Varied field of riders find their niche in Iron Dog's Expedition Class

With less than 10 days to go before registration closes for Iron Dog’s Expedition Class, the teams are starting to come together. As of Nov. 21, 27 riders had registered, and with the Dec. 1 deadline approaching, at least a half dozen more were poised to complete their applications.

So, what motivates the Expedition Class rider to line up at the start in 2023? They aren’t competing for large cash prizes like the Pro Class racers do. They won’t be standing on a podium when they reach Nome, their end point to the cross-country trek. Still, the allure is growing. This year’s field of riders includes a growing contingent of recreational riders, aspiring pros and repeat entrants who come back to the Expedition Class each year simply because they love it.

Iron Dog Pro Class racer Zack Weisz, shown here at the finish of the 2021 race, will be joining the Expedition Class this year, to ride with his father, David, center, and three uncles. He plans to return to pro racing after the gap year. Photo credit: Megan Rolinger

For Pro Class racer and perennial Top 5 finisher Zack Weisz, shifting to the Expedition Class in 2023 will be just a short reprieve from Iron Dog pro racing. Weisz is accustomed to lightning-fast speeds, the stress of competition and the physical rigors racing the World’s Longest, Toughest Snowmobile Race brings with it. He has placed in the Top 5 the last five years of racing, standing on the podium in third place in 2020 with race partner Brett Lapham.

But this coming year, he has an opportunity he felt he couldn’t miss.

Weisz will be riding as part of a family team, with his father, David Weisz, and uncles Darrin Kelly, Jason Sanford and Larry Weisz.

“The Iron Dog Expedition Class has been a bucket list thing for my dad, so it’s one of those re-pay back opportunities,” Weisz said. “We were drinking around the fire at some point, and my dad had just turned 60. He said, ‘If I’m ever going to do it, this is the year to do it.’”

Many Alaska adventures hatch around a campfire, and the Weisz expedition was no different. Soon the conversation shifted, and a solid plan began to materialize. Weisz agreed to take a year’s break from the Pro Class to see it happen.

“My dad has supported me in all my racing, and this is something he had always wanted to do,” Weisz said. “So, this isn’t an end-of-the-road thing for me, it’s just kind of a take-a-step-back year.”

Weisz said the slower pace will surely feel different than the frenzy of racing, but many of the challenges will be the same. Mother Nature doesn’t care if you are an Expedition Class rider or Pro Class racer – she serves up the same ground blizzards, subzero temperatures, and freakish thaws to anyone.

“If I just sent my dad out there, I’d be a little bit nervous,” Zack said. “When you get to the coast and there’s a blizzard, even for us pro guys, it’s still kind of hairy.”

Weisz said he wants this year’s Expedition Ride to be a memorable family accomplishment – one he may not ever be able to do after this year.

Kim Bergeron with Expedition Class teammates Rebecca Charles and Dennis Falldorf in 2019. Photo credit: Rebecca Charles

Kim Bergeron is prepping for his sixth Expedition Class ride in 2023 and is what you might call an out-of-state regular in the Expedition Class, and to some a kind of Iron Dog ambassador. As of publication. the 2023 field of Expedition riders includes 12 out-of-state riders, thanks in part to Bergeron. Iron Dog’s Expedition Class is one of the best-kept secrets of cross-country snowmachine riding, he said. Where else in the country can one see such beautiful wilderness and enjoy ride support along the way?

“In all five races I’ve done, you start out as 10 or 15 different teams, but you end up as one big team,” Bergeron said. “This is just a nice long trail ride …  in a core group of 8 or 10 or 12 people at the end.”

 Bergeron, who lives in Dublin, N.H., first entered the Expedition Class in 2015, after being persuaded by his friend Randy Bedard, an Alaska rider from Willow who first started riding Expedition Class (once known as Trail Class) in 1989 and will be entering his 11th ride in 2023. Bergeron estimates he spent about $38,000 on that first ride, between the logistics of getting gear from one end of the country to the other, spending money on supplies he thought he might need – and overpacking for conditions he had yet to experience.

“2015 was a knockdown brawl,” he said. “It was warm, and there was no snow. I thought, ‘What did I do, what did I spend all this time and effort for?’ But when we got to Nome successfully, all of that went away.”

Bergeron said the kindness of the people he met along the way, the enthusiasm they showed in each community and the stunning beauty of Alaska in the winter combined to make him a lifelong Iron Dog rider. Like so many who take part in the Iron Dog, Bergeron said he is overwhelmed with the people in the communities along the way who help support the riders and racers.

