3 skiers buried in at least 40 feet of snow after massive Alaska avalanche

An avalanche in the Alaskan backcountry buried three skiers under at least 40 feet of snow, Alaska Wildlife Troopers said in a dispatch Wednesday. The blanket of debris could be as deep as 100 feet, they said, which is about the height of a 10-story building.

Authorities said the massive avalanche occurred Tuesday afternoon near the small resort town of Girdwood in the southern part of the state. The three skiers, who were part of a heli-skiing group, became trapped in the avalanche at around 3:30 p.m. local time, their guides said.

The guides told troopers they used avalanche beacons to identify an area where the skiers were likely buried. The beacons estimated the missing skiers to be somewhere between 40 and 100 feet under the snowpack.

They couldn’t reach the skiers because of the depth, and troopers said additional recovery operations couldn’t be conducted that night because of ongoing avalanche risks in the area, as well as limited daylight. Troopers said in their dispatch that on Wednesday they planned “to asses the area to determine if recovery operations can safely be conducted.” 

Updates on the investigation haven’t been shared since then.

Even before troopers assessed the site, Austin McDaniel, a spokesperson for the Alaska State Troopers, said in a text to The Associated Press that “based on the information provided by the operator, unfortunately, we do not believe that any of the three missing persons survived the avalanche.”

Girdwood is the skiing capital of Alaska, and home to the Alyeska Resort, at the base of Mount Alyeska, where people downhill ski or snowboard amid stunning views of Turnagain Arm. At the top of the mountain is the Seven Glaciers Restaurant, named for its view.

Heli-skiing is using a helicopter to reach the top of a mountain in remote backcountry areas where there are no ski lifts, and a person either skis or snowboards down the mountain.

Each winter, 25 to 30 people die in avalanches in the U.S., according to the National Avalanche Center. If the deaths of the three missing skiers are confirmed, it would be the deadliest U.S. avalanche since three climbers were killed in a slide in Washington’s Cascade Mountains two years ago.

Fifteen people have been killed across the U.S. by avalanches so far this winter. Among them were 10 backcountry skiers or snowboarders, four people on snow machines and a ski patroller, according to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center.

Colorado experiences the most avalanche deaths, with 325 people killed since 1950. Alaska ranks second, with 172 deaths in that time period, according to the center.

In 2021, Czech billionaire Petr Kellner and four others died in a helicopter crash during a heliskiing tour near Knik Glacier, in the Chugach Mountains just north of Anchorage. A year later, a heli-ski guide scouting an area for clients died when an avalanche carried his body nearly 1500 feet (457 meters) down a mountain, Alaska State Troopers said at the time.

There have been several deaths reported elsewhere this year.

One person was killed in an avalanche in central Colorado on Feb. 22. Authorities in Grand County responded to what they described as a skier-triggered avalanche in a steep area known as “The Fingers” above Berthoud Pass. It was the second reported avalanche in the county that day.

That avalanche death was the third in Colorado this winter and the second fatality in less than a week in that state, according to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center. A Crested Butte snowboarder was killed Feb. 20 in a slide west of Silverton.

Elsewhere, three people died in avalanches Feb. 17 — one person near Lake Tahoe and two backcountry skiers in Oregon’s Cascade Mountains. On Feb. 8, a well-known outdoor guide was caught in an avalanche in Utah and was killed.