Guardians Of The Glenn: Sutton EMTs Pull 79-Year-Old Woman On Sled Out Of Steep Ravine

THE DANGEROUS DRIVE HOME 

Alaska Media Ignores Daring Efforts Of Sutton And Palmer Rescuers & Ongoing Glenn Highway Dangers 

79-Year-Old Woman Pulled By Rope & Sled From 150 Feet Down The Ravine At Mile 92 

People who live in the Copper Valley are always nervous about driving the Glenn Highway. Rocks crash into the road. There are ravines to the side that hurtle straight down. There are often no guardrails or places to pull off. 

And there are stories that go way back – of grandmas, trucks, moms with little kids – hurtling over the edge of the highway, hundreds of feet down toward the distant, lonely, inaccessible Matanuska River canyon.

On December 28th, 2024, it happened again. Details about the incident have been scant – especially when compared to the details that were typically given to the public in the past, when similar accidents occurred, including a well-publicized similar crash in the early winter of 2005, involving a Glennallen family, the Brendens. 

For many years, Copper Valley people have been concerned with conditions on the isolated, dangerous highway. But by noon on January 2nd, 2025, the recent incident had still not been reported extensively anywhere in the state outside the Copper Valley – including in the Anchorage Daily News, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, KTUU TV, Alaska Public Media or the Alaska Beacon. 

In the days after the crash, information is slowly trickling in to the Country Journal from the Troopers. 

Initially, the Troopers said on December 29th in a regular written Trooper report on the web that the Wasilla dispatch center, MATCOM, received a report at 10:46 am, of a red Ford Escape tumbling off the cliff near Mile 92 of the Glenn. 

Sutton Fire & Rescue Website 

 Troopers and EMS personnel found the vehicle around 150 feet down the cliff. They said, "the occupants sustained no injuries and were assisted back up the embankment."

The Trooper report also said the Glenn was closed for around 2 hours while the crews worked, and that "icy road conditions" contributed to the crash.

On December 30th, in response to questions from the Copper River Country Journal, Timothy DeSpain, Alaska Department of Public Safety Information Officer, added more information.

He wrote the Journal that there were two people in the Ford; that it was headed to Glennallen; that a witness in another vehicle called 911, and that a Trooper responded from Palmer.

On January 2nd, Timothy DeSpain sent the Journal a bit more insight in an email in response to Journal queries.  

He wrote that there were no guardrails on that section of road. He also wrote it was not a "new" section of highway.

He said the EMTs involved responded from Palmer and Sutton. He said the Trooper was from Palmer.

The names of the two people in the car have not been released – which is apparently common nowadays. Troopers say the passenger was a 79-year-old woman, and the driver was a 23-year-old man. 

Asked by the Journal how they were rescued, DeSpain said that Mat-Su area rescuers pulled the woman up by hill on a sled, using a rope. They evacuated the man on a snow machine. 

The two refused medical treatment, Troopers said.