“I can get home, but I can’t get home with my dogs. And I won’t leave them.”
Thomas Waerner achieved the pinnacle in sled dog racing, winning the 2020 Iditarod race in Alaska. But while he was competing in the two-week-long race, something was happening around the world.
Alaska reported its first Covid case on March 13, and by the time the race finished five days later, the world had changed.
And because of flight cancellations, especially of cargo planes, and newly tightened rules on international travel, Waerner and his 16 sled dogs couldn’t get home to Norway.
After more than two months stranded in Alaska, Waerner concocted a seemingly preposterous scheme. He had learned of a 1960s-era Douglas DC-6B plane in Alaska that an aviation museum in Norway hoped to acquire but didn’t have the money to transport. By offering to chip in, he and his dogs were able to hitch a ride.
After a 20-hour flight, they landed safely in Sola, Norway, on June 3. Waerner, a licensed pilot, even took the controls for an hour over Greenland. The cabin was unpressurized. “It was really loud,” Waerner said. “And it was pretty cold in the plane.” But the dogs were fine. “As soon as you put them in the box, they fall asleep.”
“Flying nerds and dog nerds — they were actually coming together during this trip, following the plane,” he said. “It was really great fun.”
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