Racers dropping out of gruelling Yukon Arctic Ultra, many with frostbite

It's billed as the "world's coldest and toughest ultra" — and the annual Yukon Montane Arctic Ultra is again living up to its reputation this year.

Of the 37 walkers, skiers and bikers who started the 600-kilometre back-country race last weekend, more than half have now dropped out — many of them because of frostbite injuries. On Tuesday, two competitors had to be flown out from a checkpoint by helicopter. 

"It's a cold year, but we've had colder — so it's not like this is new to us," said race organizer Robert Pollhammer on Tuesday.

"The interesting part, I would say, this time was that we had a lot of veterans getting frostbite. So this wasn't newbies who, like, didn't know what they [got] themselves into."

Temperatures in the region have been hovering around –30 C this week.

Pollhammer says the race rules mean when somebody is suffering any sort of frostbite or frostnip, they're automatically pulled from the race and taken for medical treatment.

Speaking on Tuesday, Pollhammer said some of the people with frostbite this year had already been released from hospital and one person was undergoing further treatment. He wasn't sure how serious that case was, but said he didn't believe it was as severe as some cases in past years.

Some past competitors have lost digits to frostbite, and in 2018 an Italian competitor lost both his hands and his feet.  

Pollhammer credits the race's medical team for noticing the signs of frostbite early, during mandatory checks.

"Every checkpoint, we do a medical check, which is not easy because people are keen to keep on going — and we make them stop, take their shoes off and take the gloves off," he said.

"We do it and it showed that that was helpful."

'Very challenging' route

This year's race is following a different route than in years past. The event always follows the same trail used for the Yukon Quest sled dog race, so when that race moved its starting line to Teslin this year, the ultra race did too.

That means the ultra racers will finish in Faro, by way of Ross River. As of Wednesday afternoon, Harm Feringa of the U.S. had passed the halfway mark on his fat bike, but most other racers had not yet reached halfway.

Speaking at a checkpoint on Tuesday, Feringa was in good spirits but acknowledged it was "really cold."

"Very challenging, but very nice. Beautiful," he said.

Samantha Perry, the lead medic for the race, agreed that the trail was proving to be "a bit more challenging" than the traditional Yukon Quest route of years past. 

"I think the elevation has not helped, because people are exhausted," Perry said on Tuesday.

"They're a lot more tired than in previous years, and it is the same athletes that are coming back — it's not that they're all new."