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[JLJ]

. . . Sounds rather like what happened to Jeff King a few years back in a similar situation where the wind blew him and his dogs off the trail and forced him to hunker down for pure survival. Did Jeff end up hitting his emergency button and then had to scratch when help arrived - can’t remember? . . .

When I saw Brent's detailed account of what had happened to him when he had that unexpected hour plus delay due to powerful wind I was most struck by how very very nearly he had the same experience that Jeff had in 2014. As I recall, Jeff left White Mountain with what would in most years be a sure winning position -- about an hour lead over Aliy Zirkle and about two hours over Dallas. When he got to the blowhole area he got hit by winds that threw his dogs around and into driftwood, threw the sled around, plus the snow was blinding. He has a *lot* of diverse experience, but all he could do, finally, was get his dogs together in the best sort of limited windbreak area he could find/devise for them and hitch a ride with some passing snowmobiles to get to Safety and bring back help for his dogs. Which meant of course that in just a short time he went from nearing completion of a near certain win -- which I think would have made him the oldest winner -- to having to scratch because of outside help -- but he was seriously concerned about whether his dogs would even survive and when someone like Jeff thinks that, you know it wasn't undue panic but a real data based concern. He got help as quickly as he could and brought it back to where he'd left the dogs, but at first, no dogs in sight. He wrote later that he almost dreaded finding them (of course, it wasn't just the cold and snow and wind but he knew they'd been thrown around and wasn't sure of their conditions except that he wanted to get them help and relief as soon as possible.) When he called to them, though, they began popping up out of the snow and as I recall none of them had serious injuries and they were taken to shelter by the assistants Jeff had brought back with him. Aliy had passed him without ever seeing him or his dogs, never knew, in the ground blizzard, exactly where she was, near the trail or headed out on the sea ice or whether she passed near Jeff or his dogs, said she might well not have survived, but the famous Quito was leading Aliy's team and suddenly, to Aliy's surprise and relief, Safety loomed up in front of them. She stopped there to let the most dangerous conditions pass and was back with her team contemplating that conditions had improved enough that she could go on when Dallas came through, not seeing either Jeff or Aliy and assuming that both were ahead of him somewhere as he knew both had an 'uncatchable' lead over him, unless something almost impossible happened . . . Aliy *almost* caught him -- Dallas saw someone behind him, but thought it was his Dad, then when he went under the arch, did he ever get a surprise.

[flowerpower]

That was a very memorable finish!

[elsietee]

I thought it was telling that Fanny said the most scared he has ever been in his life was on that stretch when it was blowing.

[elsietee]

Here’s a nice one:

From wrong turns to broken sleds, 6 mushers share their biggest mishaps of this year’s Iditarod
By Lex Treinen, Alaska Public Media - Anchorage - March 13, 2022

A lot can go wrong during a 1,000-mile sled dog race in remote Alaska.

And certainly something will.

From wet river crossings to wrong turns, six Iditarod mushers share their most frustrating mishaps on this year’s course.

Answers have been lightly edited for clarity.

1. Deke Naaktgeboren, wet feet and an accidental tour of Galena

Going down the Dalzell Gorge there’s some open water about shin-deep and instead of trying to have my dogs do it — I didn’t think they could do it, but they could — I just jumped in it in my boots and led them across. But we only got far enough that my sled sat right in the middle of this creek where there’s water gushing over my sled. My feet were wet until my 24-hour layover in Ophir. I ended up emptying out my dog food kibble bags and wrapped those around my socks. That was pretty dumb.

Then later, coming up off the Yukon River, I was looking for the turn off because I’d been here once before. I didn’t see it and my lead dog took me — well, I took my lead dog — across the street. All of a sudden there were no trail markers, but you don’t just 180-turn with a 11-dog sled team. I went all the way through the fine town of Galena and checked out the library, the hospital, whatever. There were a bunch of kids that came out and were waving at us.

Someone on a snowmachine found me and said, ‘Hey, go this way!’ But I think I did an extra three miles. I was just kind of along for the ride.

2. Mille Porsild, a snapped sled runner


I was going out of Kaltag when I heard a snap. One of my sled runners broke. A while later the other one broke. It just snapped in half. It’s basically held together by the sled plastic. Mitch Seavey and Pete Kaiser helped me fix it. Pete Kaiser is a saint! It’s held together now basically by a wrench attached with a metal hose clamp. I had big plans and I was chasing down Aaron Burmeister, that’s many, many, many hours ago. So it goes. A local musher gave me another sled to use. I don’t know who it is.

