Yukon Quest 2011 – Day 7

Hugh Neff is getting to sleep in after reaching Eagle just after midnight. Snow, plunging temperatures, and gusty winds on the American Summit will stop pursuit.

From the Weather Underground forecast:

Periods of snow from Chicken south with snow accumulation 2 to 5 inches…highest amounts near the Alaska Range. A chance of snow north of Chicken. Areas of blowing snow with poor visibility near the Alaska Range. Highs 5 to 10 above. Northwest winds 10 to 15 mph. Gusts to 35 mph near the Alaska Range.

The American Summit is part of the Alaskan Range. With conditions like that and a mandatory 4-hour stop at Eagle for the border paperwork, Hugh can wait in Eagle until the next team arrives, and then leave with comfortable lead and a well-rested team.

Christine Roalofs (9) is making slow progress according to the GPS tracker. She apparently missed a trail marker and had to back-track about five miles yesterday.

Update: 2PM CST- Running tenth out of Dawson, Wade Marrs (15) returned and scratched. He was down to 9 puppies, and the weather has turned very nasty. Still no word on Christine Roalofs.

Update: 4:30PM CST – Finally, Christine Roalofs hit her “HELP” button on the GPS. She was running low on supplies after getting lost and spending a great deal more time on the trail than anticipated. Help was sent, and she was disqualified from the race for accepting it. Her disqualified status won’t be posted until she arrives in Dawson. No idea why the race officials didn’t tell people what was going on hours ago. [Note: Disqualified has been changed to Withdrawn.]

To give you some idea of the conditions on the trail out of Dawson, Jodi Bailey (17) got turned around in the blowing snow during the night, and didn’t realize it until she got back to Dawson. I hope her puppies have a sense of humor, because they are re-running the trail out.

Update: 7PM CST- Although Clint Warnke (25) and Tamara Rose (12) could be on the trail out of Dawson, the Iditarod veterans are choosing to stay in Dawson until the late group of mushers leave. They want to finish the race, and with weather like today, it is better to travel together.

From the YQ Facebook page: Eagle, Alaska – Quote of the day, “One minute you’re running a race and the next, you’re in a survival situation – that’s the Yukon Quest.” Sebastian Schnuelle

Hugh Neff has an almost 10 hour lead because he made it to Eagle just before the front hit and the wind and snow lashed American Summit. Those behind him had to stop and create shelters for themselves and their dogs.

Note: This post will be updated during the day, and the map changed on all posts to reflect the current situation.

All posts on the Yukon Quest can be seen by selecting “Yukon Quest” from the Category box on the right sidebar.

Current standing below the fold

Beyond Eagle

1 Hugh Neff (8)
2 Hans Gatt (13) +9 hours 45 Minutes

At Eagle

3 Brent Sass (22)
4 Ken Anderson (18)
5 Sebastian Schnuelle (11)
6 Allen Moore (24)^I
7 Dallas Seavey (3)^I

Beyond Dawson

8 Kelley Griffin (1)
9 Dan Kaduce (10)
10 Joshua Cadzow (16)
11 Jodi Bailey (17)^R
12 Mike Ellis (5)
13 David Dalton (23)
14 Johannes Rygh (6)^R

At Dawson

15 Clint Warnke (25)^I
16 Tamara Rose (12)^I
17 Jerry Joinson (21)^R
18 Didier Moggia (7)
19 Kyla Durham (14)^R
20 Hank DeBruin (19)^I

The Mushers in bold are former winners of the Yukon Quest, the numbers in parentheses are their Bib numbers, the small “I” indicates a Quest rookie who has competed in the Iditarod, and the small “R” indicates a total rookie.