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Armchair mushing time:
As I write this, Ed Hopkins is about go down the Switchbacks after Eureka Summit. It is a heck of a lot more fun to go down those switchbacks than going up. Once at the bottom the trails weaves through active ( in the summer ) mining camps. Mining is the only reason those trails ( roads in summer ) even exists. The name of the game last night was once again to stay a bit more in the high country. Strategie wise I had wondered if Ed would have tried to do a longer run, to get closer to 2nd and 3rd Place teams Paige Droby and Matt Hall. He did not, matter of fact Laura Neese is hot on his heels, about 10 miles behind and she has passed Vebjorn Reitan while he was resting before Eureka Summit. I wonder if he scrambled out of his sleeping back quickly when her team passed by. It still take about 30 minutes before getting going in such a situation, with packing up and putting booties on the whole team.
So far all front 6 teams have continued to run a very traditional, almost conservative schedule. A safe way to run from Dawson to Pelly is in 4 runs. ( 200 miles, each run about 50 miles long ) Leaving Dawson climb over King Solomon with its beautiful vistas north towards the Tombstone Mountains. 1st stop near the Indian River Bridge. In this inversion weather…. It is cold right at the bridge, so going another 2 miles is the ticket, to get up a little higher. Yes it is a big difference if its 40 below or only 30 below at a campout. From Indian River Bridge they run to Scoggy Creek which sits pretty much smack dab in the middle after about 100 miles from Dawson. Mushers have half a bale of straw there, there is a veterinarian, volunteers and a warm cabin to sleep in. Building that cabin was initiated by Quest mushers and spearheaded by William Kleedehn. The cabin walls serve as a big display of all the current standings from the past decades races.
Leaving Scroggy the trail is narrow, exiting with quite a bit potential for sidehill. Usually that is also one of the lower snow areas. Breaking up the run to Pelly into 2 equally long sections is a bit more tricky. As half way is nothing…., meaning a campout. Whereas after an about 10 hr run sits the wonderful place of Stepping Stone. Most years welcome signs announcing Burritos and other yummy meals line the trail leading up to the hospitality stop. That is sure hard to pass up on. Time will tell how many mushers runs straight to Stepping Stone…. And from there it is a much shorter run to Pelly Crossing.
Allen Moore is on his way towards Stepping stone, while both Paige and Matt are resting in Scroggy. They are still 2 and 3 the same order in which they have left Dawson.
I find it very impressive that none of these front runners have dropped any dogs in Dawson and most of them still driving 13 or 14 dogs. That is very big strings 600 miles into the race. That requires an incredible amount of dog care in these temperatures. And a big team means lots and lots of dogfood having to be packed in the sled. Room is tight on this long 200 Mile run. Talking to Bernhard on the phone last night, we planned for the same 3 stops, with one emergency meal in the sled, meaning somehow he has to cram 4 full meals, snacks and of course straw into the sled. Driving a taildragger helps with that, specially being able to strap the straw onto the seat part and out of the way from the sled bag. In the old days we used to carry the bale of straw on top of the sled bag, which made it not only much more tippy, it made getting at any snacks and gear very cumbersome.
There are only 17 to the 26 mushers still on the trail. As exiting as things are for the front runners, quite a bit of hardship for other mushers. When Severin Cathry was 1st withdrawn, my heart sank, knowing that this was already his 2nd attempt in the Quest, specially with coming all the way from Switzerland. Last year it got cut short right before the race. The more exited I was reading that his withdraw had been retracted once all circumstances became known. He is far back in the race, but he is still IN the race which is much more important than placing. Many other teams have been far behind in Dawson before, yet finished just fine. Go Sevy go!
It is 40 below in Carmacks right now. Can’t find a weather station for Pelly, but it will likely be much the same. From the looks of it…. Only one more real cold night lays ahead… till it finally warms up a bit. But then again…. They have talked about a warm up for almost a week now…..
Thanks for all the well wishes and prayers!!. Jason pushed his help button after he had bedded down his team and fed them he then felt his legs giving out beneath him and knew he was in trouble and pressed his help button on his sled. He really should have pressed his sos button as he then passed out and when rescuers came we were told he was unconscious and hypothermic and was about an hr away from dying. They took him to a nearby homestead To be warmed up then a military helicopter flew in (thank you so much US Military!!) and took him to the fairbanks hospital where he had many tests done. Jason exerted so much energy his muscle masses were starting to break Down which is pretty serious. They did find a small mass in his brain. Photos are being sent to a neurologist to find out more. Thanks again for all the well wishes Jason was flown to eagle yesterday where is dogs were being sent to and today he will fly with his dogs to Dawson where we will finally be able to see him.thank you to Outdoor Survival Canada #OSC for the fantastic gear rescuers said that he was lucky to be wearing such fantastic gear which definitely helped save his life!!
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