Accident

[aren]

I have sendt a mail to Jen Freking with the following text:

I was so sorry to hear about the accident where your dog team was struck by a snowmachine on the Yukon. This is indeed a terrible tragedy and it should not have happened as any snowmachine driver on the Yukon should know the Iditarod was on with a lot of dog teams along the trail.

You have my deepest and most heartfelt sympathy for your loss of one true companion and the injury of another. I do hope Aries will recover and that you and your husband will come out even stronger from this most regretful event.

I will be cheering for your teams all the way to Nome. Take good care of yourselves and your fantastic dogs.

Hopefully sympathy from others may help to lessen the pain they must be feeling after this tragedy.

[tanglefoot]

well done you two! lorne wouldnt have wanted her foks to scratch!

[klmobile]

What a tragedy!
I’m glad they are able to keep going after such a terrible experience.
Thanks Di for keep up with this story!
I so enjoyed their story from the beginning of the race!
What a Dream to run the Iditarod with your spouse
Lets hope they can get to Nome together

[Deerskin and Anja]

....a tribute....

[Quadsquad]

I have one question about the accident...."was alcohol involved?" Some people are just that stupid naturally, but a lot more can get themselves that way real easily. It's a shame the Alaska authorities weren't immediately available, because by the time they start an actual investigation, there won't be any solid evidence of anything. Just horrible and totally unnecessary.

[deafcat]

Well, I guess that's a question for the State Troopers if they ever arrest someone. I do hope this spurs some action to control traffic on the Trail, but such a move could just add more traffic (in the way of officers and such), spoiling the remote feeling of the adventure. An event like this is just a lose-lose situation all around. I know it sounds evil of me, but I hope the snow machine is badly damaged, and I hope the rider is really having an emotional crisis over this.

[mamamia]

Me too!

[Skip95]

I was thinking the same thing, that alcohol (on the part of the snowmobiler) was probably involved. Just seems too reckless for someone to be out at night going that fast, especially during the Iditarod on that very trail...even a stupid reckless person who give pause and re-consider...unless alcohol was involved. We don't know the details, and I'll give pause to demonizing the snowmobiler before I know all the details, but at first blush, I'm madder than heck about this, and deeply saddened. What happened to the snowmobiler, is he/she okay? Reminds me of a tragedy we had at Eielson AFB in the winter of '97 I believe...some pilots and a group of folks were snowmobiling along the pipeline...there were even some medical folks with them...one of the A-10 pilots hit the pipeline at about 40 mph (sound familiar?)...and despite the efforts of the med folks with them, he passed away...was a very sad deal, and he was a good guy, but made a terrible mistake and...as it turned out, the accident investigation revealed that alcohol played a part...so, even a really good guy, who was a very experienced snowmobiler, can make a terrible mistake that ends in tragedy (and that happened in daylight, relatively speaking in Alaska terms)...so, I am trying real hard to remember that tragedy can happen for a variety of reasons....in the end, I hope Jen and Blake and the dogs AND the snowmobiler are all okay. So sad about the lost dog, but very grateful that it wasn't worse. Also hoping that perhaps some better safety measures result from this to help ensure this never happens again.

E

[deafcat]

That's a very sad story. I'm so sorry that you lost someone that you felt was "a good guy". None of us could ask for more than to be remembered that way.

[Skip95]

Amen deafcat. Amen. So glad we don't have to say that about Jen and Blake, they are okay and remarkably most of their dogs are too. So, that's a huge blessing.