Race director expects plenty of snow for Sheep Mountain 150

SHEEP MOUNTAIN — Twice since 2007, race director Zack Steer was forced to cancel the Sheep Mountain 150 due to lack of snow. But as Steer readies for the 2011 sled dog race, he knows that’s not going to happen this year.

“That’s not going to be an issue,” Steer said Monday by phone from Sheep Mountain Lodge. “If anything, it’s going to be a matter of finding the trail.”

Steer said there will be plenty of snow for the annual race, which is set to start Saturday at the lodge that sits north of Palmer at Mile 113.5 of the Glenn Highway.

“There’s a pretty good base of snow,” Steer said. “We’re expecting a slower, softer trail.”

There has been plenty of snowfall, but the trail has not been hit with rain like much of the core of the Mat-Su has, Steer said. The key, Steer said, might be the winds, which were howling through the area on Monday.

“The winds are causing drifts in the fresh snow,” Steer said.

With the wind, mushers could expect a variety of conditions on the 150-mile trail that leads teams through the Talkeetna Mountains from Sheep Mountain Lodge to Eureka Lodge.

“The trail varies. The high elevations, the wind has scoured the base of the snow,” Steer said. “There can be a little mini-blizzard and two miles away it can be completely calm and clear. It’ll be a challenge for the mushers.”

But that’s a big reason why mushers truck their teams to this event, he said.

“That’s why mushers come here, to practice going through this stuff,” Steer said. “They need to see this stuff if they’re going to do the Copper Basin, Iditarod, Yukon Quest.”

The 2011 race include a full, 50-team field that ranges from Iditarod champion to novice.

“We’ve got a good mix of mushers,” Steer said. “There’s some mushers you’ve never heard of before, mushers I’ve never heard of before, and there’s some past Iditarod champions.”

Former Iditarod champs Jeff King and Mitch Seavey lead the list that also includes Iditarod veterans such as Ken Anderson, Dallas Seavey and Ray Redington. The international field includes mushers from Belgium, Norway, Canada and the United States. There are seven mushers from the Yukon Territory in Canada, five of whom are from Whitehorse. The field also includes mushers from California and Kansas.

Teams will begin to leave Saturday at noon from Sheep Mountain in two-minute intervals. Mushers will split the race into three, 50-mile loops. There is a pair of five-hour layovers at Eureka Lodge.

The first musher is expected to finish at Sheep Mountain Lodge about 1 p.m., Sunday.

Steer said there are plenty of places nearly Sheep Mountain Lodge for spectators to catch the race.

Race updates will be available on the lodge’s Facebook page, facebook.com/SheepMountain. For more information, see sheepmountain.com.

Sheep Mountain 150 field

Maren Bradley, Whitehorse, Yukon; Jake Berkowitz, Big Lake; Matt Giblin, Big Lake; Trent Herbst, Big Lake; Aliy Zirkle, Two River; Peg Harpham, Fairbanks; Robert Bundtzen, Anchorage; Judy Currer, Fairbanks; Bruce Linton, Kasilof; Ryne Olson, Two Rivers; Gerry Willomitzer, Whitehorse, Yukon; Anjanette Steer, Sheep Mountain; Tony Angelo, Fairbanks; Emily Thiem, Kasilof; Maria Hernetkoski, Whitehorse, Yukon; Didier Moggia, Whitehorse, Yukon; Andrew Benkendorf, Kasilof; Bill Piccolo, Kasilof; Heidi Sutter, Gakona; Martine le Levier, Whitehorse, Yukon; Michelle Phillips, Tagish, Yukon; Kelly Griffen, Wasilla; Nicolas, Petit, Girdwood; Abbie West, Two Rivers; Kelly Maxiner, Big Lake; Ed Hopkins, Tagish, Yukon; Stan Smith, Chugiak; Travis Cooper, Cottonwood Falls, Kan.; Robert Tasso, Eagle River; Alan Eischens, Wasilla; Cindy Abbott, Irvine, Calif.; Braxton Peterson, Fairbanks; Michael Suprenant, Chugiak; Richie Diehl, Aniak; Louie Ambrose, St. Michael; Mitch Seavey, Sterling; Paige Drobny, Fairbanks; Jeff King, Denali; Guro Eidal, Bergen, Norway; Ray Redington, Knik; Mark Walker, Sterling; Ken Anderson, Fairbanks; Coddy Strathe, Fairbanks; Jason Mackey, Knik; Kristin Knight, Denali; Dallas Seavey, Willow; Misha Pederson, Chugiak; Rob Cooke, Saint Jacques, New Brunswick; Anna Berington, Kasilof; Arnaud Wilmot, Arlon, Belgium.