Tim Out of Elim

Tim called from Elim. He arrived there at 13:30 (March 24th). He said the wind is still blowing on the coast. Despite that he sounded pretty upbeat. The wind creates what is called sastrugi on the trail which is like a hard choppy frozen sea on one side and a loose snowdrift of BBs on the other side, and your feet slide in it. It is extremely hard to move along on foot pulling a sled or pushing a bike though that like I did last year. It is very tiring!

Tim plans to leave Elim in the late afternoon after he picks up his resupply package and hopes to arrive at the Walla Walla shelter cabin by early evening. He said he has to take the overland mail trail since the sea ice blew out. That section on the sea ice was one of my favorite sections last year. We stopped at the Walla Walla cabin which is maintained by the local fire department last year to wait out the big blow and to get enough rest, eat food and hydrate plenty before venturing out again into those winds.

The NOAA forecast site predicts this for today and tonight:

SOUTHERN SEWARD PENINSULA COAST- INCLUDING...NOME...WHITE MOUNTAIN...GOLOVIN TUE MAR 24 2009 ...STRONG WINDS FROM EARLY THIS MORNING THROUGH THIS AFTERNOON... .TODAY...MOSTLY SUNNY. HIGHS 10 TO 15. NORTHEAST WINDS 20 TO 30 MPH. LOCAL GUSTS TO 50 MPH EAST OF NOME WITH BLOWING SNOW. .TONIGHT...PARTLY CLOUDY. LOWS ZERO TO 5 ABOVE ZERO. NORTHEAST WINDS 15 TO 25 MPH. LOCAL GUSTS TO 35 MPH.

That means that the wind is going to be blowing hard when Tim goes over the top of Little McKinley, which is a barren, windswept pass between Elim and Golovin. The wind carved snowscape resembles what you would see on top of Mt McKinley.

Hang in there Tim, you have made it this far with all the wind and you made it though those nasty winds last year.



Marco arrived in Shaktoolik at midnight last night. Linda the principal of the school fed him spaghetti and invited him to stay with her and her husband. The wind has been very strong all day. He planned to leave this afternoon (March 25th)about 16:00 after resting and eating a lot. By this point in the race food becomes an obsession. Three hamburgers and fries with 3 cokes for one meal is about right. Marco plans to go to the shelter cabin where he will have a meal and make water for the long sea ice crossing. If the wind is bad he will spend the night but if it calms down he will continue tonight. If you cross at night with good visibility you can see the lights of Koyuk nearly all the way. The lights just seem to sit in one place and never get any closer. But there are hamburgers to be had in Koyuk that inspire you to get there!