Sørlie departed in exactly 8 hours, and the rest are taking their mandatory 8-hour rests. The parallels between the current race and his victory in 2003 are striking: in both races, he pulled ahead early and held onto a sizeable lead, dropped to a mere 8 dogs, and faced soft sticky snow. On March 14 to 15, a storm along the southern shore of the Seward Peninsula grounded most airplanes, which prevented the small aircraft of the Iditarod Air Force from flying veterinarians and race officials into White Mountain before the leaders arrived, though local volunteers were present. The whiteout conditions and open water on the trail made snowmobile travel unsafe. This is the first time since at least 1988 that veterinarians were present to check teams arriving at a checkpoint, and the single veterinarian at Elim was overworked. Flights began again on March 16, but gusts of winds remained high (30 to 35 mph). The top 10 departed within 9 hours. After two scratches, Scdoris and Ellering are in last place. It normally takes about 10 hours from White Mountain to Nome.