http://www.bemidjipioneer.com/articles/index.cfm?id=20594§ion=News

How's this for odd? Minnesota sled dog race canceled because of too much 
snow 
Patrick Springer, Forum Communications, Bemidji Pioneer
Published Tuesday, January 06, 2009

Here’s another entry for the annals of noteworthy winter weather: The 
dogsled race near Frazee, Minn., has been canceled because there’s too 
much snow.


Too much fluffy snow that keeps drifting and therefore made it 
impossible to maintain a groomed trail.


That poses a safety risk to the dogs, supercharged canines whose mushers 
need a groomed trail to drop a hook to stop when necessary.


“We can’t pack it,” race organizer Eddy Streeper said Monday. “We just 
can’t get it packed. We had to speak up on behalf of the dogs.”


The Third Crossing Sled Dog Rendezvous, slated for Jan. 23-24, would 
have been the ninth annual running of the sprint races, which twice were 
canceled for lack of snow.


This winter, as anyone with a driveway knows, has been a season of 
prodigious snows.


The Frazee area has received about 3 feet of snow, but winds keep 
creating drifts of 4 feet or more over the course, which was to host 
races of four to 14 miles.


“The drifting aspect is just unbelievable,” said Streeper, a native of 
Canada who has been involved with dogsled racing for 25 years. “I’ve 
never seen anything like it.”


The National Weather Service doesn’t tally snow accumulations and 
moisture content for Frazee. But snowfalls in Fargo, 54 miles to the 
northwest, have totaled 39.3 inches since October, with 2.37 liquid 
inches.


That translates into a moisture content of 6 percent – snow is 
considered wet at around 30 percent to 35 percent. That dry, fluffy snow 
is just too deep.


Cancellation of the dog races is a blow to Frazee, population 1,374. 
Last year’s two-day event drew 2,000 to 3,000 spectators, and 
contestants come from as far as Alaska, five Canadian provinces and five 
or six states.


“This is the NASCAR of sled-dogging, the sprint ones,” said Gale Kaas, 
Frazee Sled Dog Club secretary.


“We’ll try again next year,” Streeper added. “We’ll see what the weather 
does to us.”

CMPQwk 1.42-21 9999 
Democrats --  The party responsible for the housing meltdown ....


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