White Mountain CP #1

[Di*]

Oh and I meant to say that article about the trickster Lance was soooo cool, those are the kind of details and insider talk that I cherish!!!!
Thanks to whomever wrote that!

[tanglefoot]

posted on other thread as well but cant remembe which one



Defending champ Lance Mackey held a nearly one-hour lead as Iditarod dog teams prepared to leave White Mountain today for a final push to the finish line in Nome, but the race remained too close to call.

Four-time champion Jeff King from Denali Park, who has been been behind a consistently faster team through the race, was within striking distance. His dogs, however, will have to make the run of their lifetimes if he is to beat Mackey to the end of the trail sometime early Wednesday, probably around 4 a.m.

White Mountain to Nome is a distance of about 75 miles, and coming off the race's mandatory eight-hour rest there, Mackey's dogs are expected to be somewhat rejuvenated. The team averaged 7 mph in the run from Elim up over the 1,000-foot summit that mushers call "Little McKinley" on the way into White Mountain.

If Mackey's team can hold that pace, King will have to get his dogs rolling at a speed of almost 8 mph to win.

As the race has moved up the Bering Sea coast, there has been no sign his team -- nor any other -- can do that.

Fresh Iditarod dogs can make better than 10 mph, but almost 1,000-miles into The Last Great Race, everyone is tired -- dogs, mushers and race officials.

Mackey lamented that fact Monday at Koyuk, a village on the shore of frozen Norton Bay. The trail coming in there crosses the sea ice from Shaktoolik straight and flat for miles. The mushers can see the village almost forever, and that makes the crossing seem even slower than it really is.

"As soon as we leave the checkpoints,'' Mackey said, "we go into a crawl. It doesn't matter what I do or say."

He did better than a crawl, but he wasn't setting any speed records either.

And he confessed to being worried about a key lead dog that helps set the pace for the team.

"Larry has some issues,'' Mackey said. "He's got an infected foot (because of) a split that wasn't controlled. He's irritated with me. He's got bombproof feet, and I screwed up."

Despite that, Larry appeared to be hanging in there, as was Mackey, who would really make a mark if he wins this Iditarod.

He did what everyone in the mushing world thought impossible last year when he won the 1,000-mile Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race from Fairbanks to Whitehorse, Yukon, in February and followed that up with his first Iditarod victory in March. This year, he went back to the Quest and successfully defended his title.

Now he stands on the verge of doing likewise in the Iditarod.

What's beyond impossible?

Behind him, mushers in a hard-fought battle for top-10 positions are scratching their heads and pondering that.

Except for the small gap opened by Mackey and King, they are caught in a battle of what may be the most competitive competition the race has ever witnessed along the Bering Sea coast.

Less than two hours separated teams three through nine this afternoon as they closed on White Mountain, where the leaders were resting. Former Quest champ Hans Gatt from Canada was leading the pack. Behind him were this year's Quest runner-up, a former Iditarod champ, a four-time Iditarod champ, last year's Iditarod runner-up, and the musher at the handlebar of the near legendary "Team Norway.''

Which of them ends up third is still a long way from decided.

[aren]

Great article tangles.

Just noticed that Mitch is digging his way up to WM 33 ft under the surface
.

Mitch Seavey
Lat: N 64°38.718'
Lon: W 163°16.74'
Altitude: -10 meters / -33 ft
Speed: 6 mph / 9 kph
Heading: 315° NW
Temp: 31°F / -0.48°C
Reported: 3/12/2008 2:19:14 AM
Race Mile: 835.0

Must be a quicker way up the hill

[mithious]

Jeff's out 5:50 with 16 dogs

edited to add...opppsss 14 dogs

[dilli]

((((Mith))))))

Edited because you corrected yourself. ROFL


BYW yiou might want to check the trail breaker thread. Spirit's on the lam in a search mission .. The Breaker Gang absconded with his portable snack bar

[Moose]

Backed and Gebhardt into WM at 18:17:00 each. Must have been a photo op.

[dilli]

OMG Thud

[mithious]

((((Mith))))))

Edited because you corrected yourself. ROFL


BYW yiou might want to check the trail breaker thread. Spirit's on the lam in a search mission .. The Breaker Gang absconded with his portable snack bar

ROFHowling.....Spirit...where are you...oh Sppiirriitttttt.....come Spirit....Oh fir....hadn't even noticed he was missing...the little sneak

[Deerskin and Anja]

hey, what gives with jeff?! the GPS looks like he is *way* off the trail...what is going on, anyone have a clue?

hey, mith, is spirit worried about you yet? anja gets antsy when i get excited about things!

[mithious]

No Deerskin...he's pretty bomb proof and has been going through this race with me for 4 years now Not much rattles him....HSDM won't pass SD's that have nervous problems...they say the dog could bite if nervous under certain conditions.....someone could beat us both to death and Spirit wouldn't even fight back.....happened about 8-10 years ago to another SD team and the dog was killed...beat to death, and the disabled man was severly injured......they caught the guy and he is serving 30 years in jail, but that doesn't replace a beloved helper

It all has to do with our public access certification.....we have to KNOW that our SD's WON"T react to any situation with ANY kind of "off" behavior, or we don't get certified...and we are re-certified every year...just to make sure we are keeping up with the SD's continued training...it's an on going thing, training that is.... I'm always teaching Spirit new things....it's so fun...he even understands lots of the english language...ask cat about that one....it was really funny...and the look on her face was priceless when she realized Spirit understood what she was saying to me.....

Spirit just lays at my feet waiting for me to ask something from him He NEVER leaves my side..only one time in 4 years...when I almost lost him and the iditabuddies came to our rescue!!!!!!