When the Blackhawk helicopter from Alaska's Air National Guard set down on Eagle Summit Monday afternoon, it was within 15 metres of one of the lost Yukon Quest mushers.

'It was blowing so hard the person we landed within 50 feet of did not even hear the helicopter,' Lt. Col. David Looney recalls Tuesday in an interview with Whitehorse radio station CKRW. 'That is amazing, because we are very loud.

'We made five trips, carrying people out. We ended up carrying out six mushers and seven teams, a total of 88 dogs.'

Six mushers became lost on Eagle Summit last Sunday night in horrid weather conditions after departing earlier in the day from the Mile 101 dog drop.

Their failure to arrive at the Central, Alaska checkpoint on the other side of the summit sparked concern and hastened a search effort by snow machine.

But initial efforts Monday were made futile by the continuing nasty conditions, prompting race officials to seek the assistance of the State Troopers who contacted the National Guard.

Three-time Quest champion Hans Gatt of Atlin, B.C., had warned that conditions were so bad, somebody could die.

On the first rescue lift, says flight commander Looney, the HH-60 Pavehawk search and rescue chopper similar to the Blackhawk chopper picked up the one Yukon Quest musher and her 12 dogs.

'We thought that was a lot,' says Looney. 'Then we had 17. Then we had 24, and the last trip we had 25, plus three people in beside (himself and two other crew members remaining on board.)

'It was very crowded and while they shovelled the dogs in they had to close the main cabin door to keep the dogs, you know, just to make sure they did not get out, though they were fairly calm.'

With the main doors closed to keep the dogs from squeezing out, the crew began passing the dogs through the gunner's window.

One dog, Looney remembers, turned left as he came through instead of right toward the main body of the helicopter, and ended up coming over the rear console.

'I noticed over my shoulder that a furry friend was coming across the console,' the flight commander tells radio reporter Ron McFadyen.

'We had to keep him from entering the cockpit. He ended up laying across the top of the console. At least, his head was across the console, and I was able to reach back and give him some calming attention. I scrubbed his ears, and he settled down and stayed that way for the rest of the trip.'

The flight commander said the crew was notified upon arriving in Fairbanks from Anchorage for a week-long training stint at Eilson Air Force Base that they were needed to perform a search and rescue mission on Eagle Summit.

The Hercules HC-130 heavy lift aircraft with air-to-air refueling capabilities, the aircraft that transported them to Fairbanks, was also dispatched to assist in the mission.

After landing and picking up a Quest official at Mile 101, a Yukon Quest dog drop located at the foot of Eagle Summit, the helicopter followed the trail at tree-top level, but was unable to make it up to the summit because of weather conditions.

Changing tactics and deciding to approach from the north, the Pavehawk was notified by the Hercules circling overhead that it had spotted mushers, and then directed the chopper crew to the specific area.

Maj. Mike Haller of the National Guard's public affairs department was not on aboard, but has since gone over the rescue in detail with the crew.

In an interview from Eilson this morning, Haller says the chopper set down and then two pararescue experts onboard climbed out and made their way toward a dog sled they could see.

It was while they were walking toward the sled that one of the pararescue officers noticed a snoot sticking out of the snow, he says

'And suddenly they felt that uncomfortable squishyness that one can imagine, and they said, My God, we are walking on dogs.''

Haller says they went to the sled and found Yuka Honda inside the basket all bundled up. She hadn't even heard the helicopter land because of the howling 75- to 80-kilometre winds, and it's a loud chopper, Hallard notes, explaining the fiercness of the weather that was gripping the summit.

Honda did not know where the other mushers were, but suspects they were close, as they were all travelling close together last Sunday night under what have been described as treacherous conditions.

She felt it was likely that the other mushers would have also decided to stop and take refuge about the same time she did because of the harshness of the conditions, Haller says.

Though they were all in a one-kilometre proximity to each over, Hallard said it doesn't appear that any of the stranded six mushers knew of the others' nearby location.

In addition to the six mushers and their teams, a seventh team had also become lost when it was separated from a musher running the shorter Quest 300 race.

The musher, Randy Chappel of Two Rivers, Alaska, was travelling with two other mushers at the time who assisted and helped him off the mountain.

As the crew began Honda's rescue, Hallard continues, the conditions began to change. Though the wind continued howling, visibility grew better and better, until the rescue personnel were able to see other mushers nearby.

One of the pararescue officers actually walked over to one other musher who was walking their way to explain they would be returning to complete the rescue after they dropped off Honda and her team at Mile 101.

Haller explains the mushers were moving in slow motion, typical of individuals suffering from exhaustion and cold.

And from what the major understands, the dogs also behaved as though they too knew they were being taken out of harm's way, he says.

Haller says as someone who is familiar with the Alaska sled dog circuit, and as a pet owner himself, he knows how frisky sled dogs can be, and he knows how dogs behave when they feel the presence of danger.

After the third load out, with the helicopter low on fuel, the crew climbed to meet up with the Hercules for air-to-air refuelling, at which point the HC-130 was forced to return to Fairbanks, as it too was 'bingo' on fuel.

For the last load, with daylight disappearing, there was the need to put all 25 remaining dogs and the three mushers aboard, while the two pararescue officers remained behind.

Though from different teams, they were all quiet as the rescue officers 'poured the dogs through the window.

'The dogs had to have a certain amount of organizing among themselves to acommodate each one coming in the window, and they did it.

'They accommodated one another very quickly,' Haller says, highlighting the respect he has for cannines and their intelligence.

It's ironic, he chuckles, that the Eagle Summit rescue of six mushers and seven teams comes on the same week that Walt Disney is releasing its new movie Eight Below, about eight dogs that get separated from their musher and are faced with surviving alone.

'This is kind of our version, I guess,' Haller jokes. 'I guess you would call it 88 above.'

The Eagle Summit rescue, says the flight commander, is definitely one for the books.

'We were high-fiving all the way back, saying, Boy, we will never have another one like this.

'It is definitely one for the books,' Looney told CKRW. 'We all love to save people and be there when somebody needs you. And to have that hero factor, if you will, and come and save the day is a great feeling, a very, very rewarding job.

'It does not get any better than having a mission like that, when you come across six people that really need your help, and all of us are animal people.

'To go out and bring back those scared pups, and bringing them back and making sure that all 88 dogs got out of there was a really, really big boost.'

The Star thanks Ron McFayden and CKRW for providing a copy of the taped interview.