David Dzenawagis was fatally injured in an avalanche in Haines on Wednesday. He was snowboarding with skiers Ted Cheney and Theodore Hart above the Takshanuk Mountain Trail at approximately 1,400 ft. elevation. All three men are Haines residents.
Dzenawagis was downhill from Hart and Cheney when one of them triggered the slide that swept him. He was buried in three to five feet of snow. Hart and Cheney found him in less than ten minutes. They administered CPR, but Dzenawagis succumbed to his injuries. He was 34 years old.
Haines Volunteer Fire Department responded by helicopter because it would have taken too long to reach the skiiers by snowmobile. Hart and Cheney descended on their own without injuries.
This is the second avalanche fatality in Alaska this season.
