The avalanche happened Tuesday afternoon in the Chugach Mountains near Girdwood, a small resort town about 40 miles southwest of Anchorage, according to the Alaska Department of Public Safety. The department said state wildlife troopers were alerted of the avalanche shortly after 5 p.m. local time.
A preliminary investigation revealed that three heli-skiers were swept away by the avalanche at around 3:30 p.m., according to the department. Guides from a commercial heli-skiing operation attempted to locate the skiers using avalanche beacons to identify their location.
The beacons estimated that the skiers were likely buried in snow between 40 feet to nearly 100 feet deep, the department said. The guides were unable to recover the skier's bodies due to the depth.
No further recovery operations were conducted on Tuesday due to the avalanche risk in the area and limited daylight, officials in Alaska said. Earlier Wednesday, state troopers planned to assess the area to decide if a recovery operation was possible.
Safety officials said poor weather conditions in the area prevented helicopter flights, and state troopers, avalanche experts and recovery teams were unable to assess the slide area for recovery options.
"Troopers are optimistic that weather conditions will improve on (Thursday) to allow for flights in the area," the safety department said.
Incident occurred during dangerous avalanche conditions in Alaska
The avalanche happened in the west fork of the Twentymile River near Girdwood, according to the Alaska Department of Public Safety and Chugach National Forest Avalanche Information Center.
The Anchorage Daily News reported that the slide area is a mountain cirque in backcountry terrain that is only accessible by air. The victims, all men, were from out of state and were clients of Chugach Powder Guides, company spokesperson Tracey Knutson told the newspaper.
Knutson said the victims had been skiing with a guide on a run that was regularly used by the company, according to the Anchorage Daily News. Knutson told the newspaper that witnesses saw the three men deploy their avalanche airbags — inflatable vests that are meant to help people stay on the surface of the avalanche.
Knutson added that there was also a fourth person in the group who was not caught by the avalanche and was later extricated safely, the Anchorage Daily News reported.
Chugach Powder Guides, which is based in Girdwood, has offered day heli-skiing trips for 25 years, according to the company's website. Heli-skiing is a type of backcountry skiing in which skiers use a helicopter to access remote areas where there are no ski lifts and then ski down the slope.
Chugach Powder Guides did not immediately respond to USA TODAY's request for comment on Wednesday.
In its backcountry avalanche forecast on Tuesday, the Chugach National Forest Avalanche Information Center warned that it would be "easy to trigger an avalanche" up to two feet deep on a layer of buried surface hoar.
The center said the avalanche danger would likely increase on Wednesday as strong winds and snow will add more stress to existing conditions. The center noted that there were multiple human triggered avalanches on Tuesday and more could be possible in areas with expected snowfall.
"We are sorry to report an avalanche resulting in multiple fatalities in the west fork of the Twentymile River yesterday afternoon. Our sincere condolences go out to the friends and families of those involved," the center said in a statement Wednesday.
Latest avalanche fatality in the U.S.
Tuesday's incident is Alaska's first fatal avalanche reported for this season, according to a data from the National Avalanche Center. It is also the deadliest incident in the country since February 2023, when an avalanche killed three climbers in Washington state.
Each winter, 25 to 30 people die in avalanches in the U.S., the National Avalanche Center said. The Colorado Avalanche Information Center has noted that a majority of these incidents involve backcountry skiers, snowboarders and snowmobilers.
Prior to Tuesday, 15 people had been killed across the U.S. by avalanches this winter, according to data from the National Avalanche Center.
The most recent incident was on Feb. 28 in Washington state, where three snowmobilers triggered a large slab avalanche, the National Avalanche Center reported. One person was buried and killed in the avalanche while another person was injured.
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