Subj: FWD: Tom Possert's Idasport Extreme report Date: 98-03-25 21:43:39 EST From: jurczyk@apk.net (Joe Jurczyk) Sender: owner-ultra@caligari.Dartmouth.EDU Reply-to: jurczyk@apk.net To: ultra@caligari.Dartmouth.EDU For those of you that didn't read it on UW, here's Tom Possert's report on running the Iditasport Extreme. (Tom's e-mail address, for those who want to write, is moonrunner2@webtv.net .) ------- Forwarded Message Follows -------- THE 1998 IDITASPORT EXTREME, KNIK TO MCGRATH, 350 MILES A few days after I finished the Coldfoot 100, Dan Bull, the race director, told me that he thought I could finish the EXTREME race on foot in seven days. One month before the EXTREME race I spoke with Dan about coming up for the Iditasport 100 mile race. He told me to save my energy and try to be the first one to complete the 350 mile EXTREME on foot. Three weeks before the race I spoke with John Stamstad who won the 1997 EXTREME race on bicycle. He encouraged me to try the race and told me "it is a classic". A couple of days later I was able to find someone to take care of my Bed & Breakfast. I began to contact sponsors who were able to react on short notice. Mark Gabel at the Benchmark in Cincinnati was able to contact Montrail for shoes and boots, Patagonia for capilene underwear, and negotiate pro deals on gear from Mountain Hardwear and Marmot. Many thanks to my sponsors: Atlas snowshoes, Ultimate Direction, OAKLEY, MLO Hardbody, Spokes Wear, and GU. I arrived in Anchorage on Saturday, February 28th, four days before the race. The next few days I spent sorting through gear and buying last minute items. Bob Lohr who completed the race last year by shijoring ( skiing while being pulled by up to three dogs) let me use his sled. Gordon Higby, at whose house I was staying at, helped me modify the sled for running. Tuesday night there was a meeting at Dan's house to go over last minute details and to leave drop bags that would be flown out to the various checkpoints. On Wednesday afternoon many of the contestants met at Dan's house for the one hour ride to Knik. We arrived about an hour before the 5 p.m. start time. I decided to join other racers at the cafe and ate a batch of french fries. Many to my surprise were eating cheeseburgers too! THE START WEDNESDAY Knik to Little Susitna River (mile 15) The first part of the race was similar to a time trial. All participants raced approximately fifteen miles to the Little Susitna (Su) River. At this checkpoint we were required to sleep overnight in the gear we would carry for the entire race. Racers would find out then if their sleeping gear would be suitable for the remainder of the race. At 5 p.m. the three skijors, all with three dogs, started at two minute intervals. Fifteen minutes later I started with four skiers. My sled weighed about forty pounds. To my surprise I was ahead of three of the skiers before we covered a mile. About twenty minutes into the race I was passed by some mountain bikers. About half chose this route, the others took a longer but more flat route. I pushed this fifteen mile stretch hard because I did not want to be the last one to arrive at the Little Su River. I arrived in three hours about 1-1/2 hours after the first cyclist and not in last place! Clear night skies meant a cold night. I stood around the campfire until my toes became cold in the already below 0°F temperature. I rolled out my -40° F sleeping bag and crawled in for a good night's rest before the "real" start the next morning. DAY 1 THURSDAY Little Susitna River to Skwentna Lodge (mile 85) I awoke at 8 am after a good night's sleep even though the temperature went down to -15°F. The most difficult part was getting out of my sleeping bag and packing up. The cyclist who was first to the Little Su the night before began first at 8 a.m. My start time was 9:30 a.m. so I decided to stay in my bag longer. I underestimated the time it would take me to pack up my sled and I got started a few minutes late. The trail to the Big Susitna River went straight through forests of spruce and across frozen swamps and lakes. At 11 a.m. I caught up with Boris Droste pushing his bike up the hill. He said that he gained forty pounds since last year's race and was out of shape. However, when the trail flattened out he was gone. He was several hundred yards ahead of me when I saw him follow the trail south towards Flathorn Lake. It did not seem right to go south when I knew that the Big Su River was due west and the trail headed north up the Big Su. I looked at my map and decided to continue due west on a narrower trail through the forest. About twenty minutes later I came out of the forest and there was Boris only a hundred yards ahead of me! He said it was good riding along the lake even though it was further. I worked hard to run next to Boris as he rode his bicycle up the flat frozen trail towards the intersection of the Big Su and Yentna Rivers. The sun felt great and the skies were cloudless. We could see Mt. McKinley and the Alaska Range in the distance. It was fun traveling up the Big Su and the Yentna Rivers with Boris. Many times I wished I was on a bicycle but then again my feet and hands would probably have been frozen. My feet were perfectly warm in my insulated GORE-TEX socks and Montrail shoes. In the middle of the afternoon as we were going up the Yentna River we passed Kirsten Ballard. She was having some trouble keeping her dogs focused on the