MANCOS Lack of snow, warm weather and unsafe conditions have lead the event organizer of the La Plata Paw sled dog race to cancel the annual event. It was scheduled for the weekend of Feb. 18-19.
I am disappointed to announce that 2012 Paw has been cancelled due to unsafe trail conditions, said Sandy Schwartz.
An unseasonably warm winter, coupled with exceptionally low snowfall, has resulted in the first three miles of the race course having very thin snow coverage. Mushers of racing sled teams need to be able to anchor their snow hooks in sufficiently deep snow. This is purely to hold their team, in case the need arises to stop their team at any time during the race. Without the deep snow coverage, built up over weeks of snowfall and snowcat grooming, it has been determined trail conditions are unsafe for racing.