3. Aaron Peck, sprinting for HEET


Aaron Peck feeds his dogs some medicine in the dog yard in Galena on Saturday. (Lex Treinen/Alaska Public Media)
If you blow through Rohn like a lot of people do, it’s kinda a rushed express lane cause there’s other people coming in and there’s limited help, so you wanna get your food, your straw and most importantly your HEET heating fuel. I had gone 300 yards down the narrow trail — almost to the point of no return because once you go out on the ice, good luck stopping. And I’m doing the check in my head and I realized: Uh oh, no HEET.

I panicked, I tied them down, flipped the sled on it’s side so the dogs couldn’t go anywhere and doubled back on foot. I ran back to the check point and I was huffing and puffing because it was warm. I was just praying that another team wouldn’t come down the trail. With all the time I wasted there, I should of just stayed there and camped.

4. Jessie Holmes, dragged on ice

I guess I wasn’t paying enough attention and I just slammed down super hard coming down the Unalakleet River into Unalakleet. My sled fell on its side and I got dragged for a half a mile down the river. I could’ve put the snow hook in, but I didn’t wanna yank them and have them crash and fall. I just rode it out, I just waited until they finally listened to me.

5. Dan Kaduce, ‘Who’s the bonehead who packed these bags?‘

It’s not really funny, but the biggest packing blunder I had was that I got to Nikolai, and I didn’t have any new sled plastic. I knew it was gonna be rocky getting there. I’ve switched plastic every time I’ve ever been there. I got there and I had none. I was like, ‘Who’s the bonehead who packed these bags?”

Michelle Phillips eventually hooked me up with a set so I was okay.

6. Matt Hall, a battery blunder


Two of my Lupine headlamp batteries which are $130 a piece — I put them in my Velcro chest pocket and got down the trail a little ways heading into Cripple and went to look for my backup battery and my backup backup battery, and neither of them were in my pocket.

I have other Lupine batteries, but it was more the convenience and the expense of losing them. I don’t know how I lost them, but they must have fallen out when I was using my coat like a parka to cover up certain dogs that needed it.

When I got into Ruby, the Berington twins showed up and handed me one of my missing batteries. They said a volunteer found it in the straw in Ophir, so that was super awesome of them. I lost a mitten on the trail last year, which the Beringtons also brought to me. They’ve been good to me the last couple of years

[akaquaman]

JLJ Thanks - that was the story I was trying to remember - one of the most dramatic stories in a race full of them!

[flowerpower]

I find this really infuriating that the ITC did not put out any kind of press release or info about this until called to task by the Yukon Quest (apparently) and others.

Iditarod Lost Dog Update...
Leon, a dog from the team of Sebastien Dos Santos Borges (bib #44), escaped out of the returned dog area at the Ruby checkpoint the evening of Sunday, March 13. The Iditarod, along with Ruby community members and the team’s handler, have been actively searching the area since Sunday evening but have so far been unsuccessful at locating Leon.
Leon is very shy, so please do not approach him. Instead, please call 907-248-MUSH (6874) and report the location. The handler on-site in Ruby is in active communication with the Iditarod.
The Iditarod’s chief veterinarian has been involved with Leon’s status from the beginning. Word-of-mouth communication between the rural communities, as well as social media posts, have been paramount in this search effort, and the Iditarod would like to thank the trail communities and its followers for their assistance and support in the search for Leon.

[fladogfan]

As of 5:52 AM EDT 3/18/2022
I do not find anything about this lost dog.

[libby the lab]

From Kennel on Hill FB page at about 9:15ADT:
Anyone watching Bridgett’s tracker right now will notice she (as well as the other nearby mushers) is “resting”. There are 70 mph winds in this area right now, the worst she’s ever seen. This is a photo of the area from the air, the winds build up over the open ocean and they are running on the coast with very little shelter. She is currently hunkered down with her dogs huddled together waiting out the winds. Say some prayers and send some calm, breezy thoughts that it dies down soon!

FYI Bridgett has a Sat phone

[fladogfan]

In this day and age a Sat phone should be required equipment, tho I have no idea how much they cost.

[dashdel]

cheaper than an Iphone https://satellitephonestore.com/catalog ... ne-kit-322