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The Dog Team Bios

 
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D Dog-Anne Eldridge, Software Engineer
 

Saucy Dog

Saucy Dog-Sue Johnston, Medical Transcriptionist
 

Saucy Dog's father worked for the Air Force; so, her family moved around a lot when she was little:  Italy, Philippines, and many locations around the States.  When she was nine, they moved to Waterford, Vermont, where she has lived ever since.  She went to Champlain College and got married to Mike Auger in 1989.  Waterford has given Saucy Dog great access to her many adventures in the White Mountains and other high peaks in New England.

Saucy Dog's life's passion started in 1992 when she did her first marathon and ultramarathon.  By now she has done over 60 ultramarathons.  In 1999, she was ranked 5th in the nation for 100 milers.  This year she had the 14th fastest 100 mile run ever for a North American women at Rocky Raccoon.  Just to mention some of her more important wins:  Killington 10 miler in 1993; Pisgah Mountain Trail Marathon in 1994; Hat Run 50K in 1997; Wapack 35 miler in 1997, 1998; Massanutten 100 miler in 1997, 1998, 2000 and course record; Wild Oak 50 miler in 1998 and course record; Superior 100 miler in 1999 and course record; JFK 50 miler in 1999; Mount Masochist 50 miler in 1999; Halliburton 100 miler in 2001 and course record; Catoctin 50K in 2001; Laurel Highlands 70 miler in 2002.  Probably her most impressive feats were when in 2000 she won the two hardest 100 milers in the world.  With a time of 32 hours 20 minutes, she won the Hardrock 100, with its 32,000 vertical feet, encompassing 6 passes over 13,000 feet and one over a Colorado 14er, Handies.  She has also gone farther than any other women at the Barkley by doing over 34,000 feet and 66 miles in 42 hours.

The White Mountains have been a playground for training for ultramarathons.  Saucy Dog loves to hike and many of her friends are passionate hikers.  In 1991, she finished the Long Trail and in 1994 she through hiked the Appalachian Trail.  She has hiked all of New England's 100 Highest Peaks in both winter and summer.   She has done all of the Vermont and Maine Four Thousand Footers and is nearing the end of doing all of the New Hampshire Four Thousand in every month.  Saucy Dog has also done 30 Colorado Fourteeners.

Saucy Dog met Cave Dog through Al Dog.  While training Cave Dog alternated staying with Al Dog and staying in Saucy Dog and Mike's home.  Saucy Dog helped Cave Dog in fine tuning his final course and they did many training hikes together.

During the Wild Whites Ultramarathon, Saucy Dog hiked with Cave Dog on his last day.

Iron Dog

Iron Dog-Vivian Beer, Blacksmith
 

Iron Dog grew up in Ellsworth, Maine, where she enjoyed hiking and camping in the Maine Woods at a young age.  One of her preferred retreats was to Baxter State Park.  In 2000, she graduated from the Maine College of Art in Portland, Maine, with a degree in sculpture.  She is currently working as a blacksmith in Florida, New York.  Next year she will be attending Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

Iron Dog met Cave Dog while they were both guiding sea kayaking tours in Bar Harbor, ME, in 2001.  They used to jog together on the carriage roads of Mount Desert Island before their paddles.  Sea kayaking continues to be a favorite pastime for both of them.

During the Marshall Mountain Madness Ultramarathon, Iron Dog helped out with the hiking support and provided the support vehicle.  During the Wild Whites Ultramarathon, Iron Dog again helped out with the hiking and driving support and provided the support vehicle.

Deputy Dog-John Rothchild, Author
 

Yankee Dog

Yankee Dog-Robert Williams, Mechanical Engineer
 

Yankee Dog grew up in Utica, NY.  After High School, he moved to the Boston area where he met Sheila, and they married in 1990.  In 1994, their daughter Shannon was born, and in 1998, their son Ryan.  Both children have been camping and hiking at a very early age.  He earned a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Umass Lowell and is employed by Analogic Corp, working on the design of Medical Imaging and Security Imaging equipment.

Because Yankee Dog works for a large Corporation and has a windowless office, he heads north almost every weekend for some mountain therapy.  He has climbed all of the New Hampshire 48 several times, including most in winter, and has done many of his favorites, Franconias, and Presidentials, between 10 to 20+ times.  Yankee Dog has also climbed peaks in Colorado, New Mexico, Tennessee, New York (1/4 of the Adirondack 46), Vermont, and Maine, including Katahdin 7 times.

Yankee Dog met Cave Dog by closely following the M3 Challenge.  He was so impressed with Cave Dog’s accomplishment that he emailed him asking if he had any plans for attempting the NH48 record.  They emailed each other for the next several weeks.  Then in midJuly, Cave Dog emailed him asking if he would like to join his support team for a record attempt in the second week of August.  Yankee Dog gladly accepted.

During the W2 Challenge, Yankee Dog helped out with finding base camp, with time projections and optimal support locations, and also with some of the more remote hiking support.

Adog-Richard Kelly, Retired Attorney
 

Adog and Base Dog live on Boulderwood in Lake Placid where the Adirondack base camp lean to is located.  They are hiking the Adirondack 46 High Peaks recently completing Skylight, their 31st, the week before the W 2 .

