After a five hour snooze in the Alaska Range, Team Kaiser is off for Rainy Pass and a wild ride through the gorge towards Rohn.
The trail through the Pass can be treacherous and race manager Mark Nordman told us in the media briefing that they had to put in quite a few snow bridges over sections of open water. Teams will climb to the highest point in the race and then head down into the canyon that leads to Rohn.
Pete is following Nic Petit and their strategy of taking a nice break, but leaving while there is still daylight will give them a double advantage: First, it’s light and they will actually be able to see where they are going. Second, they are the first two teams through the trail and it is supposed to be nicely packed. As more and more Teams cross, it may fall prey to thousands of footsteps and get soft.
Last year, 2018 Champion Joar Leifseth-Ulsom did the Rainy Pass to Rohn trail in 4 hours. That will put Pete into Rohn and most likely onto the Farewell burn. I’d expect him to camp out at Little Egypt and split the Rainy to Nikolai stretch in two runs.
Pete is holding good speed and is about 6 miles behind Nic Petit. Now they each have no way of knowing where the other is and that tends to play tricks with you a bit. But it’s early and Pete isn’t too sleep deprived yet. He’s going to run his race, as will Nic and several other trying to keep themselves near the front of the pack.
Here is a little look at what can happen if you don’t look where you are going. I set it to music last year, but it gives you an idea of what mushers fear, and then think of doing it at night!!
