February 2006 Latest news
A big thank you for the many emails I am getting
from people expressing their admiration for Rosie's courage and sending
their best wishes to her.
28/2/6 I have just had a long chat with Rosie, she
told me the whole story of how the frostbite developed. She feels
very stupid for letting it happen, On the 21st The Temperature had
got up to a balmy -20 degrees and she knew her foot was getting cold and
that she should have stopped but carried on so as to get as much
distance as possible traveled before the blizzard that was coming
descended.
The next morning there was a huge blister on her
toe which was greatly swollen, it took her over and hour to get her boot
on it was so painful, she hobbled on for two more days like this.
on the 24th she came across the Serum Sled Run , and got advice
about her frostbite. They were very kind and offered her dressings and
advice, she could not show anyone her toes, as it was too cold to
take her foot out.
The Serum Run sleds had left a great track and as
Rosie made camp she was hopping to be able to travel on a good broken
track. however there were heavy blizzards continuously and the
next morning everything was covered under huge blankets of snow.
Her foot by now had become even more swollen and pain. and she was
unable to but her boot on.
With much discussion between Bob Collins and
others it was released that she could be in serious danger of losing her
foot. and she was unable to move anywhere. Rosie activated
her emergency beacon and the National Guard came to rescue her.
Rosie would like to thank them all very much the National Guard
helicopter crew members Steven, John, Mario, and Michael who picked her
up in very dangerous weather conditions
She is planning to continue her journey at the
early possible opportunity, taking all necessary precautions
At the moment she is staying briefly at the Red
Roof Inn as she needs to be near the hospital and to sort out paperwork
matters. She will be meeting Bob Collins who has been so vital to
her run to plan the rest of her journey. I will have more details
about her plans latter.
As more news comes I will aim to have it up on the
website as soon a possible, Due to the fluid nature of things if there
is any minor inaccuracy is misspelling of names or anything please let
me know.
In the meantime here hare some great photo I have
recently been sent by Joyce Metsa who invited Rosie to stay with her
when she arrived at Nulato a few weeks ago.
1 
2 
3
4 
5 
6
7 
8
9
10 
11 
12
1 Our Lady of the Snows Catholic Church
Catholic Church which welcomed Rosie to Nulato and provided shelter for
her sled. 2, Rosie with Brother Bob (modeling her Brother
Bob haircut). 3,Rosie in her tent-sled. 4, The caribou hide given to her
by William Ambrose. 5, her view of the caribou hide. 6,Rosie's borrowed
boots. 7, Rosie stays warm with multiple hides. 8,Dinner with William
Ambrose (moose ribs). 9, Dean P. pulled Rosie's sled for her. 10, Rosie
and her friends from Nulato. 11, Students, Leslie and William Ambrose
say goodbye to Rosie. 12, Rosie leaving town. Yukon River in the
background. William Ambrose sees her off.
A big thank you to you Joyce and all
those at Nulato
Also back in England I would like to thank two
very good friends of Rosie who helped me get my computer sorted out,
Michael Rowland and Ann Rowell, Both are working very hard help Rosie
from over here and are wonderful people.
regards James.
28/2/6 Hi everyone, apologies for the delay in
getting news up I think the site became flooded with hits and went down,
all seems to be working well. I have emailed as many people as I
could, so many of you will know this already, here is a rundown of the
rather dramatic new these last few days.
Rosie has been airlifted out on the 25th by
National Guard helicopter under the leadership of Major Mike
Haller, this was a big operation involving aerial refueling of the
helicopter on route. and the weather condition were difficult.
A very big thank you to Major Mike Haller and the helicopter crews for
rescuing Mom.
The reason Rosie called for help was that her foot
had swollen so much due to the frostbite that she was unable to
get her boot on, it very quickly turned into a life threatening
situation. The National Guard came in the nick of time and she was
rushed to Providence Hospital where she received excellent treatment by
the doctors there. Her foot is bad but could have been much worse,
as I understand. It looks like her big toe those very badly
swollen and it take a bit of time to ascertain how bad the damage is,
she will lose the end of her second toe unfortunately and her big toe is
uncirtain. I have not really had the chance to have a proper chat
with her, but from voice messages she sounding well and very thankful to
everyone for there help. She particularly mentioned Bob Collins
who was vital in organizing her rescue and has been so kind and helpful.
