IditaProject Forum

Leaddog wrote:Dallas sure is in a hurry to catch Brent - he blew through Kaltag so fast that he actually left a minute before he arrived!

Both Brent and Dallas now resting as expected.

Hard to figure their distance apart, since they've been leap-frogging rest all the way down the Yukon, but when they left Cripple Brent was 3 hrs 5 mins ahead of Dallas. In Kaltag, Dallas was 2 hrs 8 mins behind him. I would not want to be Brent at this stage

I also think we might be looking at close to the top ten as it stands, although check out Joar's speed into Nulato - most everyone was around 6 hours... he was 5 hrs 9 mins, so he might be accelerating. Dan Kaduce was also fast through there. Unsure about how tough Dan's team is, though - after he scratched from the YQ 350 and has scratched from the YQ in the past. https://iditarod.com/race/2022/checkpoints/15-Nulato/.

I predict that Mille will pass teams, as she was fast towards the end of the last race, and has been consistently faster than Mitch the last few legs - taking longer in checkpoints, but coming in ahead of him.

I'm nervous for Richie, since he looks to be losing speed. And I'm nervous for Jessie in case he falls into the trap of going too fast too soon and burns his team out.

Watching the live feed in UNK.

Brent's team came in nice and steady (although he flipped his sled just before entering the checkpoint and went down hard - I was amazed how quickly he got the thing back upright again with hardly a stutter). He did not stay long and the dogs looked really strong leaving there - although they promptly lost the trail in the dark and had to be corrected twice, which wasn't great for the flow. He continued up the trail and is camped in the Blueberry Hills, 15 miles past UNK (making his run from Old Woman Cabin(?) to there ~55 miles long).

Dallas came in 1 hr 50 mins later (remember, he was 2 hrs 8 mins behind leaving Kaltag) - and was FLYING coming across the glare ice at 9.8 mph. His team were galloping coming in. He's got them bedded on a THICK pile of straw (the wind is blowing so hard it was hard to hear what Bruce was saying on the camera) and is currently cooking up their suppers. They curled up quickly and didn't seem interested in the cold snacks he offered them. Bruce says they are in good weight. Dallas's run from Tripod Cabin(?) was 57 miles.

According to my weather app, it's 20°F/-7°C in UNK, but feels like 12°F/-11°C. Supposed to get colder tomorrow.

Dallas probably switched to a lighter sled, on his 8 hour break on the Yukon. He also has a habit of dropping his slower dogs. Because Brent is resting away from check points, it is hard to tell how much rest he is giving his team. Dallas seems to be cutting his rest. I wonder where Brent's next rest will be. Dallas will probably camp at the cabin just before crossing the open sound. He has a habit of doing this in the past races.

Another one from Mushing Tech:
"From the replay, it looks like Josh McNeal left Ruby, went about 10 miles, and is turned around and heading back."

Someone from Joshua's team:
""He did turn back and is going to rest a little longer in Ruby and dry out some of his gear. May or may not drop a dog, though nothing serious. "

"Update: We got this message from Josh.
“I'm back and dogs are bedded. They are all perfectly healthy and eating fine. They loped up to 11 mph when they saw they saw the checkpoint.”

and

"Update. If you’ve been following the tracker you will notice that Josh left Ruby and once he reached 12 miles he turned the team around to head back. We had two dogs get into a scuffle on the trail so he turned back to get them both checked out. He said his gear is extremely wet and it will be good to dry out and take a break.

They are resting now and evaluating everything. Send them positive vibes! I’ll try to update when I know more. I am flying today so it may take me a bit to get back to everyone."

Thanks LC for keeping us updated. Much appreciated.

Delichte1960 - thanks for the insights. And the wonderings! Welcome

From FB, posted 3 hours ago:

Martin Buser's Happy Trails Kennel

MOOSE on the LOOSE!!!!! Just outside Galena Martin came upon a young moose on the trail. The little moose then got in the midst of our Martin’s team but the team got around without major incident. OUr Martin flashed his light to alert Canadian Martin who finally saw the moose and managed to make it past. Then Matt Failor’s team came up and the moose was angrier and Matt had to dispatch the moose. Everyone was amped up and it was a fairly harrowing experience but no dogs were injured. Whew.

There is an apocryphal story about Susan Butcher taking down a full grown moose with the axe required to be in the sled.

Another apocryphal story about Karen Ramsdell, but Karen packed the fire power necessary, so she took dead-close range aim and shot the attacker dead. I remember her saying she could never understand why more mushers DIDN'T carry, because when you need it on the trail, you need it right now and can't wait.

Good point Breeze … and know how to use it safely and proficiently. I thought at one point after Susan Butcher’s moose attack in the 90s, that a firearm was included as a piece of mandatory equipment, but later was dropped. Just a thought off the top of my head, so I probably am wrong and someone else could research it. It’s not mandatory now if ever, but it was good that Matt was prepared. Never fun or satisfying to have to take out any animal in defense, but at least it helped to feed a village.