Search 1st big test for MAT+SAR

MAT-SU — With two lost hikers missing in Denali National Park last week, the National Park Service called in searchers from around the state and, eventually, around the country.

Among the more than 100 folks helping find Abby Flantz, 25, of Minnesota and Erica Nelson, 23, of Nevada at the height of the six-day search were those from a 2-year-old Valley search group called MAT+SAR.

“This was by and large the largest operation that MAT+SAR has ever been a part of,” said MAT+SAR President Joe Sylvia, one of five from his group who joined the search.

Sylvia and his crew drove north Monday and stayed through when the women were found Thursday. He and his crew split into two teams and were sent to search creeks in the area, hiking around drainage ditches and looking for any sign the two Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge employees had passed through.

Kris Fister, spokeswoman for the park, said that aside from MAT+SAR, the search included two fixed-wing aircraft and a helicopter, all either owned by or contracted to the park. Alaska State Troopers pitched in its helicopter. Dog teams came in from Anchorage and Fairbanks. The Alaska Mountain Rescue Group also responded.

And, as the search wore on, teams came up from the Yosemite, Sequoia and Kings Canyon, Mount Rainer and Grand Tetons national parks. Those searchers from Outside brought manpower and expertise, Fister said.

“Having lots of people in California, they tend to do a lot more searches,” she said.

MAT+SAR was founded in 2003 and went active in 2006. Initially an ATV-based group, Sylvia said the organization has morphed into a team focusing more on foot searches, although ATV searches are a service it can provide.

“We are a fully operational, ready, ground-pounding search and rescue group now,” Sylvia said.

These days, Sylvia said he has a cadre of 30 trained and ready volunteers with all sorts of backgrounds. He is second in command of the Mat-Su Borough’s dive team.

“We have EMTs, paramedics, water rescue specialists, former military [and] firefighters,” Sylvia said.

The group’s biggest source of calls, he said, has so far been lost snowmachiners around Eureka. The team has been deployed to Willow and has worked with troopers to recover evidence.

He said the group is always looking for volunteers and offers training sessions over a couple of weekends that leave searchers ready and able to traipse through the wilderness. Interested folks may call 745-6727.

Last week’s search, he said, went off without a hitch. His crew “made a good showing.”

One thing he wished hadn’t happened — he lost his camera, which Sylvia had purchased Monday just for this deployment. He stumbled on a rock in a river that had been described as dry and it fell out of his pocket.

“I will tell you that that is not a particularly dry creek,” he said, adding he doesn’t expect to see it again. “Unless you plan on hiking for a couple of days or have a helicopter, you’re not getting it.”

On Thursday, the two hikers were eventually able to place a cell phone call giving their location. They were found and picked up in a helicopter just outside the park’s northern border about eight miles from the Parks Highway, Fister said. The women had walked an estimated 25 miles. Though all the figures have not yet come in, Fister said a preliminary estimate for the cost of the search is $118,500.

Sylvia said he was happy when he got the news that Flantz and Nelson had been found safe. As MAT+SAR wrapped up operations, he met Nelson’s mother, who thanked him and gave him a hug.

“I bent down to hug the lady and by the time I stood up I was crying.” Sylvia said. “There ain’t nothing in the world compares to that.”

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiers-man.com or 352-2270.