First update from the Iditarod Trail Invitational: I received a satellite phone call from Beat at 9 a.m. Monday They spent most of Sunday breaking trail through more than a foot of new snow as a blizzard raged around them. In the early hours of the morning they passed the lead biker, Pete Basinger, who was pushing his bike through the snow. Beat said he was leading the entire race whenever it was his turn to break trail. It sounded like he was traveling in a group of about five or six runners. Around 4:30 a.m. Beat, Anne Ver Hoef, Geoff Roes, David Johnston and Andrea, and Tim Hewitt (and possibly others) decided to bivy on the Wall of Death near the Susitna River to await potential snowmobile traffic. When none had come through by sunrise, they resumed trail breaking. A few bikers passed them during their bivy. If conditions do not improve, I don’t expect Beat and the others will make it into Yentna Station, mile 57, until tonight. There is also a chance they will decide to rest at Luce’s Lodge, mile 50, before moving on. I will continue to update this page as I receive more information.
It is truly amazing what they are doing in such conditions and we are still in the first 24 hours! Thanks ffor the update!
Yikes! Appreciate the update(s) –
Beat, Congratulations on reaching Yentna Station! Take time to rest up, the adverure has just begun:-)