Iditarod Airforce finds missing musher safe, far off trail

Staff and wire reports

Published: March 8, 2007
Last Modified: March 8, 2007 at 06:52 PM

A pilot with the volunteer Iditarod Airforce located a missing Iditarod musher about 18 miles from the Rohn checkpoint at the foot of the Alaska Range Thursday afternoon, ending a search by aircraft and snowmachines.

Deborah Bicknell, a 61 year-old rookie musher from Auke Bay, had been running in last place much of the race. Fears mounted Thursday because Bicknell left the Rainy Pass checkpoint at 9:12 a.m. Wednesday and was not heard from again.

The next checkpoint of Rohn is 48 miles away, and that portion of the trail has been beseiged with high winds, blowing snow and subzero temperatures. Mushers normally make that trip in no more than nine hours.

It was unclear exactly where Bicknell lost the trail, but she ended up heading through Ptarmigan Pass instead of the Dalzell Gorge. Snowmachines were heading out to meet her and guide her back to the trail.

Several mushers leaving Rainy Pass before Bicknell found visibility so poor they turned around and returned to the checkpoint at high in the Alaska Range until conditions improved.

The checkpoint at Rainy Pass Lodge sits at 1,835 feet. From there the trail climbs to 3,160 feet before making a steep descent down the Dalzell Gorge to the Rohn checkpoint.

Stan Hooley, executive director of the Iditarod Trail Committee, said a search was launched about noon Thursday involving at least four snowmachines and two planes with the volunteer group known as the Iditarod Air Force.

Snowmachiners called trail sweeps, who follow the final mushers down the trail, arrived in Rohn without spotting Bicknell, which launched the search, Hooley said.

The musher one spot ahead of Bicknell in the standings is Kelly Williams, the partner of five-time Iditarod champion Rick Swenson. Williams, running a team of the couple's young dogs, checked into Rohn at 12:54 p.m. Wednesday. Williams made the run from Rainy Pass to Rohn in about nine hours.

Bicknell was born in New Hampshire began mushing in 1956, according to her biography on the Iditarod Web site. Her early mushing experience was in sprint mushing, and she won the World Champion Sled Dog Derby in 1979 and 1980.

She moved to Alaska in 1981. In 2000, she began thinking about running the Iditarod and began racing in distance races in Alaska and Canada. She is married to Sandy Bicknell. Since coming to Alaska, Deborah has been in the business of making boat canvas and re-upholstery.

Her mother, Cindy Molburg, is the former publisher of Team and Trail magazine aimed at dog mushers.

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