Sheep Mountain 150 in jeopardy

SHEEP MOUNTAIN — Zack Steer’s telephone has been ringing off the hook.

With just a few days before the scheduled start of the fourth annual Sheep Mountain 150 sled dog race, mushers signed up for the 2007 event are wondering if poor snow conditions are going bring a halt to the race.

Steer, the race director of the Sheep Mountain 150, is wondering the same thing.

Despite a consistent snowfall Monday, Steer was still not sure whether or not he’ll be forced to cancel the race that is scheduled to start on Saturday at Sheep Mountain Lodge.

If anything, the snowfall is just making the decision more difficult for Steer.

“This close, I don’t want it to snow so it’ll be a nice, clear decision,” Steer said by phone Monday afternoon. “We still need eight to 12 inches to put on a safe race.”

Steer said he plans to make the final decision tonight.

The area around Sheep Mountain Lodge received about a foot of snow about a month ago, Steer said, but nothing since. The conditions have been decent for cross country skiing and marginal for snowmachining, he said, but there hasn’t been enough snow for mushing.

A full field of 50 mushers are scheduled to compete in the race. With a 50-musher field, about 600 dogs would hit the trail, Steer said, making it imperative to have a solid base of snow for the race.

See www.frontiersman.com for continued updates.

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.