Tony S. said:"Dot" <dot.h@#duh?att.net> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:Tim Downie said:As you say, well written but I don't feel moved to follow in his
footsteps
Quoted message said:Quoted message said:quite yet! ;-) It must be great to have that level of confidence in
one's
Quoted message said:Quoted message said:abilities to survive in the mountains in the winter though. Not for the
faint hearted.
Assuming the skills are there for the confidence.
Apparently one of the racers in the Iditarod Trail Invitational was
going for course record and had gone extra light on gear. Mother Nature
served up an old fashioned Alaskan winter for the racers. The racer was
hypothermic and revived by other racers in the first 50 miles. She
apparently didn't have the needed skills for the level of gear she had
taken (or not taken). Not the first one that that's happened to (other
races). About 1/3 the racers bailed at the 1st check point (mile 50).
Wow 1/3 bailed, interesting. I guess some were banking on a consistent
global warm up year-to-year, which isn't the case I guess.
Not sure all what happened, but a good number took a wrong turn and lost
several hours, which I think discouraged some. Many that dropped early
were non-Alaskans. That's unusual, but it sounds like there was
frostbite and illnesses. The Alaskans probably had an edge since they
train in the first 50 miles and know what the various trail conditions
are like or likely to be. But the conditions they trained under were not
at all like the race start. They had tested their loaded bikes and knew
they could ride them 1 wk earlier. But in the soft snow on the lake ice,
no one could ride.
The rules are that you can take any route you want, but have to check in
at checkpoints. I think there's actually checkers (sometimes lodges)
there in the 350-mi race, but they call in from the villages in the 1100
mi version. The description of racers in McGrath (or maybe one of the
earlier checkpoints) was a "leper colony".
The week before had been relatively warm (Su100 1 wk earlier had rain),
heavy snow fell during start (covering the hard-packed, fast trails),
then got cold that night. And followed by 2 wks of cold weather.
Iditarod mushers (started 1 wk after this race started) had some similar
issues - perhaps one of the reasons why the top 4 finishers were all 50
or over - they had the experience to deal with Alaska winter.
It just shows up
Quoted message said:in things like the ice pack, and greenland sliding away into the ocean...
Quoted message said:What struck me about the report you posted - besides many of the things
that Tony said (he needs to count calories better for food supply) - was
the way he was received at the end. Very stark contrast to the way the
ITI racers are treated along the way. (I had just finished reading last
update before I read yours.) The first foot racer reached Nome last
night (with a police escort), and the 2nd is getting there - maybe
another few days. Apparently word of these guys is preceding them in the
villages and people are ready to help them (lodging, food). Lodging may
just be in local schools, but being sure the racer can get in the middle
of the night or that drop bags are left outside post office are helpful
so the runner doesn't have to wait.
I noticed that too - how poorly he was received at the end. Somewhat
surprising, but perhaps the (in)famous british reserve? People in AK are
known for being generous and outdoorsy, isn't that true? Survival up there
means that people go out of their way to help each other is what I've heard.
Yes, especially in the villages during winter. The racers also help each
other when safety is an issue. But the Iditarod time is a special time
of year. While the culmination is a sled dog race, it's the only time
many of the villages see this many people. It's an education for the
local village kids, and many classes around the world treat it as a
geography lesson. And many racers enjoy interacting with the villagers.
I know one year, one guy (Tom Possert?) took the time to play basketball
with the kids (in the middle of an 1100 mi foot race). Besides these
self-propelled racers and the sled dogs, there's a snow machine race a
couple weeks earlier. So for about 4-6 wks, it's endurance race season here.
Quoted message said:I hope my post didn't seem dismissive of him or his feat
No, abolutely not dismissive of his accomplishments.
Quoted message said:- I was just
surprised that an experienced 'feater' like him wouldn't use snowshoes
Depending on conditions, snowshoes can be an asset or hindrance. The
float on top the snow can be problematic going up steep slopes unless
you have long cleats (or maybe better technique than me) and spooky
coming down unless you're good at skiing on snowshoes (our snow usually
isn't deep enough to do this where I go). This is why I got smaller
snowshoes this year. I was intending to compare snowshoe vs no snowshoe
on one of our mountains, but the amount of ice we had most of the winter
kept me off the big hills (others were braver than I and willing to do
some long butt slides down).
and
Quoted message said:not pack a bit more extra gear and food (1 kg more would make a difference).
That's what concerned me - the amount of food. If you get caught by
weather and don't have the fuel and hydration issues taken care of, it's
an open invitation for hypothermia and a downward spiral.
Quoted message said:I would also have liked it if he used more stats in his descriptions rather
than placenames and flowery descriptions. For example how high the climbs
were, distance covered, anything like that. It lacked a sense of where he
was in the feat at each point IMO. But still it was well written.
Right. Unless you're familiar with the place names and mtn sizes, it's
hard to relate sometimes. At times, I felt like I was reading something
like Robert Service, in some respects.
Dot
--
"Success is different things to different people"
-Bernd Heinrich in Racing the Antelope