She said she is determined to continue her run from where she was pick
up from as soon as she is healed. I hope to have more news soon.
This is a link to a very good article written
about Rosie's rescue, please take a look.
This is an one of several emails I received for Major Mike Haller
from the National Guard
James
Hello. I am Major Mike Haller, public affairs officer for the Alaska Air
National Guard at Camp Denali, Alaska. Our forces are enroute to rescue
your
mother at this moment in time (4:15pm local Alaska time). They launched
from
Kulis Air National Guard Base, in Anchorage, at 3:30 pm, after being
recalled
earlier.
We expect that they will arrive on-scene at her location within the next
75 to
90 minutes. An HH-60G Pavehawk helicopter with at least two
pararescuemen
aboard are responding to her distress signal. An HC-130N Hercules Rescue
Tanker
is providing aerial refueling for the helicopter enroute.
After your mum is rescued, we expect (weather dependent) that they will
likely
proceed to Galena and do a transload to the HC-130 for further transport
back
to Anchorage and hospital.
The details of how this will play out will emerge within the next two to
three
hours. Much of the issues are not uncertainty by the crews, rather they
are
concerns for severe weather conditions in the area that your mum has
been
traveling through. The possibility of taking her to Fairbanks, though it
is
actually closer, is not very good because of the weather.
We will keep you posted with updates. I will also provide you with a
copy of
the press release we're about to send out as well.
Our best to you. Your mum will be in the very best hands possible as
quickly as
our PJs can reach her. I assure you that they've put the 'peddle to the
metal'.
Very best regards
Mike
MICHAEL L. HALLER
Major, AKNG
Chief, JFHQ-AK Public Affairs
& Strategic Communications
State of Alaska
Department of Military & Veterans Affairs
Office of Public Affairs
P.O. Box 5800, Camp Denali
Fort Richardson, Alaska 99505-5800
(907) 428-6031 Fax 428-6949
Defending the Homeland
[ http://www.ak-prepared.com/dmva ]www.ak-prepared.com/dmva
UPDATE
As of 8:30pm (Alaska Time)
For Immediate Release 25 February 2006
Alaska Air Guard Rescues Rosie Swale-Pope
Ardent British explorer rescued from camp on Henry Island; suffering
with
frostbite
CAMP DENALI, Alaska - An Alaska Air National Guard HH-60G Pavehawk
helicopter
crew and pararescuemen rescued Rosie Swale-Pope, an ardent British
explorer
expeditioner, amidst a severe Arctic storm Sunday evening. According to
Major
Mike Haller, spokesman for the Guard, "Our search team found Rosie
hunkered
into her shelter on Henry Island a little past 7pm. She was in good
spirits and
to say the least, glad to have some company."
Henry Island about 40 northeast of Ruby, on the Yukon River. She was
enroute to
Tanana but severe weather conditions - even by Alaskan
standards..."caused her
to have to hunker down and stay put, apparently, for the past several
days,"
Haller said.
The Alaska Rescue Coordination Center, at Camp Denali near Anchorage,
directed
the successful search for the well-known British explorer when the
Alaska State
Troopers asked for assistance in the matter. The Troopers and the Alaska
National Guard routinely assist and support one another in similar
activities
across the State according to Haller.
"Ms. Pope, as many people are aware, began a mission to navigate the
world,
mostly afoot, to raise funds and attention, on behalf of several
charitable
organizations dealing with both cancer and orphans," said Haller.
According to Haller, she reported in Saturday that she'd gotten a case
of
frostbite on a least one foot, but had wrapped her feet in "fur and dry
bags
with native mukluk boots" and expressed her determination to proceed on
to
Tanana. Haller noted that she hasn't made it out of her campsite.
"We launched an HH-60G Pavehawk helicopter, with our 210th Rescue
Squadron, an
HC-130N Hercules Rescue Tanker from our 211th Rescue Squadron and
pararescuemen
from our 212th Rescue Squadron at 3:30pm local Alaska Time Sunday," he
said.
The units are part of the 176th Wing at Kulis Air National Guard Base,
adjacent
to Stevens International Airport in Anchorage.
"From what we've heard from our crews, via radio communications, the
weather
conditions have absolutely been challenging throughout the search and
rescue
mission. The blizzard conditions did not help in the efforts.
