmest thanks to all those her who have been so kind to Rosie, and given her so much help. And also for supplying me with these great photos and news about Mum. James
Hi there James.
Your mother left here a couple days ago, and as you know is in Tin City. Here at our school I maintain a live
webcam, and your mother asked that I e-mail you with the link. The school website is:
http://waa.bssd.org/ there is a link on the
left side to the webcam or the direct link is: http://
24.237.247.165/ You can actually control the camera. Sorry it will not show you Tin City, but you can see the
Diomede islands and Siberia on a good day.
Sincerely,
Eric Lowry
Wales, Alaska
Rosie making some new friends and Kingikmiut School.
Photos
sent by Adiran Ryan
16/10/05 Hi everyone this email is from Adrian Ryan who was kind enough to give
Rosie a lift all the way up to Wales by small plane, and who has supplied these
great pictures.
Hello James and Wales TV, Rosie sends her best regards from Wales Alaska, where she arrived Saturday 8 October at approximately 11 AM. When you receive the photos and video this afternoon, the times recorded are off by +10hours, as I had not reset my camera clock from my recent visit to Europe. Rosie was quite excited to be on the westernmost tip of land in North America, and she enjoyed the flight out to
Western Alaska with me and my son Jonathon. We left Anchorage in a Piper Navajo light twin engine aircraft, flew 328 nautical miles to Unalakleet Alaska on the eastern Bering Sea (Norton Sound), spend the night with my family; traveled 125 miles by air to Nome, and then 99 miles to Wales, landing approximately 10:55 AM). We were happy to help her out. I was not sure how the videos would turn out. It was quite windy and chilly when we arrived in Wales (25 mph winds and 34F). The audio portion of the videos are not great as the wind was strong on my small Panasonic SVAV30 camera, with only 2 Megapixels. She wanted the share her photos and voice with all the people her have encouraged her on her incredible journey. You can see that the red dragon was blowing in the wind. Let me know if you have any questions. Yours sincerely, Adrian Ryan Anchorage, (and Unalakleet, my hometown) Alaska
16/10/05 Rosie has set off from Wales now and is
out in the wilds once again. 
There is a back log of news to tell you
about, bellow is a section of great email I received from Charlie Bader. It
is so informative, I am sure many people will be interested in reading it.
...She left our house around 1:45PM Friday to go to the airport to fly direct w/refueling stops to Wales in a Piper Navajo with Adrian Ryan of Ryan Air. Carolyn Craig knows Adrian from her days living in McGrath, which is on the Iditarod Trail. Rosie was able to get USGS 1:250,000 maps of the entire route from the local map office, which is one of about 4 in the US that stock all the maps for a particular region.
She was able to get her GPS updated at the GPS Store with all the topo maps of the route also. Rosie says she likes the paper because it gives her a quick idea of where she is at relative to the entire trip. REI was able to replace her split tent pole and did it in a fraction of the usual time. She got a new rucksack- the largest they had. Radio station J-WAVE in Japan has called multiple times, but Rosie didn't want to interview until she got going on the trail. "Hello Mr. Charlie, this is Kanae Hokugawa calling from J-WAVE radio. Sorry to keep calling you, but I must speak with Miss Rosie..."
Carolyn's friend Will wrote up a trail guide with town by town info including contact phones and lat/longs for shelter cabins along the way. Will is an Iditarod expert. Wales to Teller will be mostly beach with a couple water crossings with villages at the major crossings. Teller to Nome is all road. Nome to Unalakleet will be the most challenging because of the large expanses of open water, marsh and lack of sheltering trees.
Once she gets to Unalakleet, the route heads inland and will be mostly through forest-similar to Siberia. Her biggest challenge will then be river crossings. Keep in mind that the Iditarod is more of a route than a trail. Most parts are only traveled in the winter (half the year in most parts of Alaska) after all the water freezes and is
preferably covered with snow. Much of it travels She couldn't be traveling at a better time but she may have to wait for places to freeze solid. We've warned her many times about crossing marginally frozen rivers and she has assured us that she will be careful. Much of the part on this end is all marsh. In the two months it will take her, it should be frozen solid.... We'll let you know more as we hear more. Charlie Bader.
Hercules has developed bit of a cult following, this is Charlie's description of the work he did on Hercules
As for the "complete" overhaul of Hercules, the photos show that only a few minor, yet important mods were made. She wanted the two metal things on the back removed... I patched the holes with 6 oz fiberglass cloth and a couple coats of epoxy. Then I sprayed "cold galv" on some places that were rusting. I didn't have a chance to put a black sealer coat on, but maybe on her way back through I can get him all spiffy. I also patched the bottom front of him, as the logs and rocks seem to have taken a serious bite out of his belly.
She gave me a disk with some photos from Siberia on it. I don't have dates names, or locations of where these photos were taken. I posted those photos to: http://www.anchoragetrails.com/rosie/rosie.html Rosie did call us today from Wales. Carolyn spoke with her and Rosie gave her this e-mail with specific instructions to get the video to you!. Good luck! Charlie Bader http://www.alaska.net/~chazmo/
Photos kindly supplied by Charles Bader ©2004-2005 Charles C. Bader. For more photos and AVs please click here
15/10/05 Hi everyone, sorry for the lack of news, as I have been reinstalling all the software after my hard drive crash I have been plagued by software conflicts. This is all sorted now.
There is quite a big backlog of news to report. Rosie has met some wonderfully good people in Anchorage, Carolyn and her sister Shannon Craig, Charlie Bader and Will Peterson who have been very kind and looked after mum and Herculies who was patched up after being in need of some vital repair.. And I have supplied my with some great photos and Avs which is a first for the website.
Though this meeting Via Carolyn Rosie was introduced to Will Peterson and
gathered valuable information about the Iditarod trail which Rosie is going to
be following and helped work out the waypoints of the difficult journey.
It was actually looking quite hard for Rosie to
even travel up to Wales the remotest west point of Alaska, but by good fortune
and the hard work and emails sent by those helping mum Adrian Ryan who is an
orthopedic surgeon, and Native Alaskan from Unalakleet wrote and said he would be traveling to Unk (Twin Navajo) in the
next two days...did Rosie
want to go!
(from Carolyn)
...Frantic two day with Charlie patching Hercules, Will adding information to
waypoints, and placing an "Alaska Girls Kick A.." sticker on Hercules.
Adrian and Rosie called last night from Unalakleet. They had landed at sunset, which is spectacular since Unk sits right
on the coast of Norton Sound. They flew high over the Alaska Range then dropped down after McGrath
and were able to view the terrain, including the Yukon River which Rosie was quite excited about. Adrian will fly Rosie to
Wales today 8th of October 2005.
We have a network of friends all along the trails she will be traveling and
will keep track of her progress. So even Rosie doesn't have time to stay
in touch we will email you her whereabouts. Alaska may be vast in size but
small in many other ways...
Have a wonderful day, beautiful here, first hard frost of the year! Carolyn Craig.
There will be more news her trip up there and the and photos and links to the Avs to follow shortly.
Rosie arrives in Wales on the 8th of Oct 2005