So far this season there have been 8 avalanche fatalities nationwide and 2 of those occurred in Alaska.

On February 2nd a heliski client triggered a loose snow avalanche (sluff) on his first turn down a slope. He was caught in the moving snow, which entrained additional snow as it moved downhill. The skier was pushed into a rock band and seriously injured. He was flown to a hospital in Anchorage, where he later died. Alaska News Source story can be found here.

On February 13 a group of backcountry skiers triggered an avalanche while ascending a slope. All three members were caught and carried in the avalanche. Two of the three people involved sustained injuries and the third did not survive. The avalanche was roughly 150 feet wide and ran for 700 vertical feet, failing on a layer of weak faceted snow roughly 2 feet deep at the crown. More details can be found on the Chugach National Forest Avalanche Information Center webpage.

*Details and information courtesy of the Colorado Avalanche Information Center https://avalanche.state.co.us/accidents/us

*Image courtesy of the Chugach National Forest Avalanhce Information Center