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#136752 - 06/19/08 02:05 PM Alaska: 2 lost hikers rescued
Glock-A-Roo Offline
Old Hand

Registered: 04/16/03
Posts: 1076
link

2 missing women rescued in Alaskan wilderness

The Associated Press

Thu, Jun 19, 2008 (2 a.m.)

When Erica Nelson and Abby Flantz lost their way during an overnight hike into Denali National Park, they decided to keep hiking.

"We spent a couple of days (doing) 11 hours of hiking. We kept seeing more mountains, more ridges," recalled Nelson, 23.

"The terrain was a lot harder than we thought it would be, and it was farther than we thought it would be," added 25-year-old Flantz.

The two backpackers' misadventure spanned six days and concluded Wednesday evening when a rescue helicopter airlifted them from the rugged terrain.

A massive search for the women began Saturday soon after they were reported overdue at their summer jobs at Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge, a hotel outside the park some 180 miles north of Anchorage. Searchers scoured 100 square miles of open tundra, black spruce forest and hillsides of dense alder and willow.

The women slept in their tent at night and hiked during the day. At times, they melted snow for drinking water. They had no food when they were found.

Flantz, of Gaylord, Minn., told Anchorage television station KTUU after the rescue that Nelson had helped keep her spirits up.

"I thought everything was going to be fine, stay positive," said Nelson, of Las Vegas.

Two cell phone calls that Nelson made to her mother led to their rescue. Park officials didn't know the women had a cell phone with them.

Ellane Nelson received the first call at 9:15 a.m. Wednesday while listening to park officials give a briefing on the search. She heard her daughter say she and Flantz were alive and well.

The cell phone's battery was weak, but park officials were able to locate the signal coming from an area where they had been searching for more than four days. Park Service officials instructed the women to make themselves visible and signal any helicopters that flew overhead.

The agency dispatched two helicopters to pick up the women, but hours later there still was no sign of them.

"They were not where we thought they were," park spokeswoman Kris Fister said.

Hours later, the women called again. They then powered down the phone to conserve battery strength after sending text messages about what they were seeing and hearing. At one point, they reported seeing an airplane to the south of them.

After the second phone call, rescuers focused on a brushy area about five miles west of the Parks Highway, which connects Anchorage and Fairbanks.

A park plane spotted the pair at 4:22 p.m. and a helicopter was sent to pick them up.

They arrived about a half-hour later at the airstrip at park headquarters, where they joined family members and feasted on overstuffed deli sandwiches.

"They looked great. They were laughing and smiling," Fister said.

Nelson said she thought a lot about her sister while she was lost. She had tickets to fly Sunday night to Houston to be maid of honor in her sister's wedding on Saturday.

"The whole time I was just, `We got to keep going,'" Nelson said. "`I got to make it to her wedding.'"

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#136753 - 06/19/08 02:13 PM Re: Alaska: 2 lost hikers rescued [Re: Glock-A-Roo]
Mike_H Offline
Addict

Registered: 04/04/07
Posts: 612
Loc: SE PA
They kept their cool and didn't do anything stupid... If they had a signal mirror, I'm sure it would have helped a bit.

Always good to hear a story with a happy ending! I'd be curious as to what gear they had on them.
_________________________
"I reject your reality and substitute my own..." - Adam Savage / Mythbusters

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#136757 - 06/19/08 02:30 PM Re: Alaska: 2 lost hikers rescued [Re: Mike_H]
thseng Offline
Old Hand

Registered: 03/24/06
Posts: 900
Loc: NW NJ
Quote:
When Erica Nelson and Abby Flantz lost their way during an overnight hike into Denali National Park, they decided to keep hiking.

"We spent a couple of days (doing) 11 hours of hiking. We kept seeing more mountains, more ridges," recalled Nelson, 23.

BUZZZZZZZZ, sorry, wrong answer, we have lovely parting gifts...
_________________________
- Tom S.

"Never trust and engineer who doesn't carry a pocketknife."

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#136758 - 06/19/08 02:55 PM Re: Alaska: 2 lost hikers rescued [Re: thseng]
dweste Offline
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 02/16/08
Posts: 2463
Loc: Central California
Admit you are lost. Stay put. Make yourself visible (small smoky fire, lay ouy belongings in X, etc). Dial 911. Don't be a hero.

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#136770 - 06/19/08 03:46 PM Re: Alaska: 2 lost hikers rescued [Re: Glock-A-Roo]
JCWohlschlag Offline
Old Hand

Registered: 11/26/06
Posts: 724
Loc: Sterling, Virginia, United Sta...
Too bad they didn’t have a GPS of some sort, too. Would have made that phone call so much more clear. “We are alive and well and located at ###° ##’ ##”N ###° ##’ ##”W. Tell someone to come get us!”

Of course, the GPS probably would have helped with the whole getting lost thing in the first place, too.


Edited by JCWohlschlag (06/19/08 03:48 PM)
Edit Reason: Apparently that font doesn’t like prime and double prime characters. Ooops!
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“Hiking is just walking where it’s okay to pee. Sometimes old people hike by mistake.” — Demitri Martin

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#136772 - 06/19/08 03:48 PM Re: Alaska: 2 lost hikers rescued [Re: JCWohlschlag]
TeacherRO Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 03/11/05
Posts: 2574
yes - and gps units are cheap now. And light. and dirt simple to use -- at least for reading the numbers off the screen.

Teacher

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#136776 - 06/19/08 03:59 PM Re: Alaska: 2 lost hikers rescued [Re: TeacherRO]
JohnN Offline
Old Hand

Registered: 10/10/01
Posts: 966
Loc: Seattle, WA

Lost. Kept going? Kept going *where*?!

-john

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#136781 - 06/19/08 04:19 PM Re: Alaska: 2 lost hikers rescued [Re: JohnN]
Dan_McI Offline
Old Hand

Registered: 12/10/07
Posts: 844
Loc: NYC
I think they could probably have done several things better than what they did. I think once you first are not sure about your location and the right direction, there is a tendency to think you can go a short way and get yourself out. Heck, it's always worked for me. In this case, they did enough and got lucky enough to be alive.


Edited by Dan_McI (06/19/08 04:39 PM)

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#136785 - 06/19/08 05:01 PM Re: Alaska: 2 lost hikers rescued [Re: JCWohlschlag]
Am_Fear_Liath_Mor Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 08/03/07
Posts: 3078
Quote:
Too bad they didn’t have a GPS of some sort, too. Would have made that phone call so much more clear. “We are alive and well and located at ###° ##’ ##”N ###° ##’ ##”W. Tell someone to come get us!”


They probably thought that the mobile phone they had would be enough. Apparently it was. Hmm I wonder if they even had a map and compass. Even if they did, they obviously showed they didn't have a clue how to use them as they wandered aimlessly around looking for a mobile phone signal.


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#136793 - 06/19/08 05:58 PM Re: Alaska: 2 lost hikers rescued [Re: Am_Fear_Liath_Mor]
Russ Offline
Geezer

Registered: 06/02/06
Posts: 5357
Loc: SOCAL
Considering the Garmin Geko (non-mapping, very small and lightweight) can be had for $115 through Amazon, it's a fairly inexpensive nav item to take on a trip.
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Better is the Enemy of Good Enough.
Okay, what’s your point??

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