A heli-skiing operator near Girdwood in January 2023.
Alaska State Troopers say three heli-skiers are presumed dead after they were caught in a massive avalanche Tuesday near Girdwood.
Troopers said in an online dispatch that a large avalanche caught the skiers at about 3:30 p.m. near the west fork of the Twentymile River. Guides from the heli-skiing company they were flying with immediately tried to locate them.
“Using avalanche beacons, the guides identified a probable area where skiers were buried between 40 feet and nearly 100 feet deep,” troopers wrote.
Troopers spokesman Austin McDaniel said the heli-skiing flight was operated by Girdwood-based Chugach Powder Guides. A person who answered the company’s phone Wednesday declined to comment. A Homer lawyer specializing in recreation and adventure law, who told the Anchorage Daily News she was acting as a spokesperson for the heli-skiing company, refused to comment to Alaska Public Media.
Troopers have not yet released the skiers’ names.
McDaniel said in a text message Wednesday morning that none of the skiers are thought to have lived.
“(B)ased on the information provided by the operator, unfortunately, we do not believe that any of the three missing persons survived the avalanche,” he said.
No other recovery efforts were made Tuesday due to avalanche risk and limited daylight, troopers said. The scene will be assessed Wednesday to determine whether further work to recover the skiers can be safely conducted.
Tracey Knutson, the lawyer acting as a spokesperson for Chugach Powder Guides, gave the Anchorage Daily News a detailed account of what happened in the slide, from the heli-ski company’s point of view.
Knutson told the ADN that the skiers were on a regular run for the company and that witnesses saw all three skiers activate avalanche airbags when the slide started, at an elevation of about 3,500 feet. One person who was in the group and not caught in the avalanche was safely rescued, Knutson told the ADN.
Three guides reached the debris, which had slid about 2,800 feet, and detected three signals from beacons the buried skiers wore, Knutson told the ADN.
The Chugach National Forest Avalanche Information Center reported considerable avalanche danger in the area Tuesday at elevations above 1,000 feet. Its forecast noted the possibility of human-triggered avalanches, with up to 2 feet of wind-blown snow atop a frost layer. The forecast advised avoiding steep slopes.
Knutson refused to answer any questions from Alaska Public Media, including about what safety measures the guides took, how they decided to take clients skiing with “considerable” avalanche danger in the area or what decisions led to three skiers, an uncommonly high number, getting caught and buried.
She said such questions were inappropriate as the recovery effort was still under way.
According to the Alaska Avalanche Information Center, the state’s last avalanche that killed three people occurred on Bear Mountain near Chugiak in February of 2021. Troopers said at the time that three climbers ascending a technical route of the mountain were found dead, beneath what appeared to be a recent avalanche.
In its Wednesday forecast, Chugach National Forest avalanche forecasters said the Twentymile River slide was accompanied by other human-triggered avalanches Tuesday. Staff offered their condolences to friends and family, urging people to “avoid traveling on or below steep or consequential terrain” due to dangerous avalanche conditions.
Calls to the forecasters went unreturned Wednesday morning.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
