Expedition Alaska
Whiteouts and whitewater
Pyro / 02.07.2015
In Whittier, the end of the line as far as Alaska is concerned, Tecnu still hold a commanding lead. Equilibre were the next team to arrive to the packraft transition, but only arrived after Tecnu had completed the long kayak orienteering section and were sleeping in the back of the U-Haul containing the teams crates. Rob Preston's parents are following the race and childminding, with Rob on Tecnu and his wife Kathryn on Team Rogue, and Rob's mother reckoned she has never seen him look quite so bad as when they came off the packraft, the team had spent a cold night sleeping out in a whiteout on the ridge.
Equilibre held a small celebration when the race director appeared to remind them that today is Canada Day, though obviously the realisation hadn't sunk in previously. They are racing as a three after dropping a teammate earlier, but had opted to carry just a single two-man packraft. The 5km of flatwater along Passage Canal to Whittier had been particularly uncomfortable, and after they completed the long kayak section and began the trek out over Portage Pass, they phoned back to HQ to ask if they could possibly get a hold of their second raft.
Yogaslackers finally reappeared on the radar, paddling into the Whittier transition fairly cheerful, but limped across the shore to the tents. Daniel Staudigel is having the worst problems, with a nasty fungal infection in his left foot and illiotibial band problems in his right knee. Jason Magness described his teammate as “a giant hobbling machine” while being interviewed by the film team. They are now out in the middle of the long kayak.
Two members of North Zealand Outdoors have also arrived at Whittier, and are being rejoined by one of their other teammates to continue onwards. Team Rogue are still off the radar, their tracker hasn't updated in nearly 23hrs, but on last contact they had got cliffed out on the northernmost ridge of the three that could lead them down to the packraft entry and were backtracking to try and find a better route down. The only other teams headed over the full route are Team Cameltoes, who are closest to the shore and the packraft put-in, and Team SORB.
On the short course option, the majority of teams are now down to Portage and beginning the climb up parallel to the Seward Highway, before they climb back into their packrafts to float down East Six Mile Creek to CP21, where they swap the packrafts for whitewater rafts and run the three canyons of the famous 'Six Mile'. The whitewater raft section is restricted in time, and the guides – because nobody would trust a sleep deprived adventure race team to self-guide three canyons of Class IV and V whitewater – prefer to run multiple rafts at the same time, so any time spent waiting is neutralised. Because of these limitations, only Traces of Nuts ran the section today. They were the only team that passed through Alyeska in time to be allowed to take the full course who opted not to, taking the bailout early. As a bonus, it means they arrived at the raft put-in early and have spent much of the day resting up and replenishing their reserves. They got on the water around 14:30, with a guide, a member of the film crew, and a SleepMonsters journalist, at what the guide John Brown described as 'a perfect medium level'.
After a safety talk and a quick swim test, the first canyon came up quickly, with everyone paddling well, if a little slow on response time. At 'Beaver Drop', the last rapid of the canyon, the raft ran sideways into a hole and flipped both team and media out for a short swim and a sharp wake-up call. Recovery was quick and everyone was back in the raft in under a minute, but it was obvious the sharp immersion and the enclosed, shaded canyon were chilling the racers. The second canyon, opening with rapids called Pearly Gates and The Nozzle, appeared after half an hour of flatter water, and upped the intensity a notch. All of the Traces of Nuts team have rafted before and seemed to have no problem pulling together, the slightly sleepy mistimed strokes of the first canyon long gone. The guide and the safety rafter (known as Popcorn, a nickname with a story behind it…) concluded that the raft team were good to go for the third, Class V canyon – pulling out after the second is a possibility either for less able or less confident crews. Opening with the double-drop Staircase rapid, the final gorge section runs five Class V rapics in close succession, ending with The Merry-Go-Round and Jaws. The team (and media) whooped as the section was navigated successfully, and everyone stayed dry – until on the gentler run out section, where the team had to jump out of the boat, take their checkpoint photo on a log by a side creek, then swim down to the getout.
Late in the evening, it appears Team Everest had arrived at the raft get in, but missed the cutoff time, so they will be resting their overnight with their race clock stopped. We expect Tecnu to join them, and possibly also Equilibre, as well as a number of the short course teams. Being a layby on the side of the main Seward highway, the overnight may not be a quiet one.
SleepMonsters
