Trigger and Bilko, two of Frank's loudest and most enthusiastic team members, had a quiet moment before the start of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Sunday at Willow Lake.
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Frank returns to Wasilla
March 10
Frank Sihler is back in Wasilla, having been flown out from Finger Lake two days after his dogs were.
"Frank is back home safe and sound," Claudia says. "No frostbite, no wear or tear, a little disappointed but happy that he didn't hurt himself or the dogs further down the trail.
"I picked him up in Anchorage right behind the Millennium Hotel on Lake Hood on Thursday at 1 p.m. We had an Idita-burger at the Fancy Moose inside the Millennium (excellent!) and I took him home.
"The sled is still in Finger Lake and will hopefully be flown out later. Frank has the sled bag and all his gear back; only the naked sled is still out there."
Race map | Archive
A message from Claudia
March 7
Hello everybody,
Thank you all for your wishes and support for Frank's Iditarod 2007!!!
As you might have already seen on the race updates, Frank had to
withdraw from the race at Finger Lake checkpoint, about 120 miles
into the race.
His dog team consisted of most of our young dogs, between 1.5 and
2.5 years old, and some veteran dogs to help them over the trail,
experienced leaders that have been on the way to Nome with Frank
before. Unfortunately, some of those experienced dogs got sore or
mildly injured early in the race, which is enough to prevent them
from continuing the race. The two main leaders Frank was counting
on, Tears and Green Pea, developed unexplained fever and needed to
be dropped, too.
This left Frank with a good core of 10 healthy and adventurous
dogs, that didn't know what to do out there. They'd all follow
Frank, but he couldn't run fast enough to avoid the dogs reaching
him, 10 at the same time. That caused quite some tangles! That's
how important a good lead dog is, and that characteristic is
unfortunately not teachable in all dogs. Especially with the trail
and weather conditions not being optimal, it takes a rather hard-
headed almost stubborn lead dog, who gives the team the necessary
confidence of "we can do this!" They can do it, but they didn't know!
As of now, all dogs are home and in good shape. Everybody is happy,
and that's most important. Frank on the other hand is still sitting
at the checkpoint in Finger Lake, waiting for the weather to change
to the better, so that an airplane of the Iditarod Air Force can
take him home. The planes first bring all the dogs out, then the
mushers, then the volunteers. I picked up all the dogs in Anchorage
on Tuesday (yesterday), and waited if Frank would follow. Frank
didn't get out before it got dark, and today the weather is not
promising. Most important, Frank is all well!
I almost think that it was supposed to end this way, to prevent
Frank from being injured further down the trail as it happened to
quite a lot of other mushers. Very experienced mushers got beat up
on the trail, broke their sled, or got lost in ground blizzard
conditions and had to turn around. Anchorage Daily News has
excellent articles on the mushers and their adventures out there.
So let's see this from the bright side: Everybody well and healthy,
and I get my husband back a little earlier.
You'll see us out on the trail again!!!
Claudia
• • •
Claudia provided more details about the dogs and how much fun Frank had on the trail between Finger Lake and Rainy Pass.
The dropped dogs were:
- Clerence in Swentna due to a sore wrist.
- Tears and Green Pea in Finger Lake due to feaver of unknown origin. They
were just a little lethargic, nothing else.
- Blaze due to a lameness (I don't know more than that, she's fine now)
- Gunner due to a rash and windburn inside the flanks (inguinal area)
- Trigger due to sore wrists.
All are in good sprits, and the other 10 dogs would have been wonderful
dogs to continue on with. But there was no lead dog left to tell them to
"and now we go!" So they were having fun, visiting each other, and a little
insecure about what's up front, and no dog was willing to take the team
forward into deep and bottomless sugar snow with winds blowing at 50 mph.
Frank tried and had lots of tangles because of that, then decided to turn
around to FGL.
• • •
Here are some links to coverage of Frank.
• Conditions at Puntilla Lake (Rainy Pass)
• Frank wasn't only the musher leaving the race by Rainy Pass
• Feature story about Frank in the Daily News
Race map | Archive
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