Not only did Derek Crowe help us with our new Fatbike. He also will be our race photographer for the MYAU 2016! Which is awesome because he is a Yukoner and knows the trail. As a matter of fact he finished the MYAU 2015 race to Dawson on his bike. He will not be able to join us on all 8 race days but I am sure he will still get many nice photos. Welcome to the team Derek Crowe! For some of his work please check out his website.
Derek Crowe at the MYAU 2015 – Copyright: Derek Crowe
As of now we can offer a special edition fatbike to anybody who wants to participate in the MYAU and needs wheels for it. This fatbike is also available to non-participants. Just before Christmas I got the first one and took it out for a test drive. It was fun!
Since I am not an expert myself, I was really lucky to get the support of Kevin Turek and MAXX-Bikes. Kevin is a very ambitious rider and has been working in a bike shop for years. He will also be the main contact for anybody interested in purchasing. MAXX-Bike is a market leader in custom bike production. CEO Uwe Matthies himself has been leading the project.
I also took the opportunity to gather important information on fatbiking in winter in one dedicated section which not surprisingly is called “Fatbiking” and can be found in the Services area on arcticultra.de/en. If you have any questions, doubts or feedback, please let me know. Kevin’s contact details are: Cell +49 (0)177-267 8713 or email YAU-Fatbike@web.de.
All athletes who bring their own SPOT please note that you should create and save a separate “Message Contact Profile” for MYAU. Under that contact profile, we recommend you do not include family at home on either type of distress message (Help & SOS) as they may worry when there is nothing to worry about. Inclusion of family on the Check-in /OK message is fine. Within the contact profile you need to define and include recipients for the Check-in / OK message, which in the past has been, “Still smiling” (this is best programmed to send only to email); Custom Message, which has been used for, “I’m taking a bivy” (email only as well); “Help” should be both email and text. SOS has no email option. You program a phone number only.
IMPORTANT: There is a notes section for SOS, and it should read like this: “User is part of a human-powered race on the Yukon Quest Trail. If SOS is being transmitted, please phone the primary SOS contact directly, as for the purpose of the race, use of SOS is defined to mean life or death. Race central # (contact = Jo Davies) at 1-867-668-2777. Race director, who will at times be out of cell phone range on trail cell phone = tbc. NOTE: tbc. = Cell for primary Jo Davies.”
You do not want GEOS emergency response center to waste time calling family. You want race central to be the first call.
If you are bringing your own SPOT we will need to get your ESN-Number which is in the battery compartment and the URL to your shared link page. In case you have not told me already that you bring your own SPOT, please do so by December 25th at the latest.
Because we do have a sufficient number of rental SPOTs available, the SPOT will also be mandatory for the 100 miles!
Anyone using a SPOT – both own or rented – please keep in mind that you will need 4x AAA Energizer Lithium Ultimate (model # L-92) to power your device. The batteries are NOT included. Therefore, please bring these to the Yukon with you. Every year there are at least a few athletes who bring the wrong batteries, or partially used batteries. In the extremes of the Yukon, you are certain to experience tracker down time if you gamble on batteries. And the device may not work when you most need it.
Last but not least, if you would like people to see what you look like when they go to the Trackleaders.com page and klick on your bib number, please send Matthew (heymatthewlee@gmail.com) a 150 x 150 pixels very tightly cropped headshot.
If you have a DeLorme inReach you do not have to rent a SPOT. Trackleaders.com can include it on our race tracking map. However, what I can’t tell you is how it works regarding distress messages. If you can set a profile it’s best if you use the same type of settings described above with SPOT. And make sure you have our contact details for getting in touch with text messages. Should you bring your inReach and not need a SPOT please let me know by December 25th.
For our 2016 MYAU we have a new local sponsor. Fraserway RV will support us with a winterized RV for our crew. And also friends and family from athletes can rent an RV at a special rate. A 23-foot Motorhome with built-in generator for up to 5 nights costs only CAD 699 + tax (additional nights possible at regular winter rates). This amazing offer includes: Preparation Fee, CDR Insurance ($750 deductible), Convenience Kits (bedding, dishes…) and 1000 free kilometers.
For more information please contact Denise at the Fraserway RV Whitehorse location at denise.s@fraserway.com. She is looking forward to hearing from you soon!
