Three skiers are dead after being swept away by a large avalanche that hit the Alaska backcountry Tuesday afternoon.
The Alaska State Troopers’ preliminary findings showed that the three heli-skiers were caught in the avalanche at around 3:30 p.m. near the west fork of the Twentymile River.
Their bodies have yet to be recovered due to bad weather, the avalanche risk, and the depth of the snow.
According to the company that provided the skiers access to the slopes, the three men deployed their avalanche airbags but were buried under about 40 to 100 feet of snow.
Lead Avalanche Forecaster Andrew Schauer warned skiers that dangerous conditions in the area will likely remain for a while.
“There’s just this weak snow that formed in the beginning of February and it’s since been buried by several smaller storms, and it’s a foot or two deep on average and it’s still making avalanches,” he said.
“And we are expecting that conditions are going to remain dangerous for the foreseeable future just because of the nature of these weak layers.”
“We are recommending that people stay off steep terrain for now, it’s going to take some time for this problem to settle out.”
