Three gave up in Skoganvarre

The cold of this night gets troublesome for many teams. Some of the dogs suffered from substainable frostbites in their nether regions, which had to be taken so seriously, that the dogs had to be taken out of the team after arriving in Skoganvarre. Additionally, three mushers of the 500-km-distance already gave up there.

The icy cold becomes a burden for dogs and mushers likewise. The temperature in Skoganvarre has not yet fallen under minus 25 degrees, but various had to fight with much stronger temperatures on their crossing to Jotka.

The dogs show signs of cold and many of them are stiff and feel uncomfortable. Consequences are many ill dogs as well as the decision of the mushers Aslak Prestbakmo, Olav Henke and Elisabeth Edland to give up at this point, particularly in regard to the cold.

However, a quite range of the mushers decided to continue their way to Levajok. This part, where the mushers have to face extreme weather conditions, runs over the 80 km long mountain chain "Gassene". If the weather will stay stable, should some of the "harder" mushers of both distances be able to reach the next checkpoint before sunrise.