In 2016 we will work with SPOT satellite tracking devices again. As with any technology, there are pros and cons. But overall the positive aspects are more than the negative ones. The main reason we have SPOTs is for their 911 function. And thankfully, so far it has only been used a couple of times. The 911 button to us means there is an absolutely life threatening situation. This also means if there is no life threatening situation, IT CAN’T BE PUSHED! Please keep in mind that the cost for a 911 rescue operation can be enormous and it has to be paid by the athlete or his/her insurance. Obviously, if life is at risk it just has to be done. But if you are lost, tired, exhausted or have any other problem that a good rest and common sense can solve, do not push that botton. If a good rest is of no help, there is a button on the SPOT that is called exactly that: „Help“. It is a signal to the race organisation that you do have a problem and want to end your race then and there. But otherwise you are fine and will wait for us to come.
The third function that is great for us and all those following you at home, is the tracking function. If your SPOT has got good exposure to the sky it will send your position to us several times per hour. This will then be updated to a MYAU section on Trackleaders.com.
The cons are that of course sometimes people use the „Help“-button when they really could have solved the problem themselves. Or they decided to use that button rather than going back to a checkpoint. Mind you, if you can’t walk anymore, that’s fine. Push it. But being tired is no reason. Please just take a good rest and decide then. Because if we have to „rescue“ someone who is actually perfectly fine and at the same time something serious happens, it is bad to have resources bound.
Another con is that it’s technology and it does not always work. Usually this is due to not operating the SPOT correctly. But it also may be technical failure. It means we don’t get a signal and people back home start to worry. In most cases race headquarter knows what’s going on, e.g. because we got in-/out times of a checkpoint or just recently had contact with the athlete. Anyway, over all I would say the safety that SPOT brings to the race make it worth its while.
For 2016 the rental fee (tracking service, shipment and set-up included) is EUR 50/unit. If you bring your own SPOT, the set-up fee is EUR 20/unit. All those of you who bring their own SPOT and did not tell me that already, please email me by December 10th. If I have not heard from you I will assume you need a rental unit and I will order one for you.
Above I already talked a bit about SPOT and rescue. Now I just want to make sure everyone understands that no matter if it’s a „Help“ or a „911“ message, rescues in the winter wilderness of the Yukon will likely not be as quick as you would think. If a „Help“ message is sent or a checkpoint calls us and asks for transportation of an injured athleted from a remote checkpoint, it depends on various factors as to how fast we can be. If for example an athlete is in relative saftey at that checkpoint and the weather is extremely cold and it would be a risk to send a ski-doo guide, then it will take as long as there is no more risk.
In places like Dog Grave Lake or Ken Lake there may also be the need for air evacuation rather than ski-doo. Depending on the circumstances it can be safer and quicker for a plane to do the rescue there. PLEASE note that air rescue to 100% has to be paid by the athlete! Also, we try to avoid ski-doo rescue at night. So, if you push the help button in the middle of the night it is very likely that only in the morning you will see us arrive.
Even a 911 mission can take hours. And again, if the weather does not permit, there is no air rescue at all. That is also, why it is so important to have basic survival skills, enough food, warm clothes and the right sleeping system. I will not talk about survival skills or what to do or not to do in serious or dangerous situations. There is a lot of interesting literature on the market and pretty likely you have read at least one of these books already. Or you may even have had survival training. In any case, it’s good to be prepared and think about certain scenarios and what you will do.
The Montane Extreme Smock is one of the first pieces of clothing that our title sponsor put into the market more than 20 years ago. Since then it has proven in countless expeditions that it is perfect kit for extreme challenges in the cold. Over the years it of course has been improved and gotten even better. After the premiere for this year’s race, we are now offering it again to MYAU athletes.
Athletes can purchase the MYAU Extreme Smock for EUR 134.95 (RRP is EUR 164.95). Anybody interested in purchasing one, please send me an email to info@thegreatoutdoors.de.
We also have great looking logo patches. There are these rectangular ones with different backgrounds selling for EUR 5.95/patch:
I also still have some of the “Wolf Logo Patches” left. These sell for EUR 2.95.
As with the smock, anybody interested please send me an email to info@thegreatoutdoors.de.
As the Official Fuel Supplier, Primus will supply the participants with either LPG gas cartridges or, for colder conditions, white gas. LPG Gas is not just any gas. Its the Primus Winter Gas which was first launched 1 year ago.
