Yukon Quest '08

Eagle Summit is more merciful this time around

By Matias Saari

Published Monday, February 11, 2008, Fairbanks Daily News Miner

Brent Sass gleefully hollered his way up and over Eagle Summit on Sunday, while Dave Dalton could later laugh about a harmless tumble down a section of the notorious mountain.

That was quite a contrast to the seriousness of 2006, when a dozen dog teams were unaccounted for during a whiteout storm and six were eventually rescued by military helicopter.

“I was yelling and screaming. The dogs were having a great time. We just charged right up the hill,” Brent Sass of Fairbanks said after registering the second-fastest time (3 hours, 2 minutes) for the 28-mile stretch. That got him to Central as the third musher behind Dan Kaduce and Dalton.

On his way to winning the Quest 300 in 2006, Sass lost the trail and made a harrowing descent — led by Silver — well off the invisible trail. This time huge 4X4 tripods helped mark the way, but good visibility made navigation easy and the manageable mountain conditions — about 10 below with a headwind of perhaps 20-30 mph — caused minimal distress.

“It was just right today. I never felt out of control or freaked out about the weather at all,” said Sass, who put Silver back up front for the first time since the epic trip down. “I like it up on Eagle Summit when it’s a little bit treacherous. I have a ball up there.”

Sunday marked the first time since 2006 that the Quest traveled up Eagle Summit’s gradual south side and down the north end.

Dalton, meanwhile, has 13 veterans on his squad, many of which helped him to three top-five finishes from 2004 to 2006. But the team got slightly off course on top, and when Dalton was forced to sidehill, the sled tipped over on its left side. What followed was a wild ride for 100 yards down the 3,685-foot mountain’s steepest pitch.

“My knuckles were so white from grabbing the sled. I wasn’t lettin’ go for nothing,” Dalton said. “So we went down to the bottom, stopped, I tipped the sled back up, said ‘Good dogs’ and off we went.”

Dalton then cruised to Central, arriving at 4:19 p.m., just less than two hours after Kaduce had blown through with just a 13-minute stop.

“I hope he has some warm clothes. It’s pretty chilly out there on (Birch Creek),” Dalton said, adding that bypassing Central “didn’t even cross my mind.”

Kaduce benefited when Sunday’s layover — after the teams were trucked from Angel Hot Springs to Mile 101 — was extended to 15 hours because highway workers needed to reopen the Steese Highway, which was closed Saturday night due to high winds and drifting snow. The extra five hours gave Kaduce’s team more time to recover from a speedy, 99-mile jaunt to Chena Hot Springs to open the race Saturday.

“He’s trying to stay on schedule because it was only 3 1/2 hours over (to Central),” Dalton said of Kaduce’s likely tactics.

As for three-time defending champion Lance Mackey, he spotted Kaduce four hours by camping en route to Chena Hot Springs. But he only stopped for seven minutes in Central, barely long enough to get his mandatory equipment checked and buy a couple of bottled waters from the Steese Roadhouse. Then Mackey set off in pursuit of Kaduce, leaving at 6:20 p.m. Hugh Neff was right behind 10 minutes later.

A 74-mile trip to Circle, which includes the meandering and frigid Birch Creek, awaited.