Three men died Tuesday after being buried by a large avalanche while on a guided heli-skiing trip in the Chugach Mountains near Girdwood.
The avalanche occurred around 3:30 p.m. near the West Fork of Twentymile River, Alaska State Troopers said Wednesday. The slide area is a mountain cirque about 9 miles northeast of Girdwood, in backcountry terrain accessible by air.
The incident appears to be the first fatal avalanche this winter in Alaska and the country’s deadliest since an avalanche in Washington’s Cascade Mountains killed three climbers in 2023.
Tuesday’s slide measured more than a half-mile long with a debris pile estimated to be 40 to 100 feet deep, authorities said.
The men, all from out of state, were clients of Girdwood-based Chugach Powder Guides, according to a company spokeswoman. The run they skied was part of the company’s regular list, and a guide accompanied them, she said.
Authorities had not identified the men as of Wednesday afternoon.
Witnesses saw all three deploy their avalanche air bags as the slide began, Chugach Powder Guides spokeswoman Tracey Knutson said. The avalanche started at about 3,500 feet altitude and ended at about 700 feet, she said.
A fourth person in the group was not caught by the slide and was later extricated safely, Knutson said, adding that others who were on the same trip but skiing different runs also needed to be flown out.
Three guides “were on scene immediately initiating rescue response and an emergency alert,” she said. They picked up signals from the men’s emergency beacons, she said, the lowest at nearly 45 feet deep.
Numerous helicopters and guides ended the search around 4:30 p.m. after determining “the victims were clearly unrecoverable” with available resources and that conditions posed a safety risk, she said.
U.S. Forest Service staff notified troopers about the avalanche at 5:10 p.m. Tuesday, according to troopers spokesman Austin McDaniel. The agency was not able to overfly the area due to limited daylight, he said.
Bad weather in the area on Wednesday again hampered efforts for troopers, avalanche experts and recovery teams to evaluate any potential options to recover the men’s bodies, according to an update Wednesday afternoon. McDaniel said improved conditions should allow flights in the area on Thursday.
Knutson said Chugach Powder Guides is working with various agencies on extrication options but the terrain and snow depth could make the process challenging.
The company follows strict safety protocols, she said, including training for guides as well as clients.
Chugach Powder Guides has offered day heli-ski trips for 25 years according to the company’s website.
The company has suspended operations at least through Thursday.
The Chugach National Forest Avalanche Information Center — which includes the mountains around Girdwood in its broader Turnagain Pass zone for avalanche forecasting — in recent days described a weak layer of snow buried up to 2 feet deep that was “tricky to assess” and that posed a risk to backcountry recreators across the region.
The heli-ski avalanche occurred just outside the northern boundary of the Turnagain zone, according to Andrew Schauer, the center’s lead avalanche specialist.
On Tuesday morning, the center said avalanche danger was “considerable” at mid- and upper elevations, indicating that natural slides were possible and human-triggered avalanches likely.
Many human-triggered avalanches have been reported on the weak layer above 1,500 feet, the center said Wednesday, describing the snowpack as “touchy” as indicated by the number of recent slides.
Schauer on Wednesday posted an accident report summarizing the heli-ski avalanche that did not include a discussion of snow conditions in that specific area at the time.
“We extend our deepest condolences to the friends and family of everyone involved,” he wrote.