Via Michael Rogers
3/12/18 9:12 p.m.
From the Iditarod...
Mother Nature is proving once again to be a game changer in the Iditarod. Frontrunner Nic Petit got lost in a ground blizzard and deviated from the course to the east during the Norton Sound crossing. The weather was well and truly horrible- 40 mile per hour winds and blowing snow that erased all signs of a trail.
Petit’s 90 minute lead vanished as he was passed by Joar Ulsom as he attempted to relocate the trail. He pulled into Koyuk 1:09 after Ulsom arrived.
Petit isn’t the first musher to go off course on the Norton Sound crossing. It seems simple, until someone actually goes onto sea ice in a ground blizzard- all sense of direction basically vanishes and visibility may only be a few feet.
Whatever scant trail was there, is gone in seconds and mushers have even reported that the all-important trail markers have been ripped from the snow and hurled downwind. There is some speculation that Petit wandered onto the Iron Dog course during a gap in the trail markers.
At this point, It’s pretty much anyone’s game where this morning Petit had it tidily won.
Just proves that it’s not over...till it’s over.
Thank you for the update/explanation of how he made a wrong turn.