A teenager has died after triggering an avalanche, the fourth person killed in snowslides in Alaska this month. Alaska state troopers said the body of 16-year-old Tucker Challan of Soldotna was recovered from the avalanche Sunday by the Alaska Mountain Rescue Group. Troopers said a group of snowmachiners were riding Saturday on the backside of Seattle Ridge in Turnagain Pass, a popular winter recreation area about 60 miles southeast of Anchorage. Witnesses said he was buried in the snow after setting off the avalanche, troopers reported, per the AP.
Challan was buried about 10 feet deep in the slide that measured about 500 feet wide, said Wendy Wagner, director of the Chugach National Forest Avalanche Center. Conditions are worrisome because a weak layer is located about 3 feet beneath the snow surface, with newer snow falling on top of the weak layer. Challan rode over a weak layer of snow that was buried under newer snow, about mid-slope, Wagner said. When the slide happened, the center's staff was conducting an avalanche awareness day in a parking lot on the other side of Seattle Ridge, she said, per the AP.
"When we have avalanche conditions like this, as avalanche professionals, we recommend people just stay on slopes that aren't steep enough to slide, and then they don't have to worry about triggering an avalanche, and sadly, this person was not in that scenario," Wagner said. "They were on the edge of the slope and ended up being caught." Conditions were similar conditions on March 4, when three heli-skiers were killed. That accident happened when they were caught in an avalanche near Girdwood, about 40 miles south of Anchorage. "It's still unsafe," Wagner said Monday. (More avalanche stories.)
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