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| Hardcore Team Arrives in Ruby - Race Over? | Mon, Mar. 10th, 2008 | |
The Hardcore Team just arrived in Ruby (11:36 PM AKDT or 3:30 AM EDT March 10) after a 14 hour 36 minute, 112 mile run from Cripple. But not all is well with the Hardcore Team.
Heather just called to say she is contemplating scratching at the Ruby checkpoint due to the health of her team. The intestinal virus that was plaguing the team earlier returned.
“I`ve had to put the dogs back on the antibiotic and am going to give it about 12 hours here in Ruby and see how they are but I am not going continue the race if it poses a risk to their health,” said a despondent Siirtola. “This race hasn’t been fun.”
Heather says, if she continues, she may also have to leave Ruby with less than 9 dogs because one was showing signs of a slight limp indicating a possible shoulder injury during the from Cripple.
“My team has smaller dogs than a lot of teams and they`ve had to work a lot harder than most,” said Heather. “The Team was hurt early on when I lost dogs like Shadow and Earp early in the race.”
Heather did say that in spite of all of the obstacles she’s faced this year she`s ahead of last years pace.
So now it is a wait and see for the Hardcore Team and that decision won’t come until around Noon today AKDT or 4:00 PM EDT.
The Hardcore Team has now traveled 615 miles and has 497 miles to go to get ot Nome.
NOTE:
When compared to a similar position to last years race the Hardcore Team is about 40 hours ahead of last years pace. In 2007 it took the Hardcore Team 221 hours and 12 minutes to get to Anvik, 624 miles from Anchorage. This year they Hardcore Team took 175 hours and 56 minutes to reach Ruby which is 615 miles from Anchorage.
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| Next Stop....Ruby | Sun, Mar. 9th, 2008 | |
The communications issues continue from the Cripple checkpoint. At 1:48 PM AKDT we got word that heather and the hardcore Team left Cripple several hours earlier at 8:50 AM AKST (12:50 PM EDT) after a 10 hour 5 minute rest. Heather left with nine dogs which means she had to drop another in Cripple.
Heather, along with Eric Rodgers from Eagle River, AK; Art Church from Willow, AK; and Sue Allen from Wasilla, AK; all left within a few minutes of each other.
As she left for the next checkpoint in Ruby, Heather is being shown in 78th place with 87 mushers still racing. While the official race records still show this leg as 112 miles, it is actually closer to a manageable 97 miles. It is all on well-defined trails (mostly old mining roads) and there are no surprises other than some inevitable overflow and glaciering. Heather and the Hardcore Team should expect to spend 12 to 16 hours on the trail depending on whether how long they camp in route. As on the previous long runs, and especially due to the warm weather, Heather must be careful not to run too far without stopping on this leg—it’s just long enough to cause problems. She can easily lose track of your progress and keep pushing until your dogs tell her that you’ve gone too far—after which it’s a long walk to Ruby.
As the Hardcore Team leaves from the Cripple checkpoint they’ll head sharply back up the hill behind the runway past the site of Poorman, a true gold mining ghost town that had its heyday in 1911, along with this entire district. There is still some mining in the summer from here to Ruby. Poorman was once at the end of a 70-mile road from the steamboat landing on the Yukon at Ruby, but the road is now maintained only for about the northernmost 45 miles, and then only in the summer pass a scattering of dilapidated cabins and old mining works in the trees as you work up the hill.
After climbing up from the runway back onto the high ground, the Hardcore Team will start to pick up a cat trail running north, first along the uplands and then dropping down to the Sulatna River. This entire area is honeycombed with old trails, so Heather will need to watch the markings carefully. She’ll begin to see some big hills north across the Sulatna River (she’ll cross them shortly). At the foot of a 4-mile downgrade along Fourth of July Creek, she’ll pull onto the old road along the Sulatna River, which the Team follow for a couple of miles to the Sulatna bridge (also called Sulatna Crossing), an old steel bridge across the river.
The bridge has long been abandoned and is no longer safe for vehicle traffic, although ATVs, snowmachines and, of course, dog teams still use it. It’s an interesting crossing, 15 or 20 feet above the river. Heather will need to keep her leaders moving. The trail may jump off the road embankment for a little ways once they’ve gone across the bridge.
