A Girdwood Skier survived an avalanche on Sunday that killed three other skiers in Washington. Elyse Saugstad was swept nearly 2000 feet down a steep slope in the backcountry near Stevens Pass. The four were among three groups of skiers — about a dozen people in all — making their way through a foot and a half of fresh snow when the avalanche hit.
It has been reported that the avalanche danger was listed as “high” when they were skiing but in an interview with NBC’s Today show this morning, Saugstad says that wasn’t true when they left in the morning.
Saugstad credits an air bag inflating device with saving her life. The skiers were all well equipped with rescue gear. They rushed to dig out the victims and preformed CPR on the men, but weren’t able to revive them. Saugstad grew up skiing at Alyeska and racing on the Alyeska Ski Team. She says she intends to keep skiing despite the tragedy.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Annie Feidt is the broadcast managing editor at Alaska Public Media. Reach her atafeidt@alaskapublic.org. Read more about Anniehere.