trail. They seemed to want to wander off on side trails. Later I had to slow down and let Boris go ahead. Soon afterwards Kirsten went by in good form. She told me that her GPS said the Yentna checkpoint was six miles away as the crow flies. However, the quarter mile wide Yentna River was twisting and turning and two hours later and more like nine miles I arrived at the lodge. I arrived in 24th place out of the 26 starters. I ordered a cheeseburger, fries and a couple colas. I left the lodge at 6:15 p.m. in 20th place since some of the racers decided to get more rest. Once again I pushed hard for an hour until the sun set. I traveled up the Yentna expecting other competitors to pass me. I had no idea what time it was but I could not stop anyway. It was near -20°F and if I stopped more than thirty seconds I would begin to shiver. When I got cold I would run a short distance. I also had to stay focused on the bicycle tracks in the snow because I knew that the cyclists were on this part of the course in daylight and were able to pick out the best route on the wide river. The temperature seemed to warm up a few degrees when I turned onto the Skwentna River. I breathed a sigh of relief when I came upon a sign that said the lodge was only two miles ahead. A few minutes from the lodge Bill Merchant and his three dogs passed me. My headlamp went out so I followed the trail to the lodge with my flashlight. It felt so good to step inside the warm lodge. I looked at my watch and it said 2:30 a.m.. Time sure goes by fast when you are having fun! The owner made a burger for Bill and I. Ralf Kuba, another skijor, had also arrived and we shared a three bedroom room. Within a minute Ralf was asleep snoring up a storm and Bill and I wondered how we were going to get any sleep. But within minutes we were both asleep before 3:30 a.m. Now I was in 17th place. DAY 2 FRIDAY Skwentna Lodge to Finger Lake Lodge (mile 135) Bill's alarm went off at 6:30 a.m. but we decided to rest until 7 a.m. It was difficult to get out of bed with only three hours of sleep. Joyce was making breakfast for other racers downstairs. At 7:15 a.m. Boris arrived from being out all night on the river. His facemask was covered with ice and frost and his hair was full of icicles. I decided not to sit down for a full breakfast so I ate one of Joyce's homemade cinnamon rolls. The sun was shining as I left the lodge but the temperature still was -10°F. A few minutes after I left, Dan Bull came by on his bicycle. He slowly disappeared upriver occasionally dismounting and pushing his bicycle because of the soft snow. As I passed the Old Skwentna Roadhouse the trail headed northwest out of the river and up and down hills through forests to Shell Lake. After leaving Shell Lake I could see Dan ahead. I caught up to him and we both were surprised how long it had taken us to get to Shell Lake. The trail now crossed frozen swamps and occasionally went through a small sections of spruce trees. By 3 p.m. we figured that we only had a couple of miles to Finger Lake Lodge. Whenever we came out of the forest we thought that we would see the lodge but every time it was just another frozen lake. The sun had made the snow soft which made travel slow. Dan ate a Snickers but I thought I could make it to the lodge before I burned out. Actually, I was too lazy to stop and get into my sled for more food. Almost another hour went by and no lodge. The sun was slowly disappearing behind the mountains and the temperature was dropping. We entered the forest again where the trail was better. Dan was able to ride and I could not keep up with him. I was feeling really tired and hoped that the lodge would come into sight as I cleared the forest. The trail descended to a big lake and I could see Dan on the other side just below the lodge. The half mile to the lodge took me fifteen minutes. I was counting 100 steps before I would stop and take a break. I parked my sled and walked into the lodge at 7:05 p.m., fifteen minutes behind Dan. I almost fell asleep while I sat at the table to eat pasta. I wondered about finishing the race. Everyone that saw me at the table thought that I would be out of the race. Two hours later I rolled out my sleeping bag in a cabin and told Dan to wake me when he got up in the morning. I was in 15th place but that did not make me feel any better. DAY THREE SATURDAY Finger Lake Lodge to Rohn Roadhouse (mile 210) Dan woke me up at 5:30 a.m. I had a good night's rest and my body seemed fully recovered for another tough day on the trail. I left the lodge a few minutes before Dan and Chloe Lanthier. I really enjoyed the morning as the trail went up the Happy River Gorge to Puntilla Lake. It was like a roller coaster ride winding through the spruce trees. Dan rode by me again and I wished him luck and told him that I would see him in McGrath in a few days. A couple hours later I surprised Dan as he was pushing his bike up a hill. I felt recharged and pushed my pace until I could look back and not see Dan. It took longer than expected to reach the Puntilla Lake checkpoint. I arrived at 1:20 p.m. and planned to be on my way by 2 p.m. Both Bill Merchant and Ralf Kuba were getting their dogs ready to leave about that same time. I went through my drop bags and ate a few flour tortillas. Before I left the checkpoint both Dan and Chloe arrived. I departed at 2 p.m. and began the slow uphill trek towards Rainy Pass. The sun was warm but