There has been a new development in the effort to recover a trio of skiers who became trapped in an avalanche seven months ago. According to an Alaska State Troopers’ dispatch, a body has been recovered that may be one of the three men who became trapped in up to 100 feet of snow in March.
On March 4, David Linder, 39, Charles Eppard, 39, and Jeremy Leif, 38, were heli-skiing near the resort town of Girdwood in southern Alaska when, around 3:30 p.m. local time, they were caught in an avalanche. Two hours later, Alaska Wildlife Troopers were notified of the event and began a preliminary investigation, which determined that, based on their avalanche beacons, the skiers were buried under 40 to 100 feet of snow.
Due to the depth of the snow, the challenging location where the men were buried, and the threat of further avalanches, rescuers were unable to reach the skiers. Furthermore, Austin McDaniel, a spokesperson for the Alaska State Troopers, told The Associated Press that, “based on the information provided by the operator, unfortunately, we do not believe that any of the three missing persons survived the avalanche.” Authorities made the call that recovery efforts were not possible until conditions improved.
As of Tuesday, there has been a new development in the recovery effort, though. On October 3, volunteers from the Alaska Mountain Rescue Group and Girdwood Volunteer Fire Department flew to the slide area and were able to recover a body that had become caught in a log jam in the river flowing underneath the avalanche slide area. The man’s remains have been sent to the State Medical Examiner for identification, which will be released publicly once identified.