Fortunately,
Rosie had some communications capabilities with her that allowed for a
pinpoint
accurate pickup," Haller said.
Severe weather remained a factor in the Interior. According to Haller,
as of
8:30 pm Sunday, the plan was to fly both aircraft to Galena and
transload Ms.
Swale-Pope aboard the Rescue Tanker for further flight to a hospital in
Anchorage.
Earlier this weekend, two of the Alaska Air National Guard's Rescue
Squadrons
performed a successful mission, at the request of Alaska State Troopers,
when
they located and transported an injured snowmobiler in the Caribou Hills
area,
on the Kenai Peninsula approximately 180 miles south of Anchorage.
According to officials with the Alaska Rescue Coordination Center, at
Camp
Denali, the mission opened in response to a request for assistance from
the
Alaska State Troopers to recover a snowmobiler suffering from a possible
back.
The 210th and 212th Rescue Squadrons were tasked and responded with an
HH-60G
Pavehawk helicopter and two pararescuemen (PJs) aboard. The snowmobiler,
a man
in his early 20's, was taken to Alaska Regional Hospital in Anchorage.
One
'Save' was awarded to the Rescue Squadrons.
This was the 20th mission of the calendar year, according to officials.
The RCC
directed more than 230 missions in 2005.
Editors & Reporters -
Rosie's reason for doing this world run.
The following information is provided from Ms. Swale-Pope's website
www.rosiearoundtheworld.co.uk
concerning her expedition:
On 2nd October 2003 my 57th birthday, I'm going to set off to run around
the
world. Making my dream come true and practical necessity, go together. I
shall
be solo, self supporting and on a very low budget. I couldnąt afford
back up
teams, luxury, or flights to different continent and stages across wide
oceans.
My dearest wish anyway, is just to do a complete circle of the earth,
planned
to keep me on as much land mass as possible, This is also the coldest,
hardest,
most fascinating way, and includes almost 7,000 miles of Russia and
Siberia. I
shall go across Europe through Holland, Germany, Poland and Moscow,
before
hitting the Trans Siberian Railway route. Then go on to the Bering
Straits,
Alaska, America, Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Ireland, Scotland and
England,
before returning to the start and finishing line at Tenby, my home in
Wales.
Itwill be my world voyage on two feet. Many
years ago I sailed to Australia and back around Cape Horn with my young
family in a catamaran, and later solo across the Atlantic in a 17ft
boat. The magic of sailing, is that the vivid images of trees mountains,
villages, town, faces; people you love as well as those you only imagine
come to mind when you
are quite alone at sea. It has led me to longing to explore the land as
well.
So the legs that come free from God, have taken the place of hulls as a
way of
passage making!
Running can take you to places that do not exist if
you travel in any other
way. Maybe even more than walking, because you can get so exhausted,
almost
fail so every often, and are vulnerable and shaky. Sometimes when you
are
weakest, you can feel things the most strongly. This is when those you
meet in
the midst of their own difficult lives and situations, are not fearful
of you.
You treading gently through someone else's land; Part of the life going
on all
around you. Part of the people, places, sunrises, storms, terrors and
joys;
seeing, feeling, laughing, crying, in happiness or despair.
The death of my husband Clive from prostate cancer
last year, taught me more
than anything about how precious life is; How short it can be, that you
HAVE to
grab life, do what you can while you can, and try to give something
back.~I'll
be trying to raise awareness of the following very special small
charities - to
represent the world: - The Prostate Cancer Charity, The Siberian Railway
Cancer
Hospital at Omsk. The Kitezh Community for Orphan Children Orphanage,
the hope
of the future of European Russia through its children.~ The Nepal Trust
that
achieves so much with almost no money, in the Hidden Himalayas.
I am extremely grateful for the generosity of my family and friends,
without
their help and faith I could not succeed. Regards, Rosie.
24/2/06I have just received this message worrying message from Rosie,
I hope she is alright. I know she is in close contact with Bob and
has a 2way local radio. I trust her when she says it is not too
bad, but don't like the idea of her getting any frostbite. I shall
keep everyone updated the moment I know more.
