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| Where is Heather and the Hardcore Team? | Tue, Mar. 10th, 2009 | |
The 14 member Hardcore Team along with Heather rolled into Rainy Pass at 10:55 PM last night AKDT (2:55 EDT). The run from Finger Lake up the Alaskan Range took the team 4 hours 37 minutes, about one hour faster than last year.
This year’s arrival for Heather and the Team is about 2.5 hours ahead of last years pace. In 2008 she left Rainy Pass at 8:32 AM for Rohn so when she departs this time we’ll have a better handle on her pace for this year.
When they arrived they were missing one important piece of equipment; their GPS tracker.
Apparently about 10 miles outside of Finger Lake Heather and the Team lost their tracker and that is where the GPS device apparently sits and continues to beam a signal showing Heather and the Team at that same location for several hours.
Hardcore Headquarters has notified race officials but we have not heard what they plan to do. For now, keeping track of Heather and the Hardcore Team has become much more difficult.
We know what Heather and the Team will do….rest for now along with about 18 other teams before heading to Rohn.
There is not much to this checkpoint. The population is 2. The checkpoint is on Puntilla Lake in the heart of the Alaska Range, with the actual checkpoint located at Rainy Pass Lodge, the guiding operation of the Perrins Family. The lodge is open for food, fuel and lodging throughout the winter. From here the trail crosses Rainy Pass itself, the highest point on the Iditarod.
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| Next Stop - The Top of the Alaskan Range | Mon, Mar. 9th, 2009 | |
After resting for about 5 and one half hours Heather and the 14 members of the Hardcore Team are back on the trail headed up the Alaskan Range to Rainy Pass. They left Finger Lake at 6:18 PM AKDT (10:18 EDT).
Heather made this run in 4 hours 40 minutes during her rookie campaign in 2007. Last year she was a bit slower at 5 hours 28 minutes. Heather and the Team are almost 2 hours ahead of her pace last year. This is a tough run with some short stretches of extraordinarily difficult trail. Figure three to five hours for the run. Veteran mushers say there are often all kinds of things poking up out of the trail.
After Heather and the Hardcore Team pull out of the dog lot at Finger Lake they’ll go directly over the ridge behind the lodge and down a steep narrow trail, then they’ll swing sharply left back up an equally narrow and steep trail, and then down an even steeper hill onto Red Lake. The trail runs along the south side of the lake for a mile or so then turns to the right up a steep ravine on the west side of the narrow valley. This ravine section can be narrow and twisting and steep in places; Heather will probably be glad she’s going up it and not down.
At the top of the ravine the trail will start to work its way west along the south slope of a rugged 5,000-foot ridge that guards the east entrance to Ptarmigan (and Rainy) Pass run from swamp to swamp and bump across beaver ponds and beaver dams, interspersed with twisting runs through the timber as the trail meanders along a series of forested benches hung on the lower slopes of the ridge.
About nine miles from Finger Lake, it’s time to slow down and get things under control. The trail will start dropping down the benches toward the Happy River gorge. Heather will need to watch for some abrupt downhills with sharp turns in this descending section. The trail will be narrow and very twisting through some big timber. She may see a couple of the Iditarod’s now-famous yellow diamond highway warning signs that say either “Dangerous Trail Conditions Ahead” or “Watch your Ass!” When Heather see’s one of these signs, her first move should be to stomp on the brake and see what she’s about to get into, and then move forward very cautiously. Hopefully since she has made this run several times before Heather should be alert to the upcoming hazards.
After a mile or so of dropping down toward the valley and zigzagging through the forest, the Hardcore Team will plunge down a short but very steep hill; directly in front of them will be one of the warning signs and the trail will vanish over the edge of what looks like a cliff. It is a cliff. This is the entrance to the Happy River Steps. Heather may want to stop the dogs at the top, say her prayers, revise her will, and then see how gently she can get the dogs to creep down the hill. Of course, she’ll will be standing on her brake for all she’s worth.
The first “step” is a narrow ramp turning sharply to the left as you go over the lip and plunging diagonally down the face of a very steep slope. Unless you’re in the very front of the pack, which the Hardcore Team is not, there will be a rut worn in the middle of the ramp into which her sled will settle; she should keep it there even if it means laying her sled almost over on its side. At the bottom of the first ramp (maybe 50 yards), the trail will double back to the right on a small level area. There is a 50-foot cliff dropping off on her left side in the turn.
The second step is as long as the first, cutting diagonally down the hill in the opposite direction. There is a short level stretch as she turns to the right into the third step, which can be the scariest of all. Heather may want to lean her sled up to the right on one runner and hug the uphill bank for this one. If Heather reaches the bottom of the third step in one piece, she’ll drop immediately onto the Happy River. Many drivers take a break in the sheltered Happy River Canyon and reassemble their nerves before pushing on.
