Last Saturday, Rod Boyce left a checkpoint heading for a supply cache 18 miles down the trail. He was running last place in the Tustumena 200 Sled Dog Race. This was his thrid race of this size, and he had scratched the first, and placed 15/22 in the second.
Two feet of snow had fallen in the days prior to Rod's departure, and shortly after he left the 50 mile checkpoint, it started snowing hard. After a few hours, Rod noticed the trail markers had changed, and then lost the trail markers. In the 2+ inches/hour of snow falling, Rod did the most intelligent thing he could, and holed up. He had a light sleeping bag, his sled bag, and 10 dogs, plus some required gear, and some dog food (Note, mushers usually use real meat for dog food, this was freeze-dried lamb).
He made no major mistakes other than getting lost, though he did wake one morning to find drifts had consumed his camp and covered everything, gear and dogs, and had to dig out the gear he had left scattered on the ground.
When the weather broke (The area recieved 5 - 8 _feet_ of snow in the time he was lost) he began short trips on snowshoes to find out where he was. He had been rationing a bag of reese's pieces he'd taken as a snack, and decided to save the remainder of the bag in case he needed to hike out of the area, and Thursday Night, sleeping under the stars in a camp he made, with his dogs around him, he realized he was rather content, or as much as he could be for being stranded and lost without food. He said the thought crossed his mind that if only his wife were there, it would be great, and then laughed at himself, and thought that was rather crazy.
Friday morning, he created another 'HELP' sign, and started off on another snowshoe trek. He reached a ridge in the distance, and saw a snow machine in the distance on what seemed to be a well defined trail. While standing on the ridge looking for anything else, he saw three more snow machines pass by on the trail. He decided to go for it, ate the last of his stashed reeses, and headed for the trail.
After a nice hike, he made it to the packed trail, and knelt down and kissed the snow-machine tracks. A short wait produced a snow-machiner, and Rod introdueced himself as the missing musher. His rescuer offered him a power bar, and a ride back to civilization, where he feasted on a cheeseburger and a beer for his first meal in almost a week.
** This story summarized from the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, reachable at http://www.newschoice.com/newspapers/Fairbanks/Miner/default.asp **
Stryver's comments --
Rod survived, and returned with honor. And on top of that, kept his dogs healthy, and they were picked up shortly afterwards. I do not know if he had a compass and a map, but the snow-machine trails in the area were described as a 'bowl of spaghetti', and a topo map may not have been very useful in id'ing trails on top of the snow. He kept his cool, had decent gear, though I think he may carry a better sleeping bag in the future (He had a 20+ rated bag), and he signaled. He bivouaced in his sled bag on night one, and built a shelter roofed with alder branches on a subsequent day.
A massive search was started for him, with dozens of snowmachiners, most of the racing mushers, and several helicopters, including one with an IR system. I do not know why they did not find him, but it seems it is more their fault than his.
I would probably have made a snowshelter, though I know not if that would have made a difference. I would also have made a smoke generator, and have used fire as signals more. That may have made a difference (I'd hope that a 'copter with an IR camera could find a fire....). Other than that, I don't know if I could have improved substantially on what he did, and if it gets him back alive, it doesn't need improving too much (Though it's best not to run at the 'copter of marines rescuing you while waving your 9mm -- sorry, different rant).
Stryver, with a _very_ long post. I hope ya'll found it worthwhile.
Two feet of snow had fallen in the days prior to Rod's departure, and shortly after he left the 50 mile checkpoint, it started snowing hard. After a few hours, Rod noticed the trail markers had changed, and then lost the trail markers. In the 2+ inches/hour of snow falling, Rod did the most intelligent thing he could, and holed up. He had a light sleeping bag, his sled bag, and 10 dogs, plus some required gear, and some dog food (Note, mushers usually use real meat for dog food, this was freeze-dried lamb).
He made no major mistakes other than getting lost, though he did wake one morning to find drifts had consumed his camp and covered everything, gear and dogs, and had to dig out the gear he had left scattered on the ground.
When the weather broke (The area recieved 5 - 8 _feet_ of snow in the time he was lost) he began short trips on snowshoes to find out where he was. He had been rationing a bag of reese's pieces he'd taken as a snack, and decided to save the remainder of the bag in case he needed to hike out of the area, and Thursday Night, sleeping under the stars in a camp he made, with his dogs around him, he realized he was rather content, or as much as he could be for being stranded and lost without food. He said the thought crossed his mind that if only his wife were there, it would be great, and then laughed at himself, and thought that was rather crazy.
Friday morning, he created another 'HELP' sign, and started off on another snowshoe trek. He reached a ridge in the distance, and saw a snow machine in the distance on what seemed to be a well defined trail. While standing on the ridge looking for anything else, he saw three more snow machines pass by on the trail. He decided to go for it, ate the last of his stashed reeses, and headed for the trail.
After a nice hike, he made it to the packed trail, and knelt down and kissed the snow-machine tracks. A short wait produced a snow-machiner, and Rod introdueced himself as the missing musher. His rescuer offered him a power bar, and a ride back to civilization, where he feasted on a cheeseburger and a beer for his first meal in almost a week.
** This story summarized from the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, reachable at http://www.newschoice.com/newspapers/Fairbanks/Miner/default.asp **
Stryver's comments --
Rod survived, and returned with honor. And on top of that, kept his dogs healthy, and they were picked up shortly afterwards. I do not know if he had a compass and a map, but the snow-machine trails in the area were described as a 'bowl of spaghetti', and a topo map may not have been very useful in id'ing trails on top of the snow. He kept his cool, had decent gear, though I think he may carry a better sleeping bag in the future (He had a 20+ rated bag), and he signaled. He bivouaced in his sled bag on night one, and built a shelter roofed with alder branches on a subsequent day.
A massive search was started for him, with dozens of snowmachiners, most of the racing mushers, and several helicopters, including one with an IR system. I do not know why they did not find him, but it seems it is more their fault than his.
I would probably have made a snowshelter, though I know not if that would have made a difference. I would also have made a smoke generator, and have used fire as signals more. That may have made a difference (I'd hope that a 'copter with an IR camera could find a fire....). Other than that, I don't know if I could have improved substantially on what he did, and if it gets him back alive, it doesn't need improving too much (Though it's best not to run at the 'copter of marines rescuing you while waving your 9mm -- sorry, different rant).
Stryver, with a _very_ long post. I hope ya'll found it worthwhile.
