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Yukon Quest trail walker 0inishes journey after 34 days

Joachim Rintsch had a thin beard covering his once clean-cut face as he arrived in Whitehorse Thursday morning

By Annalee Grant on March 12, 2010

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Joachim Rintsch had a thin beard covering his once clean-cut face as he arrived in Whitehorse Thursday morning,
but it was the only sign of the 34 days in the Yukon

wilderness he had just experienced.

Rintsch knows few words in english but even without the help of translator and friend Mike Simon, it was easy to
understand how he felt – and what was on his mind.

"Danke, danke!” Rintsch exclaimed as he hugged Simon upon his arrival at the White Pass building in downtown
Whitehorse.

Simon asked him in German how he felt, and Rintsch conPnued to happily cha?er away in his naPve language.

"Wunderbar!” he said.

Rintsch had much to say, showing no signs of faPgue aQer leaving Braeburn Wednesday to walk the final leg of his
journey. His report of the trail was similar to what many of the Yukon Quest mushers had to say three and a half
weeks earlier.

He began his trip on Feb. 4, leaving his home in the Bavaria province of Germany for Fairbanks. He began his walk
a day ahead of the Yukon Quest racers. He had expected it to take him 32 days, and he finished in about 34.

With Simon translaPng, Rintsch told the small crowd gathered to meet him about the excellent trail condiPons the
enPre way, his only complaint being that it would have been nice if it had been about 10 degrees colder.

He also wished he could turn around and go right on back to Fairbanks.

Rintsch didn't run into too many problems on his walk. He did damage the sled he pulled behind him at one point,
but being in the Canadian wilderness, he had plenty of material to do a quick fix.

"There's enough wood in Canada that he could fix it with sPcks,” Simon said. Rintsch used a sPck to rea?ach the
harness that a?aches the sled, called a "pulk”, to his waist.

Along the trail Rintsch had help from many people. At the 101 Mile Yukon Quest checkpoint, he was lucky enough
to stumble upon a home-cooked breakfast of fried halibut, bacon and eggs – which had all been fried up by a
German-speaking cook.

Besides the generous people along the way, Rintsch saw caribou, moose and elk.
He had one minor incident between the Pelly Farm and Pelly Crossing, where he had to deviate off the official
Quest trail due to the soQening ice on the river.

Walking along a road that rarely sees pedestrian traffic Rintsch came into the path of a semi-truck, who's driver
was just as surprised to see him.

Rintsch did have a few problems with overflow. At one point he got caught up in the river water, soaking him to his
knees and the contents of his sled.

He also had some trouble on the trail when the wind swept up and covered the markers.

For a few days at the very start Rintsch had to take a long break as he waited for the strong head wind to calm
down.

Even with a bit of frostbite on one of his fingers, Rintsch says the trip was no problem.

At one point, he thought he was off the official Yukon Quest trail, so he called Simon, who helped re-orient him
and find the trail with the help of Rintsch's Spot tracker, which was updaPng his locaPon every 10 minutes or so at
www.trackleaders.com.

Through Simon, Rintsch said he had "No regrets what-so-ever.”

With him, he did not have any way to protect himself besides a pocket knife. He joked that he carried with him a
pair of nail clippers just in case.

In his pulk, he did have all the food he needed, which was in the form of a protein powder, a sleeping bag and a
change of shoes.

When it was suggested to Rintsch that people may think he is a bit crazy, Simon's translaPng was not needed for
the answer, in which he agreed.

Admicng that he had a lot of Pme to think, Rintsch said he didn't start to plan his next great adventure. He prefers
to get an idea only weeks before he heads off.

This isn't Rintsch's first Pme in the Yukon either. He has parPcipated in the ArcPc Ultra five Pmes, which runs half
of the Yukon Quest trail on years that it leaves from Whitehorse.

He has since fallen in love with the territory, and enjoys his trips to the Canadian north. He has done walks in the
deserts of Africa and across Australia, but prefers the winter wonderland of the Yukon.

During his first Ultra was where Rintsch got involved with raising funds for Vasconia Anemia, a bone marrow
disease that affects children.

Due to the rarity of the disorder, many major pharmaceuPcal companies do not research it, but Rintsch hopes to
change that.

Before leaving, a friend offered to donate one euro for every mile he walked, which means 1,000 euros (about
$1,400 Canadian dollars) was raised on this trip.
Since beginning his quest to fund-raise for the disease, Rintsch has been able to raise 8,000 euro, or over $11,000
in Canadian dollars.

On his pulk, Rintsch had a Pny plush moose that did the journey with him. He joked that when he got Pred he
hooked the moose up to the harness to pull for awhile.

The trip was a giQ to himself for his 50th birthday, Rintsch said. His wife contributed the plane Pcket from Germany
to Whitehorse, and he took a bus to the start.

He says there are plenty of other desPnaPons that he could go to, but this was "the peak” for him.

Simon could not confirm, but he believes Rintsch may be the first person to ever successfully walk the Yukon Quest
trail alone.

There have been reports of unsuccessful a?empts.

Rintsch has a website with photos and more, in German, at www.ultra-fisse.de

When asked what he had on the agenda for the rest of the day, Rintsch said another familiar word, that needed no
translaPon; "Coffee.”

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