The Hardcore Team will continue down the Happy River canyon for a quarter mile and then turn right (west) up the Yentna River. Within a few hundred yards you’ll jump abruptly up the right bank and should see another yellow “Dangerous Trail Conditions” sign. The trail threads precariously along a ledge a dozen feet above the river bed for twenty or thirty yards; the downhill side of this stretch has been undercut by the river, and the narrow trail may be worn away by previous teams. Heather will have to do everything she can to keep the sled balanced up on the right runner until she gets to better ground. At the end of the ledge the trail heads up the Happy River Hill, an extremely steep eighth-of-a-mile grind up a narrow ravine back up to the plateau above the river. Once on top the trail levels out for a bit and then climbs another hundred feet or so before running west again through the forest. The next 15 miles to Rainy Pass Lodge alternate between beautifully easy and unbelievably hideous.
The trail is reasonably good and moderately hilly for a mile or so to Shirley Lake, then climbs up for another mile of forest running to Long Lake. There can be some tricky spots in this area where the downhill side of the trail has been worn away and the sled will try to slip off and into the inevitable ruts left by the brakes on previous sleds. Long Lake (about a mile long) is 11 miles from Rainy Pass Lodge have a short, fairly steep climb up from Long Lake to run along the north flank of a ridge that forms the south side of the Happy River Valley (which is the easternmost part of Ptarmigan and Rainy Passes).
After about three-quarters of a mile the trail will start to get squeezed into a sidehill run along a mountainside. It will make some abrupt climbs and dives and will traverse a couple of potentially dangerous places where the downhill side of the trail (the right side) drops several hundred feet down a steep slope into the Happy River canyon. This part is known for its downhills with sharp left turns at the bottom. Heather will need to keep the Hardcore Team completely under control for this stretch. She’ll need to watch out for rocks and ruts and roots in the trail.
After a couple of miles the trail suddenly comes around the corner of the mountain and drops down into a long, wide-open meadow have easy running for the next five miles: along the meadow for a few miles, dropping down to cross a ravine and then climbing back up a series of gently ascending meadows on the other side. She is still on the south side of the Happy River valley.
A couple of miles after crossing the ravine, they’ll reach the end of the meadow and start to descend; pretty quickly Heather will see another “Dangerous Trail Conditions” sign followed by a steep descent for a couple of hundred feet. For the next mile the very narrow and twisting trail squeezes along the north side of Round Mountain, with the Happy River several hundred feet below you on your right. There are a couple of very dangerous stretches along here where the trail is often glaciered over by side streams and Heather and the Team must skitter across the icy sections without slipping off the trail on the downhill side.
Heather will be using her brake a lot on this piece of trail and may spend a lot of time balancing up on her left runner. She won’t want the dogs to go too slowly through here or she won’t have enough steeringway to keep the sled on the trail in some places, but she won’t want them to go too fast down the hills or she might lose control. Finally Heather will make a breathtaking hundred-foot plunge down into a timbered ravine with Squaw Creek at the bottom. This means she’s past Round Mountain, which some veterans consider the toughest stretch of trail on the whole race under some conditions.
After Round Mountain the Hardcore Team will only a couple of miles from the checkpoint. The trail works up the wooded Squaw Creek ravine for a mile or so and then comes out onto the open brushy plateau at the end of the Rainy Pass Lodge runway. Soon she’ll pull up onto the runway and then turn left onto Puntilla Lake. The checkpoint will be on the lake just ahead. Water is available from a hole in the lake ice. Heather can rest in the checkers` cabin.
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| More Support Emails for the Hardcore Team | Mon, Mar. 9th, 2009 | |
Hardcore Headquarters has received more messages of support from across the country.
If your school, community group or organization is following Heather during the race or doing a fund raiser in support of her efforts, please send pictures with information about what you are doing and who is in the picture and we`ll feature them on the Hardcore website. Send them to hardcorehuskies@aol.com.
Here are some additional messages of encouragement and support for Heather and the Hardcore Team:
Hi Heather,
Just a note to wish you a safe and speedy journey!! You are truly an inspiration. I have forwarded your website to my daughter who teaches social studies in Elk River, Minnesota and hopefully her class will be able to follow your trip! You are SPECIAL!!
Dixie Larson
Enable, Inc.
Mandan, ND
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Hey, Heather & team!
We wish you the best of luck and prayers while you work your way to the finish line! We are watching the updates and hoping you do the best you can!! We love you!
God Bless!
Mike and Cindi
Bismarck, ND
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Heather,
I lost my sister from breast cancer when she was only 21 years of age. So it isn`t only an "older lady disease".
I am a former Bismarck resident. I have lived in Gillette, Wyoming for 3 years. I am a DOG LOVER!
I want to wish you the best of luck in your race. Have fun and stay safe! You, your mom, and your dog team are in my prayers.
