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Hardcore Huskies Newsletter 08 Race Edition.pdf [ Archive ] |
| Heather Resting at Rainy Pass | Tue, Mar. 4th, 2008 | |
After 5 hours and 28 minutes on the trail from Finger Lake, Heather and the Hardcore Team arrived in Rainy Pass at 1:26 AM AKST (5:26 AM EST) on Tuesday, March 4th. If she continues to follow her run-rest schedule, Heather and the team will rest for about 4 hours before leaving for the next checkpoint in Rohn.
Heather is nearly 12 hours ahead of her time last year. Last year at this point in the race Heather`s Team was down to 12 dogs. This year race records show her with 15. Last year Heather and many other teams were stuck at Rainy Pass for nearly 24 hours due to a blizzard. That doesn`t appear to be in the cards this year which means Heather should pick up a lot more time compared to last years run. This will go along way to helping her reach her goal of finishing the race in less than 12 days.
For those following the race with a map, the Rainy Pass checkpoint is on the Puntilla Lake in the heart of the Alaskan Range. When Heather and the Team leaves here, the trail crosses Rainy Pass itself, the highest elevation throughout the race at 3,771 feet. She`ll face some very tough trail, including the notorious Dalzell Gorge.
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| We`re Going Up the Mountain | Mon, Mar. 3rd, 2008 | |
Heather and the Hardcore Team just finished a 6 hour 16 minute rest and that is a good thing because Heather now enters some of the most difficult parts of the race, the climb to Rainy Pass which includes the infamous “Steps.” Last year it took the Hardcore Team nearly 7 hours to complete this run. Most experienced musher’s can do it in less than five hours. Hopefully the experienced gained from last years race will prove beneficial on this stretch. From Finger Lake to Rainy Pass Heather and the Team will climb nearly 3000 feet.
For those of you who don’t like details, you’ll want to skip the rest and just understand this stretch of trail is very difficult. For those of you like me who love minutia, read on.
When Heather and the Hardcore Team pull out of the dog lot at Finger Lake she’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. Race veterans tell rookies be glad you’re 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. Here teams 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!”
After a mile or so of dropping down toward the valley and zigzagging through the forest, Heather and the 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 will probably stop the dogs at the top, say her prayers and then see how gently she can get the dogs to creep down the hill. Heather will probably be standing on your 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. Because she is not in the very front of the pack, there will be a rut worn in the middle of the ramp into which her sled will settle. 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 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 you turn 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 she reaches the bottom of the third step in one piece, which we of course expect she will, she will drop immediately onto the Happy River. Many drivers take a break in the sheltered Happy River Canyon and reassemble their nerves before pushing on.
Heather will then continue down the Happy River canyon for a quarter mile and then turn right (west) up the Yentna River. Within a few hundred yards she’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 you get 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. Heather and the Team will 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 must keep her team completely under control for this stretch and 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. A couple of miles after crossing the ravine, she’ll reach the end of the meadow and start to descend; pretty quickly you’ll 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 her on her right. There are a couple of very dangerous stretches along here where the trail is often glaciered over by side streams and you must skitter across the icy sections without slipping off the trail on the downhill side.
After Round Mountain Heather will only be 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. Heather will find the checkpoint on the lake just ahead. Water is available from a hole in the lake ice. She can rest in the checkers` cabin. If she’s there during the day, she might be able to buy a meal in the lodge if it’s open.
Rainy Pass will bring back fond memories for Heather because she and many other teams were stuck there for nearly 24 hours last year due to a ground blizzard. So far the weather reports this year look very good.
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| New Photo`s from Willow Start | Mon, Mar. 3rd, 2008 | |
Thanks to the efforts of Chris Reed in Talkeetna, we have posted some behind the scenes photo`s from the re-start in Willow. Just click on the photo icon and select 2008 Iditarod.
We also have word that the dog that was dropped at the Yentna Station checkpoint was not Kitty as first reported but instead it was Shadow. Shadow is an Iditarod veteran making the trip all the way to Nome four different times, including Heathers inaugural Iditarod run last year. Shadow reportedly has a sore back but nothing serious.
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| Hardcore Team Arrives at Finger Lake | Mon, Mar. 3rd, 2008 | |
Heather and the Hardcore Team have arrived at the thriving metropolis of Finger Lake, population 2. The Team arrive at 1:42 PM AKST (5:42 EST). Race records show she still has 15 dogs.
Finger Lake is in the heart of the snow country, here it is not uncommon to have 10 feet of snow on the ground. The checkpoint is located near the Winterlake Lodge, home of Carl and Kristen Dixon. Kristen Dixon cooks complementary meals for the mushers and sells meals to others. There is a tent for Heather and the other mushers to rest in and water is available through a hole in the ice.
The Finger Lake checkpoint is situated near the steps to the Happy River. After resting for several hours Heather and the Hardcore Team will begin their long climb to Rainy pass.
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| 4 On - 4 Off, Thats the Plan | Mon, Mar. 3rd, 2008 | |
Heather High, close friend of Heather Siirtola and member of the Hardcore Team, says that so far Siirtola is sticking to her schedule of running four hours and resting four.
"We calculated that if she does this for the entire race she should get close to a top 30 finish," says High.
High is serving as the Hardcore Dog Handler for this race. Her responsibliities included helping to get the dogs trained and transported fromTalkeetna to the starting lines in both Anchorage and WIllow. When any member of the Hardcore Team gets dropped from the race, it is Heather High who will spring into action and travel the two hours from Talkeetna to Anchorage to pick up the dog.
That has already happened as Siirtola had to drop a dog at the Yentna Station checkpoint.
"I think she had to drop Kitty because she was in heat," said High. "We thought she may be done but I guess not. Heather told me that she would know by the first checkpoint if there was a problem and if there was she would send her home!"
Kitty made it 900 of the 1100 miles last year and traveled to Bismarck/Mandan, North Dakota to meet and greet the hundreds of school kids that were following th Hardcore Team.
High says she has been around the Hardcore Team for years and says they have never looked better. She is expecting great things from her friend this year and that should include a much improved finish over last year.
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