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- Coalville musher Wade Donaldson's Iditarod hopes were jeopardized after the Idaho Sled Dog Challenge was cancelled mid-race due to avalanche risks.
- The race, crucial for Iditarod qualification, saw surprise snowfall and warming temperatures, prompting organizers to prioritize safety.
- Wade plans to compete in Montana's Race to the Sky as his last chance for Iditarod qualification this year.
MCCALL, Idaho — Coalville musher Wade Donaldson and his team of 12 dogs were about 60 miles into the 200-mile Idaho Sled Dog Challenge when it was canceled Tuesday due to avalanche danger.
Wade's brother Dallin Donaldson and sister Natalie Donaldson Wilson, who both competed in the 100-mile race, were able to finish before it was called off. The Donaldsons and others operate a dog sledding tour company out of Summit County to pay for the dog teams and competitions.
The Idaho Sled Dog Challenge is a difficult race. Co-founder and trails coordinator Dave Looney describes it as "a 500-mile race packed into 200 (miles)." The elevation gain is staggering, with a cumulative ascent of almost 21,000 feet, the height of Mount Denali.
"I'm kind of disappointed they canceled it," Wade Donaldson told KSL.com. He said he was the first racer at the first checkpoint by around half an hour. The race is one of only three in the continental U.S. that qualifies teams for the famous Iditarod in Alaska.
The route was covered in 8 to 10 inches of new snow, heavy and wet. "That was a tough go," he said. "Conditions were pretty tough," as the dogs — "the real heroes" according to Wade — trudged through a sticky path. Normally, competitive sleds would be traveling 10-12 mph; his was going around 7 mph.
Competitors were held at a checkpoint starting about 4 a.m. until 7:25 a.m. when the race was officially canceled.
Looney said, "We made the right decision."
There had been long, extended periods of clear, cold nights in the area for weeks leading up to the race, according to Looney, creating a weak layer of ice crystals "like little ball bearings." On the Friday before the race, temperatures suddenly rose along with heavy snowfall, making the snowpack even more dangerous.
Monday, race day rolled around, and volunteers had groomed hundreds of miles of trails. The especially concerning area for Looney — an area called "Avalanche Alley" — was between the race start and the first checkpoint. A gully well known for its avalanche potential collapsed between the time the trail was groomed the night before and the race, so sled teams had to go over a narrow section, around 6 feet tall, of slide path.
"We kept everybody moving through the fairly narrow area," Looney said, "but as that day wore on, it quickly got warmer." It was not just warmer; it began raining on the snowpack. The last 100-miler who finished reported having to go around a large slide.
Looney was worried about the risks, which were getting more serious every hour. He didn't want someone to get hurt, killed or have a slide "stranding someone on the wrong side of an avalanche with a tired dog team," he said. All 200-mile racers would have to return back through Avalanche Alley.
He called the race marshal, and with "no hesitation on his part, either," Looney said, they decided not to risk it. Their choice was validated as a volunteer returned from grooming around 25 miles of trail and reported a mile's worth of avalanche debris to contend with.
"I'm really super proud of the 200-plus volunteers," Looney said, calling the preparation for the race a "monumental effort for a small cross section of people."
The race has encountered some bad luck in the last few years, having to cancel for the pandemic, and then a warm spell melting much of the trails last year.
Dallin Donaldson finished second place, with a time of 19 hours, 46 minutes. Natalie Donaldson Wilson finished fifth, coming in at 20 hours, 22 minutes. The Donaldson crew is not one to rest on their laurels, with Wade preparing to race Montana's Race to the Sky 300-mile event, joined by fellow Coalville musher Kayson Judd, competing in the 100-miler. They are the only two Utahns competing.
It will be Wade's last chance this year to qualify for the Iditarod.
The exceptionally warm weather has also impacted Utah snowpack. The Utah Avalanche Center shows considerable avalanche danger along all ranges from Provo to Logan and beyond. Wet avalanches are likely, according to the center, after rain in the low and middle elevation areas.
Monday, 37-year-old Scott Wright from Evanston, Wyoming, was killed by an avalanche in the Monte Cristo Snowmobile Area near the Rich and Cache county line. That was the third avalanche fatality of the year.
