Skier triggers avalanche that sweeps him 1,200 feet through rocks, Alaska officials say
A backcountry skier was seriously hurt after being carried “roughly 1,200 vertical feet,” including through rocks, in an avalanche in Alaska’s Kenai Mountains, officials said.
The skier was hoisted from East Groundhog Peak near Turnagain Pass by helicopter after other skiers and snowboarders rushed to help and called for a rescue, the Chugach National Forest Avalanche Information Center said in a report.
The skier triggered the avalanche at about 1:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 31, officials said.
He was part of a larger party and followed behind a snowboarder who had “descended first without incident,” according to officials.
The skier made it about 200 vertical feet down the slope before setting off the avalanche “about 20 feet to the right of the first set of tracks,” officials said.
“The skier’s skis released almost immediately and the skier was carried in the moving slab. The skier was able to slow himself just enough to let most of the debris fall below him, but was carried for the length of the path, including through a rocky section just above the apron,” according to officials, who said the snowboarder was able to stop the skier “as he slid down the apron at the bottom of the path.”
Another snowboarder in the group started providing “backcountry medical care,” and a person from a different group rode to a ridge and called for rescuers, officials said.
A private medical helicopter reached the scene at about 3:45 p.m. but couldn’t safely land, officials said. The Air National Guard arrived at about 6:15 p.m. and hoisted the skier off the mountain within about a half hour.
The skier’s pelvis was fractured and he hurt two vertebrae, a friend told KTUU.
Turnagain Pass is about a 60-mile drive southeast from Anchorage.
This story was originally published February 4, 2025 at 11:14 AM with the headline "Skier triggers avalanche that sweeps him 1,200 feet through rocks, Alaska officials say."
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