A rescue crew is on the ground at Bear Glacier in the Harding Ice Fields, near Seward. They’re looking for two hikers who were stranded over the weekend.
36-year-old Jennifer Neyman, of Wrangell and 45-year-old Christopher Hanna of Soldotna were reported stranded on the Glacier in Kenai Fjords National Park Saturday afternoon, according to an Alaska State Trooper dispatch.
Staff Sergeant Edward Eagerton, a spokesperson for the Alaska Rescue Coordination Center at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, says crews have been hampered by bad weather and difficult terrain. But he says they had a breakthrough late Monday when a helicopter was able to drop a rescue crew on top of the glacier.
“The helicopter crew was able to insert a team of pararescuemen onto the glacier north of the individual’s location and their currently making their way south but they’re battling snow and high winds up to 30 knots while traversing the terrain, so it’s pretty slow moving. And currently air crews are still unable to get to their location directly,” said Eagerton.
Neyman and Hanna had been dropped off by airplane for a day hike on Friday and were supposed to get picked up that evening. The weather changed and the pilot was not able to pick them up, according to the Trooper dispatch.
Eagerton says the RCC took the lead on the rescue from Troopers on Sunday and they were able to get a flight out to the glacier Monday. Eagerton says Neyman and Hanna had been communicating through an inReach satellite locator beacon.
“The coordinates that they provided through their inReach beacon put them at approximately 4,300 feet in elevation on the Bear Glacier in the Harding Ice Field. They had communicated that their tent had failed, they were running low on supplies, the weather was getting worse and so they ended up having to dig in and make a snow cave for shelter,” said Eagerton.
Neyman is a well-known journalist on the Kenai Peninsula where she is the owner and editor of the Redoubt Reporter. Neyman has also worked for KDLL public radio and the Peninsula Clarion newspaper in Kenai.
