A New Tracker Challenge

Greetings, my tracker friends. It is time for my final tracker update of this season. This Friday, December 23rd, Santa will launch from the North Pole and make a journey around the world unlike any other he has taken before.

Why will it be different?

It will be different because he will have at his command more detailed information about most areas he will be flying. I spoke with Santa earlier today and he is just THRILLED with the Santa tracker effort this year. Although we are now just over 500 million tracker reports, which is over halfway to our goal, reports are coming in so fast that Santa feels confident we will meet and exceed our goal easily.

We have, however, some news to share with you today that you need to be aware of:

1. The Santa Tracking Map here at SantaTrackers.net has now gone “dark”. The next time you see it will be when Santa himself launches.
2. The test flights of Santa’s sleigh will now take a new chapter. The final version of the sleigh is being launched from the North Pole today. It will continue to fly until Thursday night, when it will return to the North Pole for a brief adjustment period. A final test flight will take place on Friday, December 23rd.
3. That final version will feature 12 different sleighs. They will launch from the North Pole tonight and will fly only at night. Each Sector will have at least 2 sleighs in flight at a time, some will have 3.
4. We challenge our tracker elves, between now and when Santa himself launches, to find and photograph or video any of these sleighs in flight over the next four days. Any elf who can post photographic evidence that is confirmed by North Pole Flight Command will be awarded 25,000 points by Santa himself.

That’s great news and a great opportunity for each tracker out there. We have lots of other announcements coming over the next few days. Here is what you can expect:

• Each sector will begin a “check-in” process for tracking Santa according to the time zones of that sector. Please be paying attention.
• A special set of “short form” reports designed for fast use while Santa is in flight will be introduced.
• Announcements from each sector will now happen at very random times. All trackers are encouraged to check in frequently.

As a reminder, I will be in Elf Chat on Christmas Eve. I’m not sure what to expect, given the unexpected nature of the news of Santa’s sleigh this year, the many different kinds of weather challenges all over the world expected next weekend, and the unpredictable nature of tracking Santa in general. However, I will do my best to be there and prepared to discuss the latest with you.

This is a very exciting week ahead for us. Let’s stay focused on our job and get Santa around the world.

About this Elf: Elf Roger Star

Roger is an experienced sleigh pilot, designer and flight engineer who has worked the past 42 years as a flight supervisor in the Tracking Department at the North Pole. Previous to that Roger served as a designer in the Research and Development Department during the crucial years of 1947-1974, an era known for breakout designs in Santa’s sleigh that broke long standing speed records. Roger was the lead designer of Santa’s 1968 sleigh, famous for surviving a brutal blizzard in Bavaria. Elf Roger led the tracker elf as International Director of Santa Trackers from its inception as a pilot program in 2016 until 2023. He is now director of North Pole Flight Command.