DAWSON CITY – More mushers shared spellbinding stories from the trail between American Summit and the Klondike, Friday.

A blizzard blew over the 1,042-metre mountain Thursday, wreaking havoc on dog teams in the vicinity.

Andrew Pace, 36, recounted a harrowing experience that saw him stranded on the side of the trail until a rescue from the raceʼs youngest participant.

The Healy, Alaska, musher said his huskies were struggling to find their way after he was forced to drop his main lead dog – five-year-old Solo in Eagle – after he contracted pneumonia.

Shortly after making his way out of Clinton Creek – a small checkpoint near the confluence of the Yukon and Fortymile rivers – Pace said his dog team stalled out in near-whiteout conditions.

“The wind was crazy and we were breaking trail in six inches of snow and drifts that were all over,” he said.

Unable to get anything going, the musher broke camp several times – eventually cutting down spruce boughs to provide shelter for his team.

“I took my ski pole and wrote on the back of a Starbucks VIA (package): ʻDog team looking for help.ʼ”

Pace then hunkered down in his sleeping bag and waited.

A while later, he was startled awake by a headlight in the distance – 19-year-old Laura Neese from McMillan, Mich.

Neese stopped her team and agreed to lead her rivalʼs team up the trail for the final 24 kms into Dawson City.

“She was awesome – really nice and really calm,” Pace recalled.

“We took off right after her. She was looking back at me just to be sure we were there the whole time. My dog team really kicked in and woke up and we followed her in.”

Neese arrived on scene at just the right moment, he added.

“If I was unable to follow her, I didnʼt have what I needed resource-wise to get in,” Pace said. “It was kind of that or nothing at all.”

After spending 24 hours to mush 86 kms, Pace said he was considering pushing his SPOT tracker to request assistance from race officials before Neese arrived.

“It was bad,” he said. “Thatʼs not something you want in your mind, and once itʼs there, itʼs insidious.”

Pace took the blame for the incident on the trail, noting his energy was sapped after being forced to drop his top husky.

“I wasnʼt setting them up for any kind of success on that run,” he said. “I was just crestfallen, which is not the way to drive a dog team – especially a young one.”

Pace said he hopes four-year-old Kabob can step up to the task for the second half of the journey to Whitehorse.

The team is very similar to the one his wife, Kristin Knight Pace, drove to a 15th overall finish in last yearʼs Yukon Quest.

Pace followed Neese out of Dawson City late Saturday afternoon.

Meanwhile, Yukon musher Rob Cooke nearly broke down when discussing his night in the Klondikeʼs hills.

The race re-route from the ice-jammed Yukon River to Top of the World Highway proved to be extraordinarily difficult for the 49-year-old Brit and his team of Siberian huskies.

“We were struggling, moving along at four miles an hour,” Cooke recalled of the climb out of Fortymile.

“It took us almost five hours to get to Top of the World Highway and when we got there, the drifting was really bad. There was one section where the highway had gone completely ... just one snow drift straight across it.”

Top of the World Highway is a scenic summer road that winds through a mountain range from Dawson City to Tok, Alaska.

“The dogs didnʼt quit but I just couldnʼt get a dog to lead,” Cooke said of his experience.

“For hours, we tried different leader combinations, walking them. I just couldnʼt get them to go in the end and we just camped for three or four hours.

“This morning, I still couldnʼt get anybody to lead so I just decided Iʼd walk them off. After about 30 minutes, they decided they were going to go, so fortunately we did run off. But it was a pretty intense night and itʼs not one I want to go through again.”

With tears in his eyes, he told reporters he wasnʼt sure if his race would continue past the Klondike.

“I donʼt know if thereʼs going to be a second half of the race,” he said, acknowledging the Black Hills south of Dawson City were difficult in their own right.

“Iʼve got 10 dogs here and normally nine of them are really solid leaders,” said Cooke. “But I couldnʼt get one dog to lead last night. I donʼt know if Iʼm prepared to go another 200-mile run with no leaders.

“I need to sleep and see how I feel.”

Cooke would eventually continue his race, heading into the Black Hills just before midnight, Saturday.

– With files by Casey Grove, Fairbanks Daily News-Miner