2005 Iditarod - March 7: Alaska Range

March 7: Alaska Range

The heat and soft snow slowed the race, and the glare off the snow was blinding during the day.

Finger Lake: Melanie Gould arrived first at Finger Lake on March 8 at 5:38 am, followed by Hendricks at 5:50 am, and then Swenson and Jonrowe an hour later. Dallas Seavey was the last to arrive at 6:59 pm. Jonrowe was the first depart, at 7:02 am, followed by Swenson a minute later, and Lance Mackey, Mike Williams, Robert Sørlie, and Buser within the hour. The top 10 (15) departed within 2 hours, and the top 30 within four hours.

Happy Valley Gorge leading up to Rainy Pass is hazardous in regular years, but in 2005 the trail conditions were miserable, especially for the mushers at the back. Snowmobiles threw up frozen wakes, and the leading dogsleds riddled the trail with potholes, some more than 3-foot (0.914 m) deep.

Other notable crashes on the way to Rainy Pass:

• "Visual interpreter" Paul Ellering lost two-way communication with Scdoris when his radio was destroyed in a crash.
• Jacques Philips caught his hand between a tree and the handle bar on his sled while coming up Happy Valley Gorge. His hand was either broken or dislocated, and required medical treatment so Philips scratched in Rainy Pass on March 7. In 1985, Philip became the first French musher to race in the Iditarod, and is a three-time winner of the European Alpirod dog sled race. (pdf)
• Judy Merrit fell and was knocked unconscious while traversing the Happy Valley Gorge. She remained at Rainy Pass lodge for two days, before scratching on March 9, citing a concussion, persistent headaches, and fatigued dogs. (pdf) She later said "the steps and the gorge are my dragon".

Rainy Pass: While making the long climb to the Rainy Pass Lodge on Puntilla Lake, DeeDee Jonrowe hit a snowmobile sitting on the trail, and sheared off a bolt connecting the runner to her sled. She still arrived first, on March 7 at 10:27 am. Dallas Seavey, the last to arrive at 10:53 am the next day, lost two runners on the way in. Former runner-up Ramy Brooks was the first to depart, at 12:11 pm, but nobody else left within the next two hours. The top 10 all left within 6 hours, and the top 30 within 8 hours.

From the lodge, the route crosses through Rainy Pass in the Alaska Range, then descends into the Interior. A helicopter observed a woman crashing multiple times along the steep descent known as the Dalzell Gorge.

Rohn: Sørlie starts to set the pace across the Interior. He is the first to arrive in Rohn, on March 7 at 7:08 pm, followed by Buser almost two hours later. Brooks is again the first to depart, at 10:42 pm, as the early leaders start to pull away from the pack. The top 10 depart in 6 hours, and the top 30 in about 9 hours.

On the way to Nikolai, Swingley broke a runner and lost a pad on his sled while negotiating the wildfire badlands of the Farewell Burn. Scdoris suffered scratches and a large bruise on her hip after crashing into a tree, after her snow hook snagged on the ground.

Sonny Lindner from Michigan became the third to scratch on March 8, citing health problems. Lindner was the 1984 winner of the Yukon Quest.(pdf)