ID: Black Team in Shaktoolik

It's 11.30am Alaska Time.

Allen and his 12 team mates are still in Skatoolik. They have been there since 5.37pm yesterday evening and they are with a bunch of other mushers and their dogs waiting out the conditions until it is safe to continue.



They'll be okay in the safety of a checkpoint. Mushers pack contingency food and supplies in their drop bags for just this reason and if they are there even longer than that they can get food from local sources. It's not uncommon to wait out bad weather. The dogs will have plenty of straw and blankets and/or jackets and out of the wind they will be comfortable. You can bet that after having 18 hours rest these dogs will be ready to get back on the trail!

A check of the current standings and tracker assures me that mushers have been leaving other checkpoints this morning so that means conditions must be improving. The weather forecast shows winds easing over today and tomorrow with temperatures today of 0-10F above.

We'll keep you updated.