Kathy Bohne
Gillette, Wyoming
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Heather,
We wish the team and you the best of luck. We watched you take off and will be glued to the computer to watch you through the race. Our thoughts and prayers are with the team and your mom. Mush on.
Kevin and Karla Mittleider
Streeter, North Dakota
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Dear Heather,
I will be thinking of you and your team all along the way and praying for a successful and safe race. Catch you at the end!
Karen Sanicola
Hagerstown, MD
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Heather,
Just a note to wish you the very best in your race. We are thinking of you these next challenging days.
Best of luck to you and your huskies!!!
Al and Kitty Mettler
Wing, ND
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Hi Heather,
Our prayers and lots of luck are with you and your dogs, we are very proud of you and love you very much.
Grandpa Dale and Grandma Darlyne
Bismarck, ND
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Best of luck, Heather. We met you when eating at Talkeneetka on an Alaskan cruise.
Phil and Donna Porter
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Good luck Heather and team. We are all cheering you on from Kids Korner Daycare in Nebraska!
Kathy Buresh and kids
Nebraska
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Heather,
Give it all you have and your dogs will take to the limit.
It was always my dream to run the race also.
My name is Barb Baker I live in Northern MN and still have 17 of my own siberians and hope to have a small team again someday..I am originally from Fairbanks Alaka where I was raised most of my life and started with my first white male Siberians at age 7......I am with you all the way...Good Luck and I will be watching every step of the way.
Stay safe and Hugs to your team.
Barb Baker
Bagley MN
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Heather you and your doggies ROCK!!! We wish you the VERY best of Luck (You wont need it tho). We are all prepped to cheer you the entire way to Nome! Kick Butt!!!
Rachel, Bob & Grant Ehli
Bismarck, ND
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Add our wishes from Connecticut to all the others for the best of luck in the 37th Iditatrod! Wish we could be there to see it!!
Pat and Kathy Leggett
Connecticut
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Have a safe and good run.
Joe McNasby
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Heather
Dont look back and go like hell!!!!!!
Bob and Rosemary Hanson
Wing, ND
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| Resting at Finger Lake | Mon, Mar. 9th, 2009 | |
Heather and the Hardcore Team arrived in Finger Lake at 12:57 PM AKDT (4:57 EDT). The population of Finger Lake is 2. Here Heather and the hardcore Team are in the heart of the snow country. It is not uncommon to have 10 feet of snow on the ground. The checkpoint is at Winter Lake Lodge. From Finger Lake, the mushers begin the long climb to Rainy Pass.
The run from Skwentna took about 6.5 hours. The Hardcore Team is down to 14 dogs. Last year Heather arrived with 15 dogs but left Finger Lake with just 14. The weather is reported 21 degrees with some light snow and fog. That should make the run to Rainy Pass a bit interesting if the snow picks up in intensity.
It will be interesting to observe Heather’s strategy here. As we reported earlier, in the past few years the Finger Lake checkpoint has become an incredibly busy place during the race with lots of fly-in spectators. In 1997 and 1998 someone even flew in an espresso stand and set it up fifty yards from the dog lot. Even worse, the runway for the skiplanes is right next to the dog parking area and airplanes are landing and taking off sometimes every few minutes. Although it’s good for the visitors, it’s terrible for the dogs and it’s difficult for them to get quality rest under these conditions. To avoid this Heather might consider limiting her stop here to a half-hour or so and just snacking her dogs, since she couldn’t ship any food here anyway. Some mushers like to go on up the trail for a few miles to find a nice quiet place to rest and avoid the bedlam.
During her rookie run in 2007, Heather rested in Finger Lake nearly 14 hours. Last year she and the team stayed at Finger Lake a little more than 6 hours.
Heather and the Hardcore Team have now completed 194 miles with 937 miles remaining.
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| UPDATE: On Their Way to Finger Lake | Mon, Mar. 9th, 2009 | |
Heather and the Hardcore Team continue to make their way to the Finger Lake checkpoint. They are moving at 4 to 8 mph, depending on the terrain. As last check, they were near Shell Lake, about 30 miles behind race leader Sebastian Schnuelle. Ed Iten was running second and Lance Mackey third.
It is hard to know everyone’s exact position until the completion of the mandatory 24 hour rest. For example, Schnuelle left the starting line nearly one hour ahead of Heather and her Hardcore Team. When he takes his 24 hour rest, he will actually be required to stop one hour longer than Heather. Iten left two hours bore Heather so he will stay two hours longer when he declares his 24 hour rest. As the old saying goes, “It will all shake out in the wash.”
It appears from the mushers who have made the run from Skwentna to Finger Lake it is taking around 5 to 5.5 hours for this segment. If Heather and the Hardcore Team hold to this pace they would arrive at the Finger Lake checkpoint between 3:30 and 4 PM EDT. In 2007 Heather and the Team made this run in 6 hours 50 minutes. Last year it took 6 hours 24 minutes.
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