Wasilla musher rescued, but two dogs die in storm

WASILLA — When it took Wasilla musher Lou Packer 12 hours to go five miles, Ellen Varosi knew something was wrong.

“It’s been a long 36 hours,” said Varosi of sitting at home and watching her husband’s progress by the GPS tracker on his sled.

He made it from Iditarod Trail Mile 405 to 415, then stopped, she said. He moved slowly and made it to Mile 420, but then it took him 12 hours to reach Mile 425.

“At those speeds, it meant he was out in front of his team trying to find the trail. This is a normal thing for mushers to do, but not for that long,” said Varosi. “I know when you’re moving that slow for that long, something’s gone terrible wrong.”

She only found out later just how bad things were.

Packer, the doctor from Urgent Care Lake Lucille, was rescued by the Iditarod Air Force after loosing the trail between Iditarod and Shageluk, according to an Iditarod press release.

He was overdue to Shageluk when race officials deployed search aircraft at 2 p.m. Monday afternoon. He was found 22 miles outside of Iditarod signaling he was in distress.

Two of his 15 dogs were dead and Packer and his team were airlifted to safety, according to an Iditarod headquarters press release.

On the phone from Unalakleet, Packer explained to his wife what happened. Being in the back of the race, the trail leaving Iditarod was washed out from the other mushers. A storm blew right over Packer and his team just after they left the checkpoint. He lost the trial and eventually had to take shelter in his sled.

“He was caught in sever winds and weather,” according to Race Marshal Mark Nordman. “The trail is like a washboard there, and he was caught in a bad blow on top of a hill.”

When he got up, the storm was even worse. Overnight, the thermometer on his sled read minus 38 degrees.

“He took care of his dogs the best he could. They had their coats on, but he thinks they just froze,” Varosi said. “He said hay wouldn’t have made a difference. It would have just blown away.”

As is standard procedure, a necropsy will be performed on both dogs to determine the cause of death.

By Varosi’s estimation from the GPS tracker, Packer was only 700 yards from the trial at his farthest.

“Right before he was rescued, he was right on the trail,” she said, “but I don’t know if he knew it or not.”

By receiving assistance, Packer is forced to scratch from the race.

“He sounded pretty upset about the whole situation,” Varosi said, “but there’s a bunch (of mushers) saying they’re in survival mode. It’s really bad out there.”

Mushers Kim Darst and Blake Matray were both lost on the same section of trail. The Iditarod Air Force found them Monday night outside Shageluk, according to Nordman, and both mushers gave their intention to scratch. As of Tuesday, four planes were dispatched to check on Darst and Matray.