8:22 a.m.- Seavey out of White Mountain with Nine huskies, Guiness in lead

Uneventfully, nine year old female  leader Guiness (spelling, don’t count on me) takes the Seavey team out of White Mountain in direction Nome.

Guiness in lead, an eventful departure for leader Dallas Seavey

Here’s what happened in the dark of morning:   Reliable and consistent, Dallas booted his dogs, loaded going to make the 8:12a.m. exit time.  Sprinting up the hill side to the city office and all services, he returned 8 minutes later sprinting and skiing down muscles warming.  Most mushers stay quiet for 15 or 20 minutes, allowing the physiological warm up to continue.

For mushers, this is a small miracle.   Gradually, the team engine rpms increase, and one by one each team dog begins to test the harness, a few loping at times and hammering to get up team speed.  The sled bounces and careens when the trail crosses wind blown drift, then runners sing as the team slogs through loose snow.  Like a train conductor, the musher announces, “please install seat belts, the train is leaving town at a slow speed, but we will be at mach 1 by the outskirts.”  Once the dogs are on track, the biological miracle can continue for hours.

Dallas fixes tugs to harness a few minutes after official out time is announced by the checker

The biggest test physically for Dallas is the first third of the trail to Nome, where he certainly will be jogging up the long nine mile climb up and over Topkok hill.  His blistered big toes has to be a killer, but he wasn’t complaining in the checkpoint.  Running on the hill is regarded to be a true way to get time.

Topkok hill is a long gradual ascent which enables a musher to look back for miles to see advancing mushers.  Some mushers cannot resist craning backwards, while others deny the possibility of a pass, and just keep looking forward and figure a pass is what it is.  

8:22 a.m. and ten minutes past time to go, Dallas arranges his dog team, then asks Guiness to take him back on the trail to NOME

Flash   Seavey the Elder (Mitch) and Ray Redington together in WMO

Final Thought

Aliy out, Smyth scheduled to test, definitely in range for a dramatic momentum change.