Snowmachiners rescued from Western Alaska tundra after being stranded for days

BETHEL – Three men set out last Sunday on snowmachines from a Southwestern Alaska tundra village near Bethel. Two ended up stranded for days on the tundra. Then the rescuers arrived.

Robert Pitka, president of Toksook Bay Search and Rescue, said he was awakened early Monday morning by a call from his sister, Stella Maxie, who also lives in the village. Her husband, Alexie Maxie, and his nephew were overdue from a trip to Nunapitchuk, a tundra village near Bethel, she told him.

Maxie said he and two others had been fishing for pike under the ice on the Johnson River. They left Sunday from Kasigluk, another tundra village, where they gassed up their two snowmachines before heading home to Nelson Island, some 90 miles across tundra, lakes and rolling hills to the edge of the Bering Sea.

"Kasigluk is their last chance for gas before their long journey toward the coast," said Wilson Twitchell, president of Kasigluk Search and Rescue.

One of the men became separated and turned back to Nunapitchuk.

But Maxie, 50, and his nephew Vincent, 32, kept going on a single sno-go. Then they ran out of gas.

Pitka called troopers Monday morning about the overdue travelers, but he said they didn't immediately authorize a search. Authorization is needed for insurance coverage and expense reimbursement.

Troopers wanted to make sure the men hadn't holed up in a house back in Nunapitchuk or Kasigluk, but that wasted valuable daylight, Pitka said.

Volunteers from Toksook Bay finally took off Monday anyway.

"We are ready to go," Pitka said. "We know these guys are from Toksook Bay. Our family members are important."

Searchers on snowmachines from Toksook Bay and nearby Nightmute began searching but had to turn back as darkness approached, he said. Others were looking from Chefornak, also on Nelson Island.

By Tuesday morning, searchers from Bethel, Kasigluk and Newtok, another village near Toksook Bay, were helping too.

A Kasigluk team picked up their snowmachine trail near the village and followed it 60 or so miles, finding items all along the way: a sled, an extra gas can, a cooler, sunglasses.

"Every find was giving us leads," Twitchell said.

The men had been missing for two days.

A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service plane that flew overhead provided vital communication between searchers and villages.

Around 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, searchers found Vincent Maxie by his stranded snowmachine between Kasigluk and Toksook Bay, on Baird Inlet. He had hunkered down in a little makeshift shelter. He was picked up by the Fish and Wildlife Service plane but was determined to be in good shape, so the pilot dropped him off with the Toksook Bay team for the trip home.

The mission wasn't over. His uncle had taken off on foot the day before.

Search groups urge those stranded in the wilderness with a rig of some kind to stay with it.

"Way more than half the time our searchers will come across a snowmachine or a vehicle used way before we find a victim," Twitchell said.

Maxie said he thought he knew the route to a little cabin and figured he would walk toward it. But the dark spot in the distance turned out to be a bush. A snowstorm kicked in. His trail was covered up. He used his hands and a stick to dig a small snow cave for shelter.

He had his backpack, a compass, a bit of dried fish to nibble on. He said he doesn't know how the sled came loose or the items fell off. He let slushy snow and ice melt in his mouth for moisture. He drank a small amount of urine, to warm up.

The search continued on. Wednesday afternoon, Nightmute searchers came across Maxie walking toward their village.

"He was thirsty, weak, cold and tired," Twitchell said. "Otherwise he was good."

Recovering at home in Toksook Bay, Maxie said he used to walk everywhere and is glad he was still able to do so. He thinks prayer, a will to survive and good teamwork by searchers got him through the ordeal.

He said he wanted to thank all those who helped.

"It was working together as one," Maxie said.

The field searchers had radios and cellphones — the Toksook team had a marine radio and 8-foot antenna — but couldn't communicate directly with each other over long distances. Kasigluk's searchers were in the field an extra day because they didn't get word that Maxie had been found, Twitchell said. The team is looking into getting a texting and tracking device that communicates by satellite to make searching safer and easier, he said.

After Maxie was found, Nightmute and Toksook Bay crews met up at a remote cabin, like they had planned in advance.

Searchers urge remote travelers to file trip plans with Alaska State Troopers. On Friday, Twitchell was working on a template.

Over three nights in the wilderness, without much food or shelter, Maxie said he never lost faith. But the close call etched in deeply.

"I don't think I will do it again," Maxie said.

On Friday, Pitka was preparing to help with another search. The village of Newtok was still looking for one of its own, Tom John, who left the village March 26 on a seal hunting trip. An extensive search that involved the U.S. Coast Guard, the Rescue Coordination Center, troopers and ground-based volunteers has yet to find John.