On the 30th I flew North via Chicago and Vancouver to Whitehorse. I missed the connection at Vancouver as we were late out of Chicago which meant buying a later ticket from Air North, not all bad as then I was sure that my kit was actually on the flight and I met up with a fellow racer and friend from previous events Pete Gold.
Thursday 30th
After steak and eggs for breakfast we headed out to acclimatise and test our kit. It was around -12C with a light wind which is above average for this time of year. White horse sits in a valley alongside the Yukon river, we followed the riverbank South on our 3 mile trek to a series of lakes where where we planned to get the tents up, test our camping stoves and build a fire. Karl Shields, a Yorkshire man who had completed the 100 mile distance had returned to tackle the 430 mile route to Dawson, joined us for the outing. He had followed this route last year as it is used on the training course provided by the organisers, the same course myself and Pete will be attending the next day.
Beautiful views over the city and of the surrounding hills as we climbed up towards the lake. A successful outing with the tension building..
We visited the local supermarket and outdoor gear shop to buy yet more supplies. I'm packing a zip lock food bag per day plus the mandatory 48 hour emergency food bag, I'm planning on taking 5500 calories per day. A daily pack includes 3 dehydrated meals, 100g beef jerky, 350g trail mix, 100g chocolate, 60g of cheese, 100g crisps (great for calories and salt intake), coffee x 2 and a chocolate recovery drink. We do get to put food in our drop bags for the checkpoints at 100 miles, 170miles and 270 miles, but I'm beginning to get worried that my sled is too small. The distance from the 270 mile to the finish is 160 miles which will need 5 days of food + the emergency 48 hour pack, at around 1500g per bag I'm beginning to get concerned that it will fit in my sled..
More to come with photos later today
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