“It’s not just me riding down this trail, there is something we do here that people really connect to,” he said. “I don’t know what it was, but that means something.”

In a way then, Bergeron said, his Iron Dog Expedition Class participation has become a calling. Since that first ride, he tapped into his logistics mindset to make the Expedition Class financially viable. He got smarter about planning and whittled his own costs down to about $18,000 each year. He successfully completed the Expedition Class again in 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2022.

“We had a handle on costs at that point,” he said. “We had bought used snowmobiles in the past; they were practice sleds, units that had already been run down the trail. But I decided to buy a new one” – thus minimizing the chances of mechanical breakdowns that can be so frequent on the rugged Iron Dog trail.

About three years ago, just before the COVID-19 pandemic struck, Bergeron hatched a plan to cater to other Expedition riders offering new sleds, outfitted perfectly for Iron Dog’s rugged conditions. He compiles itineraries that include lodging, ride entry fees, and other logistics so interested riders can simply sign up and show up. (Getting in shape for the Iron Dog Expedition Class is still their own responsibility!)

Now riders can focus on their ride and not logistics, he said, for roughly $11,000.

“I’m really hoping in 2024 I can get at least four to six more (Lower 48) riders to come up,” he added. “Rainy Pass in the morning when the sun comes up? The other side of the (Farewell) burn, getting into those big stands of birch trees as you come down into the river system. It’s beautiful. There is really nothing else like it.”

The kindness, and teamwork, among fans and riders is also notable, he said.

“In 2015, when we had so many mechanicals, we had locals taking parts off their sleds and selling us parts – this is the definition of teamwork,” he said. “You just don’t get that back East.”

Other riders, he said, can experience this too.

“Some of those people may decide to ride Pro Class one day,” he added.

Rico Rossi is entering the Expedition Class for the first time this year. Rossi has spent the past five years perfecting his riding skills, in the hopes of running the Pro Class one day. He is shown here with his son, Eric. Photo courtesy: Rico Rossi

California transplant Rico Rossi aims to do just that. Rossi, who came to Alaska in 2012 for a work gig fell in love with the state and the lifestyle.  

Rossi is entering the Expedition Class with Team 99 members Trent Johnson and Cole Sabin in the hopes that it will give him the experience he needs to race Pro Class in the future.

“I’ve always been a competitive person,” he said. Rossi was a NCAA DI track and field hurdler on scholarship at University of California Davis, and when he entered the Marines after college, he became known as Iron Man for his physical fitness – a must-have for any Pro Class Iron Dog aspirant. After moving to Big Lake in 2017, Rossi spent his winters learning to snowmachine, starting out on an ’90s-era Scandic that he “got stuck and crashed – a lot.” After the learning curve, his competitive side yearned for more.

“I bought Mike Morgan’s 2019 race sled and started putting in training rides,” he said. “Jesse Atkinson became a very good friend, and we hoped to sign up in the Pro Class one day.”

Sadly, Atkinson took his life in March of 2022, leaving Rossi despondent. But rather than let the tragedy end his aspirations, he decided the Expedition Class would be a good first start.

“I’m running this in memory of Jesse,” he said.

Dustin Pancheri, part of the 2023 Ambassador Class, competes at the Jackson Hole World Championship Hillclimb in 2022.

There is still plenty of time to sign up and be a part of the Expedition Class tradition, so grab your friends and make 2023 the year for your ultimate crosscountry snowmachining adventure.

Meanwhile, the Ambassador Class, an Expedition team representing Iron Dog, is still coming together. This year’s team will be promoting safety again this year. So far, the team includes:

Smasher Kaltenbacher takes part in a photo shoot at Crater Lake. Photo credit: Nick Reedy

— Klim Senior Associate Marketing Manager Dustin Pancheri. Dustin, a test rider for Snowtech and two-time champion in the Non Pro Master class at Jackson Hole Hill Climb, has worked in the industry for more than 25 years. 

— Mike Buck, director of Alaska Safe Riders, is a backcountry snowmachine safety and avalanche expert who for years has spent time teaching around the state.

— Kris Kaltenbacher “Smasher” of Boondockers is a professional rider and native of Dillingham, Alaska.

— Treasurer Roger Brown, who headed up the 2022 Iron Dog Ambassador Class, is back again this year as well.