It's a sad state of affairs; for the last two days we have trailered from High Prairie in Alberta to Fort St. Johns, British Columbia and then to Fort Nelson, British Columbia. This is not the way it is suppose to be. Despite the conditions, MichCanSki continues its quest to make it to Tok, Alaska. If they have to trailer for a few days - so be it - they will forge ahead, undaunted.
Actually, they made an effort to get back on the trail today, but without success. After leaving Fort St. Johns, we traveled north to Pink Mountain (about 100 miles north of Fort St. Johns), where they unloaded the snowmobiles departed for Fort Nelson.
Despite the appearance of sufficient snow, there had been no fresh snow in weeks, and as a consequence (when combined with the unseasonably warm temperatures) the snow was crusted over and the riders reported that when they broke through the crust they were left with "sugar snow" which made it almost impossible to maneuver their snowmobiles. Then too, at this point, there are no groomed trails to ride - only "ditch-banging" - and the ditches are wide (sometimes) and deep that force the riders to ride on one side or the other of the "v" - not a good situation.
They had traveled less than a quarter of a mile before they "dumped" two sleds, and promptly returned to the point of departure; mission aborted, they re-loaded the snowmobiles and continued down the highway to Fort Nelson.
In the last three days, they have snowmobiled little more than 100 miles of the approximately 650 miles traveled, and no one is happy about it - myself included.
Traveling with five in the truck, all of whom are frustrated by the conditions, makes for short levels of tolerance; and as a consequence we are at "each others throats." Hopefully the snow conditions will improve, the riders will return to the trails and peace will return for all.
On a side note, Dick Woodruff whose sled was repaired in a metal-fab shop, broke down again - the repair job could not hold up the to the tuff trail conditions, and once again he is relegated to chase driver status.
In addition, there are pair of riders, MichCanSka calls them the "renegades," who broke away from MichCanSka and, after acquiring the all the motel accommodations sites and the trail routes, they struck out on their own in a quest to beat MichCanSka at their own game. Without the benefit any support vehicles they are severely handicapped.
Most recently they are believed to be suffering from the same problems that MichCanSka has - namely, the lack of snow. However, without support vehicles to rescue them from their dilemma, they are in a real quagmire. At last report, they were stuck in failed effort to find more snow; and are now believed to be striving to find someone to haul them to Fort Nelson.
Were it not for the reported fact that: 1) they are passing themselves off as MichCanSka representatives, and 2) they are even, reportedly, collecting funds for diabetes research - one would be inclined to respect these pair of adventurers, but as the case is, they have not earned that respect.
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