Sled crash kills boy

January 6, 2006

MARY AMESFrontiersman reporter

HATCHER PASS - In a split second, fun turned to tragedy for a Wasilla family and a Palmer man Monday afternoon.

Craig Carlson was enjoying a drive up Hatcher Pass Road with his girlfriend and her granddaughter in his 1997 GMC pickup truck.

&#8220We noticed the new ski area was open, where they're talking about putting in a new resort,” Carlson said. &#8220So we turned around to see the view and I as started up the hill, I noticed a man coming down in a green Metro with the back down, so I knew he had kids with him, and I stopped to let him go by.”

Noval Matteson, 5, of Wasilla, was following the green Metro driven by his father, Noel Matteson of Wasilla.

&#8220The kid looked OK,” Carlson said. &#8220But his little runner sled just veered, another six inches and he would have missed my truck. He just disappeared and I said ‘Did he hit the truck?' He had hit a tow package underneath the rig, the 2-inch square bar. He was sledding head first with no helmet. His dad witnessed the whole thing in the rearview mirror. It looked like a brand-new sled, he probably got it for Christmas.”

The accident was reported to Alaska State Troopers about 4 p.m. and an ambulance took Noval to Valley Hospital with CPR in progress, according to troopers. Rescue workers tried, for 42 minutes, to revive Noval, but the boy died of his injuries. Noval would have turned 6 today.

There is a sledding hill up the road from where Noval hit the truck, according to Ron Swanson, director of community development with the Mat-Su Borough.

&#8220It was a tragic accident,” Swanson said. &#8220People shouldn't be sledding on the road, but people seem to think it's more fun than the designated sledding hill. We built the parking area to encourage people to use the sledding hill.”

Pat Murphy, a park ranger at Hatcher Pass, called the informal skiing-sledding circuit Carlson witnessed a standard practice.

People sled, ski or snowboard from about Mile 16 of the Hatcher Pass Road, and someone with a motorized vehicle picks them up at Mile 12 and drives them up to do it again, Murphy said. They do it in spite of the signs posted along the way saying it's illegal.

&#8220I've been here 18 years, and we put a stop to it as much as possible,” he said. &#8220Sledding on the road is dangerous and illegal. Some people see it as a sledding hill, but it's not a good idea. There's a gate at the bottom and if someone hit the gate hard, they'd get hurt. It's a shame it happened, I wish it hadn't.”

Murphy said the rangers try to keep the highway stuff on the highway, meaning Hatcher Pass Road.

&#8220But we can't be there all the time,” Murphy said. &#8220There has to be some element of personal responsibility.”

&#8220I was put in a bad position by poor choice,” Carlson said. &#8220But a mistake shouldn't cost a young life. You wish crackheads would disappear, but nothing's fair. But people should note that runner sleds and roads just don't mix and never have so it doesn't happen to another kid.”

Contact Mary Ames at 352-2284 or mary.ames@frontiersman.com.