The Great Sled Rescue: A Three-Day Alaskan Extraction

In Part One of M-C and Vinny’s Alaska trip recap, we covered the pull of The Last Frontier: its sweeping lines, endless daylight, and the camaraderie that keeps the Renoun athletes coming back to Haines Pass and Valdez each spring. But tucked into all of those highlights was a story of tribulation and the consequences of big-mountain living.

It all started with an engine failure.

M-C and Vinny were deep in the AK backcountry, sleds loaded with gear, when one of their machines coughed, sputtered, and died. The parking lot sat 25 kilometers away, with two big climbs in between it and the couple. There was no way to tow the sled out, and no way to call for a snowcat rescue. M-C and Vinny looked around: whiteout skies, 50 km/h winds, and the faint outlines of the mountains around them.

The athletes got to work. The first step was to get the working sled back to camp, and the couple rode in together. The next morning, they returned with a crew of friends. Two functional sleds acted as anchors and pullers, lifting the dead sled uphill in short, grinding bursts. Think mountain rescue, but for a 500+ pound machine.

Using anchors, ropes, and a makeshift lever system, the crew managed about 300 vertical meters of progress before calling it for the day.

The next day, it was back to just M-C and Vinny. With only one working sled for pulling and one as a stationary anchor, they got creative. Using mechanical advantage systems, like 3:1, 4:1, even 5:1 pulley setups improvised from climbing gear, they inched the machine up the second major climb. Every 40 meters, they had to stop, reset, and do it all over again.

It was slow, freezing, physical work. “We were just in the zone,” M-C recalls. “The wind was howling, visibility was almost nothing, but we were focused on the next pull, then the next one.”

The long day in the backcountry had folks back at camp starting to worry. Two separate search parties tried to come find them, with one party eventually getting lost in whiteout conditions before turning back. Finally, at around 7:30 p.m., another crew reached M-C and Vinny just as they crested the final climb.

With the sled at the top of the final hill, all that remained was a long, low-angle downhill back to camp. M-C and Vinny towed it the final 10 kilometers in just over an hour, rolling into camp tired but grinning with a successful mission.

While the rescue mission proved successful, the feat of endurance was a crash course in preparation and what to carry for remote missions. A longer rope without knots, more pulleys, and extra slings have found their way permanently on M-C and Vinny’s packing lists. “We learned so much,” says Vince. “Next time, we’ll be faster, more efficient, and maybe avoid blowing an engine in the first place.”

When touring in remote locations, self-reliance is a must. For M-C and Vinny, the sled saga was a reminder that as grand as the mountain highs can get, the lows can prove to be dangerous and high-consequence–for both their party and those who assisted in the sled recovery. With enough preparation, though, those curveballs can turn into the best stories of the season.

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