This is the message I received from her this
morning
FROSTBITE IN BIG TOE, BUT NOT 2 BAD. FEET WRAPPED IN FUR AND DRY BAGS
WITHIN NATIVE MUKLUK BOOTS. DETERMINED 2 GET 2 TANANA
There has been terrible weather lately, blizzard
and what not. This from Bob a few days ago Hello James: Here is
another GPS fix to chart Rosie's progress as of 6AM 21 Feb: N 64 55 25 W
154 43 73 (Deep snow, no traffic, no trail, poor visibility but she
reports she is fine) Bob
What follows is an email from Freda Beasley who Rosie met in Galena a
few weeks ago. Freda, and her friends looked after Rosie very
kindly. And sent me some wonderful photos just before my computer
broke down. I have a new computer now and have all my data and
photos back and able to be used. This will explain why Rosie
has dedicated this stage of her run to the Memory of Richard Strick.
Hello James: I was reading the website for Rosie and see that she is
making the run to Fairbanks in memory of Richard Strick. He is a dear
friend of my husband and I. He perished in an avalanche in the Alaska
Range on February 14th and search efforts are being conducted as of
yesterday. His long-time partner, Judy Vanderpool, is my best friend and
we grew up together in Anvik, AK. I flew to McGrath, Alaska to be with
her for about four days. We hope that they find Richard and bring him
home. Please, along with your friends and family, put out a prayer plea
for him to be found. My dear friend is so grief stricken. She is up in
the mountain with him waiting at a shelter cabin and there are about
25-30 men searching for him.
Give my best to Rosie and hope that all is well with her. We wish her
well.
Freda Beasley
Galena, Alaska
These are the wonderful photos she sent though to me and her
accompanying email. I am very grateful to Freda.
Hi James: I am Freda Beasley and I first saw your Mum in the dike here
in Galena. I immediately recognized her as being Rosie pulling her
tent/sled and hollered at her to come to the road. She did and I
introduced myself to her. I encouraged her to let me put her gear in the
back of my truck and took her to the school where she was able to eat
some food in my classroom as it was being used as a hospitality room for
our basketball tournament.
I enjoyed meeting your Mum and certainly have a great admiration for her
walking/running around the world. I would love to be in touch with you
and her.
Here are a few pictures of her and I and Bob. Bob is the father of the
woman, owner of the B&B, who donated a night free for Rosie to stay
there.
Take care
Freda Beasley
21/2/6 Hi everyone,
it has been a lot of things happening this last week, sad news, of
the death of a brave man called Richard Strick, that Rosie mentions in
her message who was killed while marking out the Iron Dog Race.
And also that the school at White Mountain has burned down due to an
electrical fault. The children at White mountain were so warm and
kind to Rosie, it is a terrible thing to happen, I think I speak on
behalf of everyone, in offering my deepest sympathy to to the friends
and family of Richard and all those affected by the fire at White
mountain.
Weather conditions have once again proved tricky
as you will hear, Rosie has had problems with unstable snow in the past.
It is very exhausting to travel across, sometimes she was only
able to make a few miles a day if that, after disappearing into deep
snow drifts. This is a recent update I just received from Bob who
is monitoring Rosie's progress.
Hello James, I thought you might like some recent GPS coordinates in
order to track
Rosie's progress. 14 Feb 05: N 64 42 63 W 156 00 66 (windy); 19 Feb 05:
N 64 50 58
W 155 12 30 (slow due to white out); 20 Feb 05: N 64 52 85 W 154 157 04
(Ice
overflow, deep snow). Rosie is about 20 miles east of Ruby. She
continues to amaze
everyone with her ability to travel in extreme weather. All the best,
Bob
I have been a little frustrated by some computer trouble, sorry for
going on about it, Both email accounts are ok but the address book
is out of action for my non goldfish account so just for the
moment all notifications will come from my goldfish account. I
have some wonderful new photos of Rosie that I can't wait to put up on
the website as soon as I sort my tec probs out, I am in the
process of buying a new computer so hopefully it should all be
sorted out soon.
Here is a new message from Rosie I received typed up on the 18th of Feb,
cheers sis'.
Dear All, first of all two messages of sympathy.
Tragically a brave man called Richard Strick,
has been killed whilst marking
the route for the Iron Dog Race. The next stage
of the run, to Fairbanks, is in honor of him.
Secondly, the school at White Mountain has been
burned down. It was probably an electrical fault
but the loss will be felt by the entire
community.
My thoughts are with Richard's family and also
with the people of White Mountain.