that made travel slower. My feet would sink a few inches into the snow and if I stepped off of the trail I was in snow up to my knees. I passed up Ralf who was resting his dogs but he soon zoomed by me with an energized team. A half-hour later I met Dawes Wilson who was sitting in the snow trying to knock ice off of his bicycle shoe cleats. I never thought I would pass any cyclists. A couple miles later as I began my ascent up Rainy Pass I caught up to Mike Curiak pushing his bicycle. I spoke with him briefly but I felt strong and was on a mission to get to the top of the pass before dark. I gave a yell when I reached the top of the pass. I thought that way Mike would hear me and could tell how much farther he had to go before the top. However, what I thought was the top was actually just a flat section below the pass. So I went another half mile and was over the pass and now on the north side of the Alaska Range. The snow was soft as I descended; occasionally punching through the snow and falling. The trail became more firm as I began my descent into the Dalzell Gorge. It was narrow and I had to be careful not to step into the running creek or punch through a thin spot in the ice. Again I looked at my map to try to estimate how long it would be until I arrived at the Rohn checkpoint. It was 10 p.m. and I thought that I had been through the gorge. But an hour later told me different. The walls on both sides of me grew steeper and narrower. My headlamp could reach both sides of the gorge and light up the frozen waterfalls. I had to be more careful on my feet here because of the smooth ice that covered various parts of the creek. After the gorge I was back on some roller coaster hills with no checkpoint in sight. Now it was near 11 p.m. and I had to stop for the first time since 2 p.m. to sit on my sled for a ten minute break. I was sleepy rather than physically exhausted. Surprisingly, I was warm even though I was not wearing a jacket. Soon I was out of the hills and on a lake. It was so quiet that I could hear the ice cracking as it was in constant movement. The trail went back through the spruce and opened up onto an airstrip. I could see lights ahead and a few tents. I checked in at 12:20 a.m. and set up my tent alongside the airstrip. I felt like I had my best day yet: arrived in 11th place. DAY FOUR SUNDAY Rohn to three miles south of Bear Creek Camp (mile 258) I slept until 8:30 a.m. It was difficult and slow to get up and pack. By 9:30 a.m. I was pulling my sled down the trail. My sled was 45 pounds because I decided to pack my tent and I carried food for the next two days. I looked north up the South Fork of the Kuskokwim River and could see Egypt Mountain on the horizon. I used that landmark as a way to judge my progress. Just a mile out of Rohn I crossed the river. I could shuffle over the ice like I was skating and I pulled my sled without any effort. Unfortunately, the trail headed into the hills along the river instead of staying on the ice. After an hour on the trail I met Gil Hjellen who was walking his bicycle back to Rohn. Something happened to his front wheel and he was hiking back to Rohn to repair it. What a disappointment for him but I knew that he would come by me again because the trail we were on was great for riding. On the other hand, it was terrible to pull a sled since there were many spots that were bare of snow. I tried to make up some time by running the sections that were snow covered and walking the rocky and dirt sections. After five hours I passed Egypt Mountain and began going down towards Farewell Lake, near the river. I thought that maybe it would have been easier to have stayed on the icy river all the way to Nikolai but it was an unsure route with possibilities of open water plus the fact that if I did have trouble nobody would know that I had chosen an alternate route. (Competitors were required to get to the checkpoints but did not have to stay on the Iditarod Trail to do so.) As I crossed the lakes Bill and Ralf caught up to me. Ralf was ready to take a break with his dogs for a few hours but Bill's dogs were younger and stronger so he continued until evening. I entered the great expanse known as the Farewell Burn named for the fire that spread over the entire area years ago and left standing reminders of that event. The tallest trees in this area were not more than twenty feet tall; most of them lifeless and black. The hills in this area were small and it was difficult to figure out where I was on the map and how fast or slow I was moving. At 7 p.m. I met Bill alongside the trail. His dogs were napping and he was cooking some dinner. He offered me some chicken teriyaki which I gladly accepted. He would continue at 9 p.m. and hoped to reach Nikolai by the next morning. After a few minutes I was on my way and began to run during the last hour of sunlight. I looked back at the Alaska Range and it was hard to believe that I was in those mountains just 24 hours earlier! As it became dark I would look back every time I crested a hill to see if I could see a headlamp from another competitor. I had traveled the last 100 miles on my own and I missed the company of other racers. I knew that I could not continue on to Nikolai because that was another forty miles but I did not want to stop, set up my tent and spend a cold night on "the Burn". Around 10 p.m. I decided that I would stop at the next area where there was enough room to set