EAGLE, Alaska Whitehorse-area musher William Kleedehn is tired of hearing about Monday's airlift of five Yukon Quest mushers off of Eagle Summit.

'Those people should have known what the f--- they were getting into when they signed up for the race,' Kleedehn said Wednesday as he rested at the old Eagle public school checkpoint.

Mushers being stuck in a storm should be a non-issue in the Quest, said Kleedehn.

In the past, there have been mushers who have been caught on the summit in storms for up to two days.

'They haven't needed to do (send in a search and rescue) before. It might have been because there were so many people at the same time,' he said.

Kleedehn acknowledges the trail going over summit was rough, but adds he's been unimpressed with the fallout since the storm died down.

'Someone made the race officials feel bad about not having a search,' he said, but mushers are required to be prepared to deal with adverse weather conditions.

When Kleedehn arrived at the Central, Alaska checkpoint on the opposite side of the summit last Sunday night, he told officials he was 'glad to be alive.'

On Wednesday, he told the Star if the conditions had been as bad as they were reported by the rescued mushers when he was going over, he would have never even tried to cross the summit.

He would have looked up at it from its base, seen it featured near whiteout conditions leading up the incline, and headed back to wait it out at the Mile 101 dog drop.

'If you've been on a mountain before in a storm, you know, you can't tell what's up or down or left or right,' he said.

Deciding to go up the 1,105-metre (3,685-foot) summit in those conditions meant the mushers should have been ready to accept they might get stuck up there.

'You might not be in big trouble, but you will be uncomfortable,' said Kleedehn.

Last year's third-place finisher, Hugh Neff, said he feels like he's living in a world of two different races.

Much of the world is hearing what has now turned into an international story, said Neff, but he doesn't feel like he's running in that same race.

'It's almost like it's a different race,' he said.

Neff said he felt sorry for the mostly rookies who became stuck on the mountain.

'They have to live with this for the rest of their lives,' he said.

Neff added he hopes the incident doesn't force the Quest to consider rerouting the 1,600-kilometre trail.

'They have to go over the summit,' he said. 'It's an inherent part of the Quest spirit. That's what the Quest is all about overcoming adversity.'

Sebastian Schnuelle jokingly added all the mushers need to 'stop whining and start running.'

But he admits after he came into Central, he was terrified by the trail conditions and considered scratching from the race.

It's been a rough year for the Quest, between the incident on Eagle Summit and the warm weather conditions, said Neff. He added he's worried about the future of the race, which began in 1984.

But Kleedehn said the organizers can't be expected to control the weather.

'But it's easy to get angry when you're frustrated,' he said.