Three skiers die in massive avalanche

[Alaskajohn]

Three skiers died in a massive avalanche in Alaska a few days ago. Even with the skiers successfully deploying their avalanche air bags, the massive slide was too much. The searchers simply gave did not attempt a rescue even with the beacons showing where they were. You simply can’t dig someone out of 45 feet of snow.

Avalanche risk is always a worry, but I have a rule of thumb that I don’t enter anyplace prone to avalanches after March 1 in Alaska. That is about the time that avalanches routinely seam to happen as the spring sun warms the slopes and the new snow is the heavier wet snow.

https://www.adn.com/outdoors-advent...iers-killed-by-large-avalanche-near-girdwood/

https://www.alaskasnewssource.com/2...or-gives-insight-thrills-dangers-heli-skiing/

Avalanche safety information:

https://www.alaskasnewssource.com/2...ks-backcountry-safety-after-deadly-avalanche/

 

[sonya123]

Darwin....

don't ski in avalange areas

I have skied my whole life up until my accident in 2019 and never once came close to an avalange
It's people that ski in areas like that , that get wiped out

 

[Magus]

Damn. super sucktastic way to die.
Frozen Margarita.

 

[Cabin Fever]

During our driving trip to Alaska this past summer, I believe that we passed the "resort" where these guys must have started from. It was a resort for "extreme skiers" or "heli-skiers" not the glamorous type ski resorts like they have in Colorado and elsewhere. There are no T-bars or gondolas or groomed ski hills. You got to the start of your skiing jaunt by being dropped from a helicopter into the lone wilderness.