by elsietee » Wed Feb 07, 2018 8:31 am
Latest from Matt's team:
Good morning early birds! Matt and his stellar group of canines have left Eagle Checkpoint in transit to the half way point of Dawson City, 150-miles away! It'll be another long haul of COLD, but beautiful trail!
Here's our update from Scarlett:
"when he was starting to hook up their lines the dogs were up and yipping and howling to go. It was a beautiful sound and an amazing sound...very impressive. The charged out of the yard. Matt is tired but did rest for a couple of hours."
As for his hands, they're going to be fine, as long as he does not freeze them again. He's starting to get feeling back and they're only slightly discolored...pinkish, not black!"
Pink is way better than black--We like what we hear!
He still has a full team of 14 dogs and it sounds like our team of furry adventurers are ready to crank out this next long leg of the race! First up, American Summit. Sitting at 3,420' and an elevation gain of 2,540', these guys have some climbing to do. Which is good, because Matt will be helping the team work up that mountain every step of the way, keeping his blood pumping through those frosty finger tips! Matt and his family lived on top of this summit for a few years before they bought the homestead in Eagle. They mainly trapped this area in the winter by dog team and have some harrowing tails of braving the elements. So Matt is no stranger to this neck of the woods. The summit tends to be windy and the trail blown in. I'm sure his leaders are up for the challenge.
It was 32 below when he left Eagle at 11:30 pm and 40 below once the Hall's returned to their cabin 6 miles down river. It was reported that it was a tropical 40 below in Dawson as well. The dogs are well prepared for these temps with the heaviest jacket we could find on the market, arctic belly blankets and fox tails for their under parts. Matt is well equipped with pockets full of hand warmers and his wind stopping anorak and bibs. Dawson city, here we come!
The team of handlers have made the long 1,055 mile trip over to Dawson City. They're catching a cat nap before setting up dog camp. The handler crew now consists of Marinell, Luther, Jess and Cris. Marinell is an EMT, Cris a Paramedic, and Luther a Wilderness First Responder--So the team and Matt are in good hands!
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Last edited by
elsietee on Wed Feb 07, 2018 8:36 am, edited 1 time in total.
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elsietee AT ponyhill DOT org
Repotted english person in the Sierra foothills, CA
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