The secret of this product is the Vapor Mesh, a special absorbent paper on the inside of the LPG cartridge. Increasing the surface from where the liquid pressurized gas can evaporate, it can be used at temperatures down –22° C compared to –12° C with conventional canisters. Although we do not recommend LPG gas stoves for the MYAU, we are fully aware that some athletes prefer this kind of set-up and have used it successfully. The innovative Primus Winter Gas will make this type of stove more reliable and it is of course great that we can give it out free of charge. But don’t worry that only LPG cartridges will be for free. Everybody who uses a stove that runs on white gas will get Primus PowerFuel free of charge, too. Details as to when and where the fuel will be handed out will follow.
Thanks to Primus we can also offer rental stoves. It is not easy to get liquid fuel stoves so clean that they actually don’t smell anymore. So traveling to Whitehorse (or back home) can be bit of a headache: There is no guarantee that security check at the airport are not going to keep your stove anyway. Not having to buy a stove can also help keep down cost and decrease luggage weight and volume. We rent out the Primus OmniLite Ti. It is light, state of the art and expedition proven. The rental package will also include a Primus Eta pot 1.0 l and the Primus Powerlighter. The recommended retail price of this package is EUR 284.85 (stove = EUR 229.95, pot = EUR 24.95, lighter = EUR 19.95). The rental fee will be EUR 80.00. For more details on this and all other rental gear please check the rental section on this website.
Yesterday I updated race rule #13. The basic message of this rule remains the same. Anybody participating in the MYAU needs to have sufficient insurance cover for medical emergencies. The new part is concerning the fact that from now on we need to see paperwork that proofs the existence of this insurance cover. I do not particularly like it as it adds to the “bureaucracy” of the race. However, circumstances left me with no other choice. And since it is in each participant’s very own interest I hope it will not cause too many issues.
In general, it would be good if all athletes familiarize themselves with the race rules. Every now and then we have participants who seem totally unaware of some of the important information that is contained there. Needless to say that the consequence can be quite stressful – both for the participants and everyone involved in organising.
Our race in 2015 once again demonstrated that the low temperatures can bring the participants to their limit. -50 degrees Celsius caused a lot of problems. It it gets this cold you really want a perfect sleeping bag. That’s why I am very happy that Carinthia has joined the group of companies supporting the MYAU. The Austrian specialist company makes some of the world’s best products for the cold and the Carinthia ECC Expedition 1200 is now our official sleeping bag.
This product has got the unique DIScover (Dry Insulation System) feature. This system, designed and patented by Carinthia, ensures a quicker moisture transport and more effective way to get rid of humidity that would otherwise stay in the down – in this way you remain warmer and drier, especially during periods of extended use. Which is exactly what athletes in the 300 and 430 mile race are looking for. Overall it is probably the sleeping bag with the best warmth to weight ratio on the market. A fact that helps the management of space in any sled.
In general the specs of the ECC Expedition 1200 (size M) are great. 1,200 g CQ-Down™ snow goose down 95/5, 800 Cuin, trapezoidal baffle construction, differencial cut, pre-formed down lined thermo collar, zipper heat strip and overall great quality make this sleeping bag a perfect solution for the MYAU. The extreme temperature rating (DIN EN 13537) of – 65.2 degrees Celsius is more than our rules require. Its weight is around 1,890 g and the recommende retail price is EUR 1,149.99. Participants of the MYAU can rent the Carinthia ECC Expedition 1200 for EUR 250.00. For more details on Carinthia’s great range of products please visit www.carinthia.eu.
The Application & Waiver for the Montane Yukon Arctic Ultra 2016 is ready. Anybody interested in signing up please send me an email to info@thegreatoutdoors.de. Entry fees will go up after the end of May.
Any race veterans coming back please note that there have been some updates to the rules. Most importantly:
Once again I want to make clear that the mandatory gear list only states some of the most vital gear. It is there to guarantee survival in extreme weather situations and/or emergencies. However, it does not include all gear and clothing that of course an athlete should have. Anybody who is in doubt about what else to take a long, please get in touch with me. I will soon also have an English recommended gear list with advice ready.
On our facebook group we are having a vote as to whether all mandatory gear should be checked prior to race start. In past years only the sleeping system and stove lighting have been checked. So far, the majority is in favor of a complete check. If you want to voice your opinion on this, please do so in our facebook group. I will keep an eye on this and make a final call later in the year.
