To Pelly and back
DAWSON CITY, Yukon—The surprises keep coming on the Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race trail.
Race Marshal Mike McCowan announced Friday that the Quest would finish in Dawson City this year rather than Whitehorse because of awful trail conditions due to low snow and warm temperatures. Racers will restart in Dawson after their 36-hour mandatory layovers, travel 200 miles to Pelly Crossing, then return to this historic gold rush town on the Yukon River.
This is the fourth time in the 23-year history of the Quest that officials have had to alter the trail because of low snow conditions. This year mushers will cover about 950 miles of trail.
“There’s two different ways I look at it,” said front-runner and defending champion Lance Mackey, who was expected to leave Dawson at 3:19 a.m. today. “On the one hand, I’m not looking forward to going over King Solomon’s Dome twice.
“On the other hand, it’s going to be close to a 1,000-mile race, which is what we entered.”
Gerry Willomitzer, the Shallow Bay, Yukon, musher in his third Quest, was also pleased about the mileage and the decision to put safety first.
“I’m basically fine with it,” Willomitzer said. “The most important thing is to have a safe trail for our dogs and ourselves, and there have been too many safety issues with the trail already.”
Willomitzer said that a closed-door meeting was held with the nine mushers who had arrived in Dawson City by Thursday. They were asked to vote on whether they wanted to finish in Dawson or Pelly Crossing.
“The vote ended up being 5-4,” Willomitzer said. “I’m not going to tell you who voted what, but I think if you look at the numbers, you should be able to figure it out.”
In terms of race strategy, it is a safe assumption that the mushers who would benefit the most from ending the race early in Pelly Crossing would be the front-runners. Mackey confirmed he was among the four who cast a vote for Pelly.
“I was one of the four, but not just because it would have been an advantage to me personally,” Mackey said. “We’re all nursing some dogs along.”
Whatever the motivation for the mushers’ votes may have been, everyone agreed that the decision not to go south of Pelly was the right one. It was made in the best interest of the dogs.
Running over areas with low snowfall often involves negotiating rocks, stumps and fallen trees. Those kind of conditions frequently result in wrist, foot and shoulder injuries for dogs. The rougher the trail, the higher the potential for serious injuries.
The dogs have already been through so much—low snow and glare ice conditions early in the race, a brutal climb over Rosebud and Eagle summits in a storm, and generally difficult conditions until Eagle. The last 250 miles in Canada offer more torturous conditions.
“I’ve been with the Quest every year, and these are the worst trail conditions I have ever seen,” said Canadian Ranger John Mitchell, head of the trail-breaking crew in Canada.
“I agree with what the Quest is doing in terms of the reroute. This is the best thing to do, in terms of dog safety.”