http://trackleaders.com/iti23
Starts in an hour and our man Karl is there as well as Huw Oliver and Will Robertson who I met at Rovaniemi and lives just up the road from me.

Go Karl!

Thanks Phil...

Go Karl!

Go karl.
About 10 hour in, on a frozen lake current speed 3.9 mph.
Chilli vaguely exciting effort.

There seems to be a fair bit of interpretation of the route with all sorts of various tracks taken....
Looking like about -25 just now so perfect snow conditions

fatbikephil wrote: ↑Mon Feb 27, 2023 11:30 am There seems to be a fair bit of interpretation of the route with all sorts of various tracks taken....
Looking like about -25 just now so perfect snow conditions

Brr.. I suppose you need to acclmatise..
If the humidity is low it makes it more bearable...Brrrrrrr
but steady effort, absolutely no sweating or breathing hard...
I once slept out at -10°c near Braemar. Bob Scott's bothy was over subscribed...
skied in France when it was below -15°c , a hat & full hollowfill hood. I got a headache from the cold, my father got frost nip on his cheeks..

Seems to be loads of riders stopped at the same place with Karl, anyone know what the place is?

Wotsits wrote: ↑Mon Feb 27, 2023 4:17 pm Seems to be loads of riders stopped at the same place with Karl, anyone know what the place is?

Yentna station, one of the check points so hot water, shelter, fire etc. available. Might also be a drop bag spot.

fatbikephil wrote: ↑Mon Feb 27, 2023 4:31 pm Yentna station, one of the check points so hot water, shelter, fire etc. available. Might also be a drop bag spot.

Will have a Google, thanks Phil

AFAIK there's no actual "route" as in a GPX to follow, more a series of waypoints, huts and the occasional village/settlement. Sort of makes sense when you have big rivers that shift in their beds so what might be good solid ice one year could be thin ice or open water the next.

Four years ago in Rovaniemi Cath and I put our bikes together in -25C - that was interesting Just a pity those conditions didn't last until the race itself. Two years earlier on our first trip there the temps were -6 to -16 and I wore about the same amount of clothing as I would in the UK in winter. You just match conditions, level of effort and clothing so you stay in the "Goldilocks" zone.

fatbikephil wrote: ↑Mon Feb 27, 2023 4:31 pm

Wotsits wrote: ↑Mon Feb 27, 2023 4:17 pm Seems to be loads of riders stopped at the same place with Karl, anyone know what the place is?

Yentna station, one of the check points so hot water, shelter, fire etc. available. Might also be a drop bag spot.

Yentna station checkpoint. at the road house.

Looks like they now have a tail wind but temps around -25 still.....
Seems to be warmer over Rainey pass so inversion conditions which should mean its sunny
Huw seems to have made up some ground, Karl going well today - much quicker progress than yesterday but had a long kip
One of the Brits has scratched as has RJ Sauer. I can't find any commentry anywhere so not details as to why....

ledburner wrote: ↑Mon Feb 27, 2023 11:23 pm Yentna station checkpoint. at the road house.

Thanks ledburner

Was hoping Karl was going to do some of his video updates on Stalkbook

Wotsits wrote: ↑Tue Feb 28, 2023 11:34 pm

ledburner wrote: ↑Mon Feb 27, 2023 11:23 pm Yentna station checkpoint. at the road house.

Thanks ledburner

Was hoping Karl was going to do some of his video updates on Stalkbook

If he does, would you share on here please kind sir (ie. a link for maybe none FB users).

redefined_cycles wrote: ↑Tue Feb 28, 2023 11:51 pm If he does, would you share on here please kind sir (ie. a link for maybe none FB users).

Will do Shaf, the last ones he did were on Stalkbook though..

Aha. Thanks Jason (surely I've not gotten name wrong ). I did'nt know Stalkbook existed and thought you were mocking Fbook

Tyson Flaherty done in just over 3 days. I think the 350 record is around 2 days and an hour or so.
Looks like Karl got so far yesterday then turned back to Puntilla lake CP. Very slow going today so must be snow tastic. Now well up Rainey pass though.

Any news on why Huw scratched?

Karl seems to be trucking-on

Wotsits wrote: ↑Sat Mar 04, 2023 1:52 pm Any news on why Huw scratched?

Karl seems to be trucking-on

Not sure - it shows him at the finish so unless he had to get a lift or some other DQ type of thing he should be a finisher....

Karl looks like he's had a few death pushes, I suspect he will have quite a tale to tell!

I know Brendan Hills scratched early on with frostbitten fingers..talk of -40...his thermometer only went down to -30!

Well Done Karl

‘Fin’

Well done Karl. Solid work mate and look forward to the reports...

7 days, 2hrs 45-ish, near as I can tell. Looks like the last few miles were a bit easier than the previous couple of days.
Well done Karl, now tell us all about it

Chapeau Sir, Chapeau.

Well done Karl, looks epic!!

Looking forward to (hopefully) the write-up