ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - One person is dead after an avalanche in Hatcher Pass buried the victim under more than 7 feet of snow.
This is believed to be the third avalanche death in the area this winter, including snowmachiner Dashiell Erickson and missing skier Liam Walsh, the Alaska Dispatch News reported (https://bit.ly/1RYKEHk).
Alaska State Troopers spokeswoman Megan Peters said in an email that the unidentified person caught in the avalanche Saturday was recovered deceased. She said more information would be released pending notification of the family.
Hatcher Pass Avalanche Center director Jed Workman said the victim and another person were snowshoeing when one started riding a snowboard down, triggering the avalanche at about 4,200 feet on Skyscraper Mountain.
He said neither person was wearing a beacon.
Workman said the area’s moderate avalanche danger was the second-lowest on a five-level scale. Despite a low probability of triggering an avalanche, he said snow conditions would mean an extreme outcome.
“It’s a little bit like Russian roulette,” Workman said.
Oscar Whaley was with friends riding snowmachines in the area Saturday when the avalanche occurred. He said he and more than a dozen others worked to dig the person out.
“There was a lot of people that really got together,” Whaley said.
Mat-Su Department of Emergency Services deputy director of EMS Lisa Behrens said in a phone interview that EMS and Palmer rescue workers planned to snowmachine up the mountain to rescue the victim. When they got there, a snowmachine was already bringing the person down the mountain as CPR was performed.
Rescue workers continued CPR in the ambulance for over 45 minutes.
“Every possible effort was made to resuscitate the patient,” Behrens said.
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Information from: Alaska Dispatch News, https://www.adn.com
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