Brutal weather pounds mushers at Rainy Pass

By CRAIG MEDRED
Anchorage Daily News

Published: March 6, 2007
Last Modified: March 14, 2007 at 06:40 PM

PUNTILLA LAKE -- As dog driver Lance Mackey from Fairbanks pulled into the village of Nikolai on Tuesday looking north toward the Nome finish line of the 1,100-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, less experienced racers more than 100 miles behind him on the trail were looking into their souls and just hoping to survive.

Brutal winds and temperatures to 20 degrees below zero were terrorizing those who hadn't yet made it through Rainy Pass. Checkers at Puntilla Lake at the entrance to the Pass were warning mushers that it was blowing so hard out on the long, treeless plain that starts the climb to the summit that the trail markers had blown away.

Wind chill temperatures were pushing down to 55 to 60 degrees below zero.

Mike Curiak, a Colorado mountain biker trying to pedal to Nome, said he managed to fight his way to near the 3,200-foot summit, but found his way blocked by drifts and zero visibility.

"I couldn't tell the difference between the Pass and the clouds,'' he said. "The wind was blowing snow 100 feet high.''

Curiak is a well-established veteran of the Iditarod Trail. He has ridden to Nome a couple times and won the Iditarod Trail Invitational over this route. He is on the trail this year towing a trailer with all of his supplies in an effort to make an unresupplied run from Knik to Nome.

The trip, he said, is a test to see if it is possible to go so far on a bike without being able to get food and fuel in villages. Speculation is that he's training for a possible ride across Antarctica or Greenland, where resupply is impossible.

The Iditarod Trail is giving him all the test anyone could want.

Turned back by the winds at Rainy Pass, Curiak said he tried dropping down and heading south to Ptarmigan Pass to see if he could get through that way. but that didn't work either.

Conditions were so grim dog teams hoping to continue down the Iditarod Trail were having a hard time just getting out of this checkpoint Monday night and early this morning. They struggled in the dark, wind and cold.

Officials of the Iditarod Trail, and the caretakers of the Rainy Pass Lodge, were worried about mushers getting lost.

Once the trail leaves Puntilla Lake, it is sheltered by thin stands of spruce trees for a few miles, but then it drops down to a frozen creek, climbs a hill that sometimes avalanches, and from there for 10 miles or more to the summit of Rainy Pass there is barely even any brush.

Old, wooden tripods with reflectors mark some of the historic trail, but those disappear about halfway to where the trail begins a long, winding ascent toward the pass. It is an easy place to get lost, and once lost, it offers no place to hide from the wind and brutal weather.

There is a small cabin to the east of the trail built to provide shelter in emergencies. But in a storm it can be difficult, if not impossible, to find.

More

Ekran is Iditarod rookie of the year

Light Table Mackey

Brooks disqualified from Iditarod

Iditarod dog death under investigation

Mackey makes history with Iditarod win

‹ With final surge, Steer nails down 3rd place

‹ Gebhardt chases Mackey to Nome; four rest in White Mountain

‹ Mushing's 1st family Mackeys pile on the victories

‹ Photos: The Iditarod

More Features stories ›


Iditarod Sponsors