A successful rescue

The French musher Gerrard Gaspard gained contact with Finnmarkslopet through his handlers to report he wanted to cancel the race and get picked up. According to the GPS tracking, Gaspard was east of the Joatka mountain lodge at the time, and about halfway to the checkpoint in Skoganvarre.

After the message came in that Gaspard wished to cancel, Finnmarkslopet and the operation central decided that the safest course of action was to rescue the musher straight away because of his unknown condition.

-Normally we keep to the rule that we do not go out on a rescue until the musher has been missing for 24 hours. However, we considered this situation so serious that we chose to send in the rescue team. Three snowmobiles drove up from Joatka and three from Skoganvarre. The police led the rescue and had two snowmobiles in the rescue team. The nature preserving law enforcement also helped with two snowmobiles, explains head of race Rita Hallvig.

The musher was found in good condition by the tracks, and eventually chose to drive the sled to Skoganvarre himself. One of his dogs had gotten free from of the lead and lost the team, but was found later on by the crew driving the tracks.

-We are happy to see that the rescue team works well when it is necessary. We are also happy that the missing dog was found quickly, explains head of race Rita Hallvig.

Because of the storm and low visibility in the tracks, many of the teams in FL-1000 chose to take a break beside the tracks last night. They entered checkpoint Skoganvarre on Sunday morning.