The run is getting very dangerous now. The
temperatures are fluctuating between minus sixty at
night to between minus 20 and plus 30 degrees
during the day. I am still using all my cold weather
equipment which has and continues to keep me so
safe. However, I am now having to wear my snow
shoes the whole time as the ice can become
deceptively thin. Yesterday I fell through the ice and
was held up by the harness. The snow is very
different and unpredictable with these wide
temperature variations. Priorities are keeping the Sat
Phone and Radio safe.
Even the Iron Dog Race has seen an unprecedented
number of teams dropping out because of the
unseasonable weather.
I am taking it very slowly and carefully to the
next village, Tanana, hoping to arrive in 9 or 10
days.
Take care Love Rosie
13/2/06 Hi everyone, I have received news
from Rosie, she has left Galena two days ago, she has a wonderful visit
and met with Sister Madeline and several others from the village,
the main news is that she is adjusting her route. She will
be going to Fairbanks rather than Anchorage. This will keep her on the
Yukon River, which is more or less the equivalent of a road this time of
year. Bob Collins estimates this will get her to a road system much
sooner. In addition, she will be following the historic Sled Dog Serum
Run trail. That Serum run is the historic basis for the Iditarod Sled
Dog race. Big thanks to Bob who has been in close contact with
Rosie, receiving daily GPS fixes for safety reasons.
Rosie's route adjustment.
From Rosie: Hello Eve, Pete and Mikie
I am in Galena and I am going to Ruby. I have changed my mind, I am
not going to Anchorage. My route is going to be Fairbanks, Whitehorse.
All in the interests of getting home to see you sooner as a direct run.
It was great to see Stephen Seaton, Runners World editor, in Nulato.
Very very nice to see him. I feel very privileged that he took all
the trouble to come out to see me. It is warm today, amazing and
lovely.
I am all packed up with dried fish and all the native foods. Please
thank everyone on the website for all there their help and support.
I am a member now of the minus sixty club now because all the old timers
had to go out in minus sixty to hunt and trap for food. So I am a
member of their club and they have been giving me lots of good advice
such as putting grass down your boots for insulation and all types of
things like that.
So now I am going to wag my tail and get going. Now it is a
different sort of run. I am going to get up the Yukon River and go go
go. It becomes more like a race now, I need to get back in three years
or three and a bit and no longer.
Lots of love and hugs to all the family.
Mum
N64 40.21. W156 20.41. RACING 4 HOME - LONG WAY BUT FEEL I'VE
TURNED CORNER O WORLD AT LAST. LOVE U. MUMX.
8/2/6 Hi everyone, I have started to
update the look of the website, is anyone finds any problem or has any
suggestions please drop me an email, apologies for slight delay in
posting this, it is from a few days ago a transcribed message from
Rosie. I had a wonderful chat with Mom and in Nulato and also
Joyce who looked after mom so kindly. Rosie is meeting such lovely
people I am so grateful to everyone. Hi Joyce, having a little trouble
getting past you Spam guard. Regards James
6/2/6 From Rosie transcribed from voice
message:
Had a fantastic welcome here in Nulato .
Brother Bob, a Franciscan Friar actually hauled the sled inside the
church, it dripped snow all over the carpet and it is still there.
He also gave me a wonderful interesting haircut!
Steven Seaton, the editor of Runner's World came out to see me.
And it was lovely to see him.
I am staying with a wonderful woman called Joyce and her Welsh Corgi
dog called Teeb !) (apologies from Eve if spelling wrong) although
he also has a longer name. The whole community have been so kind to
me and I have learned a lot. I have survived the temperatures of
minus 60 degrees.
Please tell everyone on the web that I am thinking of them and
grateful for the support. Joyce is going to send some photos and
information about Nulato for the web to Jimmy.
It is so nice to be in a village. It is so wonderful to see a
building, a village coming into view after walking alone for days
and days in the cold. The feeling is unbelievable. It is akin seeing
a port after days at sea but more so because at these temperatures
nothing moves at all. Not a bird, not an animal, there are no
people. Everything is so still. There is a more profound aloneness
on land than there is at sea.
Not even the people who do travel in the winter, who can use their
snow mobiles on terrains that are not possible to traverse in the
summer when it is all swamps and water.
It was a magical experience arriving here.
I will be packing up in the morning and moving on down the mighty
Yukon River.
Lots of love and a big hug for Mikie.
