According to authorities, the body of one of the three heli-skiers who perished in a significant avalanche in Alaska has been recovered. The incident took place in March.
On March 4, David Linder, 39; Charles Eppard, 39; and Jeremy Leif, 38, were on a guided heli-skiing excursion in the rugged Chugach Mountains near Girdwood when a “large avalanche” struck, as previously reported by Alaska State Troopers through official announcements.
Reportedly, at the time of the avalanche, they were buried under snow depths estimated to be “between 40 feet and almost 100 feet,” according to officials.
On Friday, a team of volunteers from the Alaska Mountain Rescue Group and the Girdwood Volunteer Fire Department revisited the avalanche site and found the remains of one of the skiers, as detailed in a Tuesday update from the troopers.
The recovered body was said to have “become entangled in a log jam in the river running below the avalanche area,” as authorities described.
The remains will undergo an autopsy by the State Medical Examiner to identify the individual. Officials have not disclosed which skier has been found.
Efforts to recover the men initially faced delays because of “adverse weather conditions that hindered helicopter operations,” heightening the risk of additional avalanche events.
A fourth skier in the group was rescued and recounted hearing someone urgently alert, âavalanche,â over the radio just before the enormous wall of snow descended upon them at an elevation of 3,500 feet, as reported by the Anchorage Daily News.
David Linder, a resident of Miami, co-owned Sub Arctic Media.
The company oversees more than 20 talk shows and music stations in Minnesota, including Radio Mankato, as noted by the Minnesota Star Tribune.
Eppard, who hailed from Bigfork, Montana, was described as “a loving father, devoted husband, and an outstanding employee,” according to a GoFundMe created to aid his family.
<pEppard, involved in the software industry, leaves behind his wife, Brittany, and daughter, Belen.
Leif, a resident of Minneapolis, served as the CEO of Leif Consulting Group, a company he launched in December 2023, as per his LinkedIn profile.
A dedicated Minnesota Vikings fan, he is survived by a wife and two children, as referenced on his Facebook page.
The deaths of Linder, Eppard, and Leif represent the most deadly avalanche event in the United States since three climbers perished in a snow slide in Washington’s Cascade Range in 2023.
Authorities have scheduled additional aerial and ground searches with the goal of locating the two remaining missing skiers.
