Swingley already out of Iditarod

By CRAIG MEDRED
Tuesday, March 06, 2007

The notorious stretch of Iditarod Trail from Finger Lake up into Rainy Pass in the Alaska Range has claimed its first victim of the year, and it's a big one.

Iditarod officials said four-time champ Doug Swingley from Lincoln, Mont. scratched from the race Monday after crashing his sled on the way into the checkpoint at Puntilla Lake. Race spokesman Chas St. George reported Swingley had possible broken ribs and a dislocated thumb.

The latter, more than the former, could make it difficult for Swingley to care for dogs, especially in the prevailing subzero cold that often necessitates regular changes of booties on their feet. Changing dog booties with one-hand is a difficult task.

Swingley reportedly told race officials before scratching that he was concerned about his ability to take care of his team. Even if he could have managed that, however, trying to bootie dogs with one hand would have been so time consuming as to take him out of contention.

He now joins a roster of mushers battered by the slightly better than 30-mile climb up from Finger Lake to the south entrance to Rainy Pass. This stretch of trail has probably felled more drivers than any other segment of the Iditarod.

It starts with a wild luge run down to Red Lake, mellows out to wind through frozen beaver ponds covered with snow, and then approaches the ominous Happy River gorge. The drop down a series of switchbacks to Happy River is rightfully feared by many.

It is not unusual to see dogsleds roll down the hills here or, worse, tumble and then wrap the gang line to the dogs around a tree. With a sled stuck like that, and the dogs still lunging forward to get to the base of the hill, getting unstuck can be a monstrous chore.

Once to the bottom of the gorge, mushers face a long climb back up and out the other side on the way to Shirley Lake, where the really nasty part of the trail begins. From Shirley Lake for much of the way to Puntilla Lake, the trail runs on a side hill above the Happy River.

In many places, it is slick and steep, and a sled wants to slide sideways off the side of the trail into thickets of alders or rib-busting spruce trees.

This is the section of trail that got Swingley.

He has had a lot of company in agony here over the years. Arms, hands, wrists and ribs have all been broken on this stretch of trail, and there have been more than a few concussions.