The three missing skiers who were reportedly buried under up to 100 feet of snow after an avalanche in the Alaska backcountry earlier this week have been identified, Alaska State Troopers said Thursday.
The group was helicopter skiing with Chugach Power Guides on Tuesday afternoon near Girdwood, an Alaska resort town about 40 miles south of Anchorage. Alaska State Troopers were notified of an avalanche later that afternoon and are investigating as weather and avalanche conditions allow.
On Thursday morning, Alaska State Troopers publicly identified the three missing persons caught in the avalanche as 39-year-old David Linder from Florida, 39-year-old Charles Eppard from Montana and 38-year-old Jeremy Leif from Minnesota.
The Anchorage Daily News reported that there was a fourth person skiing with the group who survived the avalanche but they have not been identified publicly yet.
Chugach Power Guides initially searched for the three missing skiers but had to stop after an hour due to safety concerns and challenging weather conditions. As of Thursday afternoon, it remains unclear whether the men's bodies could be recovered given how deep the snow debris is in that area.
Austin McDaniel, a spokesperson for the troopers, told the Associated Press on Wednesday that "based on the information provided by the operator, unfortunately, we do not believe that any of the three missing persons survived the avalanche."
“The guides were unable to recover the three skiers due to the depth. Due to considerable avalanche risk in this area and limited daylight, no further recovery operations were conducted on March 4,” McDaniel told the AP. “If weather and conditions allow for it, Troopers plan to assess avalanche conditions from the air and determine recovery options with individuals that have experience making avalanche recoveries.
If the three missing skiers are confirmed dead, this would mark the deadliest avalanche in the U.S. since February 2023, when three members of a Korean climbing group were killed in a slide in Washington's Cascade Mountains. According to the National Avalanche Center, 25 to 30 people die in avalanches in the U.S. every winter; the highest risk of avalanches are found in Colorado, Utah and Idaho.
The Chugach National Forest Avalanche Information Center issued a warning on Tuesday that there was considerable avalanche threat in the area at elevations over 1,000 feet. The center said of the missing skiers, "We are sorry to report an avalanche resulted in multiple fatalities in the west fork of the Twentymile River yesterday afternoon."
Heli skiing is a form of backcountry skiing in which guests take a helicopter to the top of a mountain or a remote area to ski or snowboard down. A common misconception is that skiers have to jump from a helicopter to ski, which is not the case, as the helicopter lands on the top of the mountain. Chugach Powder Guides describes itself as one of the "original heli ski operators in Alaska," established in 1997.