Checkpoint Pelly Crossing

Yuka Honda (Yukon Quest 300) and her dogs arrive 

at the finish line in Pelly Crossing 

Allen Moore - first musher to arrive in Pelly Crossing

Feb 4th at 1:24am

Pups resting for the next leg of the race

Quest Vets check on the wellbeing of all pups

Traffic jam in Pelly - two teams 

(Christina Traverse a few seconds behind Randy MacKenzie in red)

 arriving at Checkpoint Pelly Crossing

Susan Rogan spends a few seconds with each of her

dogs moments before departing Pelly

Normand Casavant convincing his pup to eat

Normand Casavant hands out snacks

Markus Ingebretsen arrives at Checkpoint Pelly 

Putting on booties

Quest volunteers staying warm by campfire

waiting for next team to arrive

Darrin Lee arrives in Pelly

Volunteers check his gear

Dropped from race

Dyan Bergen and her team prepare to depart Pelly

Tamra Reynolds (YQ 300) arrives at finish in Pelly

Exhausted pup in bag

Time for a snooze

Welcome to Checkpoint Pelly Crossing - the fourth official stop in this year's running of the Yukon Quest.  Allen Moore was the first to arrive at 01:24am on Feb 4th.  

Mushers, upon arrival, are greeted by a team of Quest volunteers who check to see if each sled is equipped with a sleeping bag, food for musher and pups, snowshoes, an axe, the vet book, and other basic gear.  Time deductions are handed out to any musher failing to have the required gear.  Vets also take the opportunity to check on the wellbeing of all the pups.  Those injured or too exhausted to continue are dropped from the team - the handlers will then look after the well being of those pups.

Mushers are offered a hot meal as are the pups - mushers take hot water to thaw chunks of meat, fish and other goodies added to kibble.  Once the pups have eaten, they will rest for a few hours on a bed of straw.  Many mushers provide blankets and 'hand warmers' for their team.  Some of the mushers also elected to catch up on their rest while their team snoozes in Pelly.

At one point we had nine teams in the 'dog yard' - close to 140 sled dogs in our small village.  

Pelly is also the finishing point for those racing in the Yukon Quest 300 - a 300mile journey from Whitehorse to Stepping Stone and Pelly.  This years winner was Michelle Phillips who arrived 8 secs ahead of Aliy Zirkle.  The YQ300 is a qualifying race for those wishing to run in the 1000 mile Yukon Quest race.

Stayed tuned for images from the Dawson Checkpoint.

More images from Checkpoint Pelly are available on my flickr account

Good night,

Cheers

Claus

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