Rookie Musher Mike Parker, who was near dead last place and some 250 miles back from the leader, has dropped out of the race. Also, and sadly, rookie musher Daniel Klein had a dog die on the trail and scratched as well. The rules require any musher who experiences a death in their team to pull out of the race immediately, but I suspect Klein would have dropped out anyway even if not required by the rules.
Before you jump to any incorrect conclusions that the tragic loss of a dog somehow indicates cruelty or neglect on the part of the racers, veteran musher Jeff Deeter has also scratched as well in consideration of the long term health and attitude of his team. He could have continued on and risked physical damage to his core, prime-age dogs, and possible mental damage to his younger dogs as well. By pulling out of the race now, however, he felt the entire team will have had a positive experience up to this point. He will hopefully have a stronger group of healthy, happy, well adjusted dogs for seasons to come.
One of the factors leading to Deeter's decision (and possibly the death on Klein's team, although I don't know for sure) has been the warmer-than-usual temperatures this year. By "warmer," I mean around the 32° F freezing mark. This has led to uncovered spots of bare ground in some places, soft, slushy snow in other places, and hard ice in some spots after the melted snow refroze overnight. That hard ice is tough on the dog's paws, even with the protective booties they wear. Further, the dogs are bred, trained, and conditioned to perform in sub-zero temperatures, and the warmer conditions places a strain on their system and reduces overall performance.
Anyhow, according to the leaderboard, Paige Drobny is back in first place. After her mandatory 24-hour rest, she was the first to leave Kaltag for the 329-mile loop down and back part of the Southern Route of the trail. Seven other teams (Matt Hall, Michelle Phillips, Jessie Holmes, Ryan Redington, Mille Porsild, Mitch Seavey, and Travis Beals) have left Kaltag as well - all have taken their mandatory 24.
Nicolas Petit, lead rookie Emily Ford, and Anna Berington are still in Kaltag, presumably completing their 24-hour rest. Bailey Vitello and Gabe Dunham are currently in Kaltag as well but have already taken their 24-hour rest and probably won't stay there for long. Riley Dyche, who's also completed his 24, has left the Nulato checkpoint and was heading toward Kaltag as of 6:30 am Alaska time.
The remaining teams are all either at or between the Nulato and Galena checkpoints. Rookie Quince Mountain is currently in last place and pulled into Galena some 10 hours behind the current second-to-last musher Calvin Daugherty.
It's 70 more miles along the Yukon River from Kaltag to the next checkpoint, Eagle Island. Although the half-way point of this year's trail is after Eagle Island, that checkpoint is the one closest to half way. Half (14) of the remaining 28 teams have completed their mandatory 24-hour rest and I suspect all will have taken it by the time they leave Kaltag. There's also a mandatory 8-hour rest that's usually required somewhere along the Yukon. As all but 35 miles of the upcoming 329 miles along the Southern Route loop are on the Yukon, I presume the teams will have to take their mandatory 8 somewhere along that long stretch.
As previously noted in a previous post, the Yukon is swept by strong winds which can wipe out the trail and drop the windchill below −100 °F, and the uniformity of this long stretch can cause sleep deprivation and even hallucinations (watch out for the Yetis and zombie moose, y'all!).
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