A mile past the bridge the road threads between a couple of lakes; this was the site of the old Sulatna checkpoint, which was discontinued in the early `90s because it was too difficult to establish and set up. This section of road is still not a bad place to rest because it is mostly tree-lined and relatively sheltered from winds.
A mile past the old checkpoint site, Heather will cross Meketchum Creek, known for overflow. The old road bridge is sometimes unsafe to use and the trail may dip down across the creek. The road will cross two more creeks in the next five miles as it parallels the Sulatna upstream (northwestward), and then will start to climb up a long ridge north out of the valley pass a highway maintenance shed that marks the beginning of the portion that is maintained in summer all the way to Ruby. From here to Ruby Heather will have occasional mile markers showing the distance to Ruby.
In 1996 there was a relief station (an unofficial checkpoint) at Mile 38, at the point where the road crests the first ridge, 12 miles past the Sulatna Bridge. After the site of the relief station, the road descends into a looping switchback set into the side of the mountain; this is usually glaciered and Heather may have to drop the Team to the downhill (left) ditch line to get by. There will almost certainly be some light overflow on top of the ice to make it slippery in spots.
Many places on the road where it runs along hillsides and crosses creeks or streams will be similar to this because the culverts freeze up and the water flows out over the top of the roadway. Sometimes teams can go across with no trouble, but sometimes they may have to dip into the downhill ditch line or balance up on a runner to keep going straight across the ice. The severity of the overflow varies from year to year, and Heather should have received some indication of what it’s like at the musher’s` meeting before the race.
The road will go above timberline or cross high, exposed areas for several short stretches on the way to Ruby (the first will be a few miles past the site of the relief station) and these will probably be heavily drifted and possibly windy. The wind may also blow sections of the road bare; Heather will need to find a way to stay on snow if she can because the crushed rock of the roadbed can slash runner plastic in a hurry.
About eight miles past the site of the relief station (about milepost 30) the Hardcore Team will come to Long, another old mining town; it is largely intact and some people still stay here in the summers, but it’s usually empty in the winter. Then the road climbs up a short grade out of town to the west and drops into the valley of Long Creek northbound, eventually starting a long, steady climb to the top of Hub Hill, about Milepost 18. A few miles of the road in this area are on top of the ridge more than 1,300 feet up, at timberline and subject to winds and heavy drifting. At the top of the hill the Team will have climbed about a thousand feet since they crossed the Sulatna River.
From Hub Hill they head down a thousand-foot, five-mile downgrade along the ridge between Fox Creek on their right (south) and New York Creek on the left (north), back into the tree-line. At the bottom of this grade, where the road crosses New York Creek, there may be some heavy glaciering. In 1996 the road was basically obliterated for half a mile here by ice up to three feet thick. At this point Heather will need to watch carefully for trail markers and for the general outline of the road berm. She may have to pick your best way through. There will probably be some overflow on top of the ice and under the snow through here.
Shortly she’ll cross a small bridge over Thirteen Mile Creek (13 miles from Ruby) and begin a moderately steep climb (about a 600-foot rise in three miles) northbound back up onto the ridges. The crest will be three miles past the bridge. Then the Team will drift downhill for about four miles along the northeast (right) side of the Boston Creek valley underneath Boston Dome on your right. Expect a few more glaciered curves on the hillside.
The road stays up on the hillside and crosses the divide over to Big Creek, which it follows closely northbound on the left bank for three miles before heading north up a grade over the ridge to Ruby. Heather better stay on her toes here when the road leaves the valley and slants up the hill—there can be some abrupt drop-offs on the downhill side (your right) as she climbs, so hopefully she’ll stay to the uphill side if there’s a choice.
Somewhere in this stretch the road will begin to be plowed. At the top of the hill above Big Creek, the Hardcore Team will come to an intersection. The road to the right goes to the airport and will eventually come into Ruby, while the straight-ahead fork (which should be well marked) heads directly into town along a two-mile downgrade that is usually extremely icy in places. There is almost always a badly glaciered spot about halfway down.
