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Norwil

Pat's Call from the Yukon
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Another hard day on the ice, Norton Sound has become a thing of the past. I'm in Elim, went from Koyuk to Elim yesterday: twenty hours to go 60 miles, 30 of it was off the bike and pushing. Norton Sound was punchy and soft snow.

"Life is pretty difficult out here and it seems like the closer I get to Nome the harder it is to keep going...."

It's another 100 miles to go and this trip will be over with. Can't say that I'm not looking forward to that — I'd give anything for 100 miles of hard trail, but I don't think it's going to be the case.

Mike Curiak finished yesterday, first one to Nome. Jon Kirschke and Greg Blackwell are somewhere around Safety and approaching Nome. Stamstad and Mike Madden are in Koyuk heading to Elim.

I'm pulling out of Elim, heading to Golovin and then to White Mountain and then onto Safety. I'm hoping to get to Safety tonight, but then again I was hoping to get to Golovin yesterday and, 20 hours later, I had just gone 60 miles. It's just been a character-building two days on Norton Sound. Life is pretty difficult out here and it seems like the closer I get to Nome the harder it is to keep going. That's all.

—Pat Norwil, MountainZone.com Correspondent

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