Text 228, 96 rader
Skriven 2006-02-14 01:08:12 av Steven Horn (1:17/67.0)
Ärende: More Yukon Quest news
=============================
Hello All!

The following is the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's account of the
near-disaster on Eagle Summit:

============================================

 All mushers safe and accounted for after harrowing day on Quest trail
Last updated Feb 13 2006 06:12 PM CST
CBC News

The "world's toughest sled-dog race" took a dramatic turn Monday when five
Yukon Quest mushers stranded on a mountain pass had to be rescued off the
course by helicopter.

Details are sketchy, but at least five mushers were taken off the Eagle Summit,
where high winds and blowing snow left them stranded Sunday night and most of
Monday in white-out conditions and sub-zero temperatures.

Race officials, who earlier said six mushers were being medevaced to Fairbanks,
now say Yukon rookie Saul Turner and Jennifer Cochran were taken off the
mountain pass Monday afternoon and brought to the Mile 101 dog drop, along with
their teams. There were three other teams picked up, but there's no official
word on who they are, their condition, or where they're being taken.

Yuka Honda, Kiara Adams and Phil Joy and their teams were also on the pass and
long overdue to the checkpoint at Central, but it's not clear if they were the
ones airlifted back to Mile 101.

While the mushers are reported to be in good condition, there's no word on what
prompted the evacuation.

All teams from both the Yukon Quest and the Quest 300, a shorter race for less
experienced mushers, are now accounted for, and either on their way to Central,
Alaska or Mile 101.

'Insane' conditions

The storm, which reduced visibility to just a few metres, made an
already-treacherous portion of the course impassable. The weather even
prevented race officials from even finding the mushers on the trail, and much
of Monday was spent just trying to locate racers.

The mushers had left Mile 100, a dog-drop on the trail, on Sunday, when bad
weather hit the mountain pass. Visibility was reduced to near-zero, on a trail
that even veteran mushers said tested them to the limits.

Communications are difficult in the remote region of Alaska and it was
difficult to determine just where the mushers are on the trail.

Poor weather hampered efforts by race officials to reach any of the mushers by
snow machine on Monday.

On Monday afternoon race officials announced four aircraft, including a C130
infared-equipped helicopter and a Blackhawk from the U.S. military, will fly
over the trail. Spotters from Circle are on board.

"It's a good real hard search right now just to make sure, we don't know what's
going on, we don't know the condition of anyone up there, we don't don't know
where they're at, if we can nail them down we can get better information," said
race marshal Mike McCowan Monday. "Still blowing quite severely on top of the
summit.

" It's out of the ordinary, definitely, it's definitely out of the ordinary."

On Monday officials reported that at least one team of dogs, but not their
musher, was actually lost on the trail after the summit. Musher Randy Chappel,
who's participating in the Quest 300 race, arrived at the Central checkpoint
after hitching a ride with another Quest 300 musher.

Chappel's team was later recovered and is safe.

The Eagle Summit is seen as one of the toughest parts of the 1,600-kilometre
course, a wind-swept pass with little more than bare rock and alpine tundra for
shelter. Quest veterans call the pass 'Heartbreak Hill' for its challenging
terrain and unpredictable weather conditions.

Ice, boulders, glaciated overflow on the rivers, a lack of snow, and difficulty
finding trail markers made it hard on many of the teams.

"I can' t remember last time I was that scared or out of control, it was
absolutely insane," said Lance Mackey, who won the Quest last year.

"I would not be surprised if someone wasn't killed out there today," said
veteran champion Hans Gatt.

===========================================

Not a great day for the mushers.

Take care,

Steven Horn (steven.horn@gmail.com)
Moderator, ALASKA_CHAT 
--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
 * Origin: North of 60 in Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada (1:17/67)