ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Authorities have identified three men who died Tuesday after being buried by a massive avalanche during a guided heli-skiing trip in the Chugach Mountains near Girdwood.

The Alaska State Troopers on Thursday said the men were 39-year-old David Linder, of Florida; 39-year-old Charles Eppard, of Montana; and 38-year-old Jeremy Leif, of Minnesota.

Friends said all three were married with young children. They were clients of Chugach Powder Guides, a longtime Alaska heli-ski operator.

A fourth member of the group, which was guided, survived the avalanche.

The incident occurred around 3:30 p.m. Tuesday near the West Fork of Twentymile River, Alaska State Troopers said Wednesday. The slide area is a mountain cirque about 9 miles northeast of Girdwood, in backcountry terrain accessible by air.

It appears to be the first fatal avalanche this winter in Alaska and the country’s deadliest since an avalanche in Washington’s Cascade Mountains killed three climbers in 2023.

Chugach Powder Guides said guides and helicopters searched for the three missing men immediately after the avalanche occurred but left off due to safety concerns and the challenging conditions.

Troopers on Thursday said they, with assistance from avalanche and recovery experts, will try to conduct an aerial assessment of the slide area to “determine additional avalanche danger and recovery options.”

The slide was huge, starting at about 3,500 feet on the side of a mountain and ending at about 700 feet, according to a Chugach Powder Guides spokesperson. The debris pile was estimated at 40 to 100 feet and avalanche beacons the men wore registered as deep as about 45 feet down, authorities said.

Avalanche forecasters at the Chugach National Forest Avalanche Information Center this week said a “touchy” snowpack had led to many human-triggered avalanches in recent days across the broad Turnagain Pass zone that includes the Chugach Mountains around Girdwood. Tuesday’s avalanche occurred just outside that zone.

The forecast in the days leading up to Tuesday’s slide included a description of a weak snow layer buried up to 2 feet deep that was “tricky to assess” and posed a risk to backcountry recreators. On Tuesday, in that Turnagain zone, the center rated avalanche danger as “considerable” above 1,500 feet.

By Thursday, the center said, a storm that brought snow and wind to the area brought avalanche danger to “ high”: very dangerous conditions with travel not recommended in any avalanche terrain.

-------------

©2025 Anchorage Daily News. Visit at adn.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.