Palmer man continues to move forward, despite loss of legs

PALMER — Israel Hale’s life changed forever in 2012 when he was struck by a vehicle in Anchorage while checking on a mechanical issue behind his truck’s trailer.

The incident cost him both of his legs, but none of his grit and determination since he avidly rides snowmachines and has started racing competitively.

“Snowmachining has really given me a freedom,” Hale said.

Hale walks on short prosthetics. He said the incident essentially reduced his stature from, “6-foot-2 to about 4-10.”

“It’s definitely tough and challenging but I fought very hard to overcome that challenge from the get-go and made the very best of life that I could,” Hale said.

He said that, while his movement has slowed down and it takes more time and effort to get around, he can still do a lot of things like walk, climb, and perhaps the most important to him, riding recreational vehicles like 4-wheelers and snowmachines.

“I can’t necessarily run but I can pretty much climb on anything and do anything I put my mind to do. It takes a lot longer but it can be done,” Hale said.

Hale said that he felt very lucky for being able to literally walk away from the incident. He is a double amputee but he said that it could have been much, much worse.

“I’m blessed I wasn’t paralyzed from the accident,” Hale said.

Hale said that he ended up grabbing hold of all new opportunities he never would have had prior to the incident. He currently owns the Alaska Tool Doctor and Alaska Toy Rental, running both businesses out of Palmer.

“I knew I could handle it so that’s why I went that way,” Hale said.

The day of the incident, Hale said that he was in Anchorage because he was celebrating his six-month anniversary with his wife when his trailer broke down. He said that he’s always been mechanically inclined so he went out to tinker with the trailer when he was hit unexpectedly.

“‘I can’t’ is not in my vocabulary,” Hale said.

Now he and his wife have two children, a son and a daughter. He said that he rides snowmachines frequently with his friends and has been training for long distance races like the Skwentna 200 XC. He said that his friend invited him to try it so he wanted to give it a shot since he’s gotten so adept at the sport since he lost his legs.

“I can get out and climb the mountains and keep with all the big boys. It really gives you that sense of worth and ability to do that. It’s not only a great feeling, it really opens you up,” Hale said.

Hale planned to make history this year by riding in the Skwentna 200 XC as the first double leg amputee but race was cancelled due to weather conditions.

“Due to early spring and excessive open water on the river we are cancelling this weekend’s race. All racers will receive a refund if they have paid entry fees” Skwentna Roadhouse announced on their Facebook page on March 21.

The post also stated that all of the 2019 purse money will roll over into 2020’s purse. They recommended to start planning teams as they work towards a minimum purse of $10,000.

Hale said that he raced with his friend in the 2019 Mayors Cup in Valdez. He said that about half of the riders scratched out some time around the second lap since the weather was infamously terrible that day. He said that he finished the race regardless.

“That was really, really tough,” Hale said.

Hale said that the tricky part of riding is not having the ability to use his legs to hang onto the snowmachine. He said that he’s flown off machine a few times after “hitting the wrong bump at the wrong time.”

He said there isn’t much to do besides taking all the shock in his arms because methods like tying himself down would be very dangerous in the event of a crash.

“It’s all arm strength,” Hale said.

Hale aims to partake in the 2020 Iron Dog.

“We’ll see how that goes,” Hale said.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman reporter Jacob Mann at jacob.mann@frontiersman.com