Gaylord woman rescued in Denali National Park
June 26th, 2008
A Happy ending! Abby Flantz is shown here with her parents, Kathy and Jim Flantz of Sibley Township, at Denali National Park headquarters shortly after being rescued. Flantz and friend Erica Nelson were lost in the wilderness for six days. The search and rescue made national news. – Photos courtesy of the Flantz family
A rural Gaylord woman and her friend were found safe last Wednesday, June 18 after being lost for six days in Denali National Park, Alaska.
Abby Flantz, 25, of rural Gaylord and her friend, Erica Nelson, 23, of Las Vegas, set out Thursday, June 12 for an overnight camping trip in Denali National Park. They were found six days later in a brushy area about five miles west of Parks Highway, which connects Anchorage and Fairbanks.
“We, as a family, can’t have enough gratitude to the Park Service, the Forest Service, and Princess Wilderness Lodge,” Abby’s father Jim Flantz said. Flantz and his wife Kathy returned to their Sibley Township home Saturday. They had flown out last Tuesday to be closer to the search.
Two cell phone calls to Nelson’s mother lead to the rescue. Nelson’s mother 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 that she and Flantz were alive and well.
Some 100 people helped search for the pair. The story of the search and rescue made national news.
Although the cell phone’s battery was weak, park officials were able to locate the signal coming from an area they had been searching for more than four days. Park Service officials told the pair to make themselves visible and signal helicopters that flew overhead.
Rescuers were still unable to locate them. Hours later, they called again. They had 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, the search was focused on a brushy area about five miles west of the Parks Highway, which connects Anchorage and Fairbanks. A park plane spotted them at 4:22 p.m. and a helicopter was sent to pick them up.
About a half hour later, they were reunited with family members at the airstrip at park headquarters. They joined family members and feasted on over-stuffed deli sandwiches.
The women slept in a tent during the day. They had no food when they were found. They melted snow at times for drinking water. They spent a couple of days hiking for up to 11 hours.
Abby is continuing to work at Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge, according to her father. She returned to work Saturday. She also plans to go camping in Denali National Park again. She will work at the lodge until mid September.
There were a lot of things they did right, Flantz said. “They had good communication and they pumped each other up.”
“It was very difficult for us to sit and wait,” Flantz recalled. “We really wanted to get closer to them.”
Abby Flantz and Erica Nelson prepare to board a rescue helicopter. The two women described their location to rescuers through cell phone contacts.
Please refer to a thank you note from the Flantz family, which is published on page five of The Gaylord Hub.
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