Base Dog is a nursing consultant and Adog, an attorney; and they are semiretired.  They have spent all seasons these past four years on the mountains and waters of the Adirondacks when not volunteering, gardening, playing tennis, partying, or traveling to visit one of their three children in New England, or going back to Long Island, to Canada, to Florida, or just about anywhere else.

Adog and Base Dog's home has been a regional base camp for both training and the Marshall Mountain Maddness Ultramarathon.  During the M3, they helped at base camp and with hiking support.  During the W2, Adog helped out with the driving support.

Slo Dog

Slo Dog-Terry Finnan, Retired
 

Slo Dog climbed his first Adirondack High Peak in August of 1948.  His childhood was spent partly in the mountains and partly at the ocean.  After graduating from New York Unniversity in 1965, he went into business and devoted his leisure life to mountains, ocean sailing, skiing, and cycling.

Slo Dog climbed in the west and Europe and sailed in the Mediterranean, Caribbean, and the East Coast from Maine to Key West.  Not finding the answer to the question of whether life is a beach or a mountain, he returned to the Adirondacks.  He hopes to finish his Adirondack High Peak climbs this year, 54 years after his first peak.  Slo Dog continues sailing on Lake Champlain, cycling, and skiing and snowshoeing in the mountains in the winter.

During the M3, Slo Dog helped out with the hiking and driving support.  He also helped out with the driving support during the W2.

Snow Dog

Snow Dog-Marsha Finnan, Economic Consultant
 

Snow Dog is an avid hiker and can be seen all winter on her snowshoes trekking in the Adirondacks.  One day Snow Dog and her husband Slo Dog snowshoed Marcy after the eight foot dump in March of 2001.  Trail markers that are 10-12 feet high were barely visible.  Finding themselves alone on Marcy's summit, they were indeed "Tops in NY State".  Snow Dog also enjoys biking, sailing, and Tai Chi.  Later this month, she plans to climb Seward, her last peak in climbing all of the ADK 46.  In addition, Snow Dog has climbed in the Catskills extensively and has scaled all of the Catskill 35.

She is an international economic consultant with her own business, www.economic-services.com.  Snow Dog is the proud mother of Ski Dog, as well as, two grown daughters. 

Snow Dog met Cave Dog while he was scouting the ADKs.  She was disappointed that she could not join the team because of work commitments.  She jumped at the chance to help Cave Dog in the Whites with driving and reprovisioning on the trail.
 

Salty Dog-Hal Rhubart, Retired Computer Programmer
 

Salty Dog worked as a computer programmer in New Jersey and New York City when he decided to take a year and a half off in the White Mountains.  The allure of the Whites was strong and after fourteen years of mountaineering, these mountains have become his home.  He has gained a strong passion for hiking.  He is the cochair of a hiking group that has hiked all year around every Wednesday for the past three and a half years.  For five years he has been a maintainer for the Appalacian Mountain Club volunteer adopt a trail program and a section leader for the last two.  This passion for the mountains has led him to recently completing his twentieth round of the New Hampshire 48 Four Thousand Footers.  However, it does not stop with hiking.  He also enjoys cross country skiing and recently has gained a strong taste for rock climbing.

Salty Dog met Cave Dog on top of Jackson and Pierce, while Saucy and Cave Dogs were scouting out a Presidential traverse with Isolation.  After studying the maps atop Pierce, it became obvious that Salty Dog had a vast knowledge of the trails and mountains and would be a great addition to The Dog Team.

During the challenge, Salty Dog helped out with the hiking support.

Al Dog-Al Sochard, IBM Salesperson
 

Dippity Do Dog-Travis
 

Hungry Dog-Brian Finke, Photographer
 

Pup Dog-Lisa Daniels,
 

Cave Dog

Cave Dog-Ted E. Keizer, Bum
 

Cave Dog grew up in Coos Bay, Oregon.  He graduated from Brown University in 1994 with degrees in Geology Biology and Political Science.  While at Brown, he was elected Student Body President.  He was also voted by his class to lead their graduation procession.  After college, Cave Dog was tracked for a life in politics when he decided that he needed to experience life before he could write and vote on laws.  So, he set out to do his own study of society, people, and nature.  Since that time he has visited all of the states, all but two of them multiple times.  He has lived and worked in fourteen states, Indian country, the inner city, and the woods.  Hot air balloon pilot, hotel accountant, steel construction, shoveling snow off roofs, enumerator, moving man, high school teacher, and ambulance driver are just a few of the means of employment he has tried.  His only restriction is that he never does the same job twice.  Being an outdoor enthusiast from an early age, he has visited 145 National Park sites and hiked and climbed in 38 states.  In addition, he did a 31 day solo in Glacier Park, Montana, under winter conditions.  Cave Dog also broken two records:  the Mighty Mountain Megamarathon(M 4 ) by climbing all of the Colorado 14ers in 10 days, 20 hours, and 26 minutes; and the Marshall Mountain Maddness Ultramarathon(M 3 ) by climbing all of the Adirondack 46 High Peaks in 3 days, 18 hours, and 14 minutes.  He loves all forms of hiking from the peaks to the canyons, from the swamps to the desert, from the woods to the tundra.  Most of all he loves the wildlife and the wildflowers. 

During the White Mountain challenge, Cave Dog climbed, and that is all.


The Dog House, Support Vehicle
 
During the challenge, there were some situations where Cave Dog needed to be driven from one mountain group to another.  Iron Dog's pickup was outfitted with a mattress and lots of supplies for this transport.


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