DAWSON CITY, Yukon — Former Yukon Quest champion Jeff King scratched from the race on Tuesday, saying that his team simply isn’t trained to excel in this year’s extreme cold weather.
The Denali Park musher said he came to the decision after spending 18 hours holed up in the Stepping Stone hospitality stop, located along the 210-mile stretch between Pelly Crossing and Dawson City.
He had been waiting for temperatures to climb but said it was 47 below zero at Stepping Stone on Tuesday morning. He soon decided to make the 35-mile trip back to Pelly to scratch from the race.
King said several of his dogs have thin coats and that he didn’t feel he could continue in good conscience with no immediate break in the weather. His team has been trained for speed rather than cold-weather endurance, he said by telephone from the Pelly checkpoint.
“I haven’t trained for that and I never will, because that’s not the kind of conditions I want to excel in,” King said.
King also said he was rapidly going through the supply of dog food he was carrying, having fed half of it to his team during the long layover. Stepping Stone is less than a quarter of the distance to Dawson City, and he said his team’s food and water consumption had soared in the deep cold.
It’s a disappointing end to a race that began with a sizzling start. King, who won the Quest in 1989, had a blazing run during the first leg from Whitehorse to the Braeburn checkpoint, leading the field by more than two hours at that point.
But he lingered at the next few checkpoints, taking long rests as he waited for warmer weather that never arrived. Temperatures have consistently been minus 40 degrees or colder since the race began Saturday in Whitehorse.
King will race in the Iditarod in early March and said his team’s performance in that race was also a consideration. He said racing his team in conditions they aren’t trained for in the Quest could harm their chances.
“We can’t all be good at everything, and I think it’s important to know what you can do and what you’re good at,” he said.
Follow staff writer Jeff Richardson on Twitter: @FDNMquest.
Jeff King lors de l'Iditarod 2010

Le 10 février 2015 le musher Jeff King (dossard 9) abandonne officiellement la Yukon Quest 2015. King avait mené la course au départ. Arrivé à Pelly Crossing, King décide de repartir. Il arrive jusqu'à Stepping Stone un « point d'hospitalité » situé sur la rivière Pelly, à une cinquantaine de kilomètres de là. Stepping Stone n'est pas un checkpoint : il est impossible d'y refaire des réserves de nourriture et de paille ; ce n'est qu'une cabane permettant aux mushers de dormir à l'abri et de manger un repas chaud. Le froid intense fait que les chiens boivent et mangent beaucoup plus. L'attelage avait été entraîné pour des températures plus élevées. Au vu des difficultés de ses chiens, King décide d'attendre à Stepping Stone que le temps se réchauffe. Au bout de 18h, le temps s'étant maintenu, King décide d'abandonner. Les règles de la course exigeant que l'abandon ait lieu à un chekpoint, et les réserves de nourriture de King ne lui permettant pas de parcourir les  jusqu'à Dawson City, King fait demi-tour pour retourner à Pelly Crossing, où son abandon est officiellement enregistré. King a préféré préserver son attelage car il est inscrit pour l'Iditarod, une autre course de chiens de traîneau d'un millier de miles commençant le 7 mars.