Due to poor trail conditions the group of mushers turned back around to Elim on Friday. The group decided to wait until the next morning (Saturday) to head out on their approximately 7 hour drive after all dogs and mushers were well rested. The teams will be following the Old Mail Trail, which a local trailbreaking team will need to reestablish ahead of the teams, bringing them to the backside of White Mountain. Once in White Mountain, mushers have a mandatory 8 hour layover before heading to Nome.
Nicolas Petit’s team has moved on to White Mountain after all and is no longer waiting in the cabin as we reported earlier today. There was a possibility Petit would follow the Elim mushers as they headed to Nome before we recieved news he had moved on. Petit scratched early Thursday morning after being picked up by Golovin Search and Rescue.
Elim 11 mushers include (alphabetical order): Fabio Berlusconi, Grayson Bruton, Martin Buser, Riley Dyche, Magnus Kaltenborn, Dennis Kananowicz, Kaci Murringer, Deke Naaktgeboren, Laura Neese, Damon Ramaker, and Monica Zappa.