By this time as the Team starts down the hill they’ll see the village with the great Yukon River at its foot probably also start to see signs put up by the kids at the local school. The sight of Ruby ahead is one of the welcomest views the Hardcore Team will have on the entire trip. You’ve just come through the longest wilderness stretch on the race, and you’re more than halfway to Nome.
The checkpoint is always in the village community center, a big log cabin on the east side of town overlooking the river a few blocks north. Mushers are required to take an eight-hour layover somewhere on the Yukon; many drivers take it at Ruby after the marathon up from Ophir and Cripple. In any case, Heather will experience some marvelous hospitality here and it’s a pleasant place to kick back for awhile. The next three legs, almost 150 miles, are on the Yukon and should be fairly easy running. The old saying is that you should rest your dogs well somewhere along the Yukon because they won’t get much rest on the coast.
Historical Note
The trail from Ophir to Ruby was not on the mainline Iditarod Trail or the Seward-to-Nome Mail Trail, but it has plenty of history in its own right. From 1911 on, it was one of a network of trails connected to the Iditarod that serviced the mining districts between Ophir and Ruby, and it linked up to the Yukon Mail Trail at Ruby. Once you get up to Poorman, consider that once there were thousands of people living and working in the immediate vicinity, and the trail was a main thoroughfare summer and winter. Even after the road was built in the 1920s up to the steamboat landing at Ruby, there was still a substantial amount of traffic. However, everything faded quickly, and after World War II there weren’t many people left between McGrath and Ruby. The occasional mine still operates, but the whole region is now nothing more than a ghost of its former self.
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| Heather Finally Arrives in Cripple | Sun, Mar. 9th, 2008 | |
It took Heather and the Hardcore Team 24 hours and 15 minutes, but the 10 member Hardcore Team finally arrived at the checkpoint in Cripple.
Heather appeared to be traveling in a group with four other mushers as they all arrived in Cripple within a short time of each other. One of those was Gene Smith who took 35 hours 52 minutes to make the trip from Ophir.
We are not sure how much Heather rested on the trail so we cannot guess when she may leave for the next checkpoint in Ruby.
Cripple is considered the halfway point. Heather and the Team have now completed 503 miles and have 609 more to get to Nome. The Hardcore Team is being shown in 75th position out of 87 mushers in the race. A total of nine have either scratched or withdrawn thus far.
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| Communication Gap in Cripple | Sat, Mar. 8th, 2008 | |
As stated in our last post, there appears to be a communication problem between Cripple and race Headquarters in Anchorage.
Just moments ago we spoke with officials at Iditarod Race Headquarters in Anchoracge and they said they were aware of the issue and working on it. They did not have information on all teams but at least two teams reported out on the trail between Ophir and Cripple were actually in Cripple and had been for some time. Those teams belong to Rachel Scdoris and Joe Runyan. Rachel and Joe left Ophir about 2.5 hours ahead of Heather. The official told us they did niot know the exact time they arrived in Cripple but were told "They`ve been there for a while."
Officials told the Hardcore Team they hope to have the status of all of the mushers soon.
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| Where is the Hardcore Team? | Sat, Mar. 8th, 2008 | |
The question of the day is where is Heather and her Hardcore Team? The answer is, we don`t know.
Heather and 18 other teams are being shown as enroute from Ophir to Cripple. One team in particular, rookie musher Gene Smith from Amak, WA, is being shown as leaving the Ophir checkpoint on Friday at 9:12 AM AKST, more than 39 hours ago as of this post.
Heather departed Ophir last night at 9:30. Normally the run takes 12 to 18 hours so a lot of the teams shown as enroute are probably there and it has just not been reported.
A short while ago we contacted race Iditarod Headquarters in Anchorage to inquire on why no information was coming out of Cripple. Race officials said they were going to have the communications office attempt to contact the Cripple checkpoint to try to get an update. The Hardcore Team was told they were not aware of any communications issues between the Cripple checkpoint and Headquarters although they conceded something should have been posted by now on a lot of these 18 mushers.
All we can say is stay tuned!
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