up my tent along the trail. That was not so easy since the trail was narrow and the snow on each side was over a foot deep. Thirty minutes later I pitched my tent and started up my stove to melt snow for water for the next day. I filled my bottles with boiling water and put them inside my sleeping bag. I warmed up some tortillas around my bottles and ate them with some peanut butter. Before I went to sleep I filled my pot on the stove with snow and kept that going for any other racers that might pass. I tried to sleep but I was uncomfortable and restless. I heard a couple cyclists ride up and I called out to see who it was. It was Mike and Dawes. Mike's seatpost broke so he had to ride his bike standing up. They seemed to be in good spirits and I gave them one of my fruit pies that I did not feel like eating. A little while later Gil stopped and warmed his hands on my warm water bottles. Dan was soon behind and continued on. I finally fell asleep to awake at 2:30 a.m. because I was having trouble breathing. I dug through my mess of gear in my tent and found my inhalers for my asthma. Directions were to use inhalers between 60-80°F. I got two hand warmers out and put them and my inhalers in my gloves to warm them up. I was also shivering probably from a tired body and a lack of calories to produce enough body heat. I was able to fall back asleep but would wake up almost every hour hoping that it would be 8 am and the sun would be out to warm things up. DAY FIVE MONDAY Near Bear Creek Camp to Nikolai (mile 297) By 7:30 a.m. I could not stay in my tent much longer. My thermometer outside read -10°F. Every time I shook the tent snow crystals would fall from the inside walls of the tent. I packed up quickly and was on my way to Nikolai. An hour later I came by the turn to Bear Creek Cabin. I had hoped that I had passed it last night and not noticed the turn in the dark. Sullivan Creek Bridge was another ten miles away which a snowmobiler on the trail told me I could not miss. I crossed the running stream on an old footbridge at 12:15 p.m. I looked at my map and figured if I would walk and run I should arrive at Nikolai around 4 or 5 p.m. Unfortunately, my compass showed that the trail was going northwest and not directly north to Nikolai as I had thought. Around 4:30 p.m. I met a snowmobiler coming from Nikolai and he told me that I had at least ten miles. A couple miles later my left shin began to hurt so I could not run or go up hills easily. I arrived in Nikolai at 8 p.m. having covered the last ten miles in 3-1/2 hours. I found the building where my drop bag was and where I could sleep. The first thing I did was to eat six packets of GU to get my sugar levels up and start my recovery for the next section to McGrath. I took a hot shower, put on warm clothes and walked over to the cafe. There were many reporters and media waiting for the first Iditarod mushers to arrive. Nick and Oline served me three cheeseburgers, an order of fries, two colas, and two fruit drinks; all for thirty dollars! I spent some time talking to the media then went back to the other building to sort gear. I set up my tent to dry out from the previous night. My plan was to rest the entire next 24 hours then to do a single push to McGrath which was 53 miles to the west. I was worried that if I left any sooner I might have more problems with my shin. And the deadline to finish in McGrath was still two days away. I finally went to sleep around midnight, in 15th place . DAY SIX TUESDAY Nikolai to McGrath (mile 350, The Finish!) I had a great night's sleep and woke up fully rested. Dan was packing up his gear to set off at 8 a.m. My legs felt fine, the sun was shining and there was not a cloud in the sky. I decided to try to make it to McGrath before dark but I loaded up my sled with my tent and stove just in case I had problems along the trail. I taped my left shin with duct tape hoping that would keep it from blowing out. I walked out of town then began to run as the trail followed the Kuskokwim River. I had 3000 calories of GU with me and I had some every fifteen minutes. My plan was to run at the top of every hour for fifteen minutes then take a short break and walk fast for the remainder of the hour. To my surprise I found that I could run about 45-50 minutes of every hour. I was wearing GORE-TEX pants and jacket over my capilene even though the sun was out and I was running. The temperature during the afternoon never went above 10°F. At 5:30 p.m. the first musher came by and confirmed that I had at least ten miles to go to McGrath. I felt good and tried to push hard so that I could finish before dark. I pulled up the last steep hill out of the river and arrived at the Iditarod Checkpoint at 8 p.m. in 17th place. The people there called a man named Peter who came shortly after and gave me a ride back to his home on his snowmobile. There I met the other finishers from the last 24 hours. Bill, Dan, and I stayed up till midnight exchanging stories. I think we were still amazed at this race course and that we had actually finished! ------------------------------ Thanks again to Dan Bull, Bob Lohr, Gordon & Jackie Higby, Richard Larrson, Kirk Garoutte, Peter in McGrath, all the lodges at Yentna, Skwentna, Finger Lake, and Nikolai, the volunteers at the checkpoints, my Mom and Dad, my sponsors, and my friends that made this adventure possible. Joe Jurczyk jurczyk@apk.net http://junior.apk.net/~jurczyk