By Theresa Jacobo

            The second half of this year’s Quest was defined for the last musher on the trail by cold, unimaginable, inescapable cold. Temperatures began plunging about the time Bob McAlpin, 56, entered the Fortymile River, about 550 miles from the finish line in Fairbanks, and never climbed above 40 below zero.

            McAlpin noticed the effect on his dogs as he moved in and out of the shadows the hills had cast over the winding Fortymile River. “As soon as we entered the sun, the dogs slowed down,” he recalled. “It was like they didn’t want to leave.”

            Clear skies caused consistently cold temperatures throughout the second half of the 1000-mile race. Temperatures at 50, sometimes 60 below caused some difficulty for the mushers and the dogs.

            Musher Aaron Burnmeister had first-hand experience on what 40 and 50 below temperatures can do to the body. “Well, what was happening is, with my face mask covering my nose, my eyelashes were icing up from the perspiration from my breath,” recalls Burnmeister.

            Frost forms on every part of the musher’s clothing and face from their body heat when exposed to the cold temperatures. Burnmeister found out the hard way how difficult that frost could be.

           “Rather than taking my glove off at 50 below and sticking my finger in my eye in trying to get the eyelash out,” the musher recalled, he simply probed his eye with his mitten. As it happens, that mitten was already iced from use rubbing snow from his eyelashes and wiping his nose.

            The result was frightening.

            “Well, the ice at 45 below touching the fluid of my eye just froze,” Burmeister said, “And I felt it immediately.”Mushers and dogs were not the only ones who had to brave the cold weather and long nights."

            The Yukon Quest is a team effort with many people involved including veterinarians, handlers, and random volunteers. Margie Eastmen, a former Yukon Quest head veterinarian, dealt with the long, cold nights at the Chena Hot Springs checkpoint in an unconventional way.

            “I complain a lot. I find that that helps,” she said. “I’ve got three layers of long underwear, and another set of boots, hand warmers in my pocket. But I am finding that complaining is probably doing more good than anything.” 

            Being out in the middle of nowhere in intense, unbearable cold, there is no time to stop and dwell on it.

           “I never got scared, but you’ve got to pay attention to it,” McAlpin said. “And you’ve got to be moving all the time.” The night he traveled Birch Creek, a windy Interior waterway covering most of the 90-mile route between Circle and Central, locals estimated the temperature dipped as low as minus 68 Fahrenheit.

            Hugh Neff, a 39-year-old veteran Quest and Iditarod musher, reflected on Mother Nature’s cruel test while warming up in a café in Central.

           “It can be lethal if you stop moving,” he said, “We are not sitting still for very long.”

            Checkpoints became a warm oasis for the mushers to look forward to after hours on the trail. In Central, McAlpin recalled, it felt warmer, even down right comfortable. His handler called his attention to a thermometer outside the Steese Roadhouse.

           “It was 52 below and it felt warm,” the musher recalled, marveling at the concept.

            When it came to dressing for the cold, style takes a back seat for what works.  Thick coats and many layers are the rule to survive the arctic conditions.

           “My parka keeps me going,” Russ Bybee, 40, a rookie musher said, while getting his dogs ready to leave Circle at 2 a.m. “Last night it was like 50 below and I got cold…”

           “Put on my parka and it was all right,” he said.

            Being uncomfortable is something all mushers deal with.

           “It was not warm,” Bybee said, “But manageable.”Brent Sass, 26, a rookie who won the Quest 300 last year, stayed warm with “ … lots of layers. I wear six layers.”

            Layering is commonly seen during the long races. Even with all those layers of protection, he pointed out, “… getting going when it’s 50 below,” is daunting. And this year he faced that repeatedly.

           “I’ve started four or five times throughout this race when it’s been 50 below.”

            That night Sass left Circle City with eight dogs. The temperature was 45 below.

           “We’ve gotten it done every time. We’re gonna do it again now,” he said as he pulled out about 4:30 a.m.

            Another Yukon Quest veterinarian, Bern Starks, feels for the mushers who constantly have to brave the elements.

           “You know, we can dress for it (the cold weather) pretty well. It has been very cold. At circle it was 40 below or lower. We’re just glad we’re not mushers, out there at 55 below on the river, in it all the time. At least we can go inside and get warm a little bit. But we can dress for it pretty well."

           Mushers are aware of the dangers that the unpredictable weather can bring. Despite the cold, these mushers enjoy the thrill of the race. It was apparent Neff was enjoying the race.

           “I basically get paid to sit on my butt,” he said, referring to his progress up the trail using a new sled equipped with a seat. “It’s a great job, except for this 50-below crap. That’s gotta go.”           

           “So much for global warming,” he added.

            McAlpin concluded this year’s race by collecting the red lantern. Although finishing the 1000-mile race in 15 days, making him the last to come in, he accomplished bringing home 13 of his 14 dogs, despite the blistering cold.

            Looking back, McAlpin, the veteran outdoorsman, remarked that traveling in such conditions was anything but reasonable.

            “It was insane to be there,” he said. “But you were there—-so it wasn’t like you had a choice.”