Authorities in Haines have suspended their search for a man who reportedly fell into Chilkoot Lake while ice skating on Thursday. In a dispatch, state troopers said local author Thomas McGuire, 79, had gone skating alone and failed to return, and that his vehicle was found in a parking lot near the lake. The dispatch said McGuire’s next of kin had been notified.
Late on Thursday afternoon, the Haines Volunteer Fire Department received a report that a skater had fallen through the ice at Chilkoot Lake. The call came from another skater, who used a Garmin inReach device to alert authorities. That person reported hearing – but not seeing – someone fall through the ice.
Jacques Turcotte, the Haines district park ranger, was the first person on the scene, at around 4:15 pm. He said he ran the search-and-rescue operation because Haines doesn’t currently have a local trooper, and the accident happened around a state park.
When the search-and-rescue team arrived, Turcotte said they found the person who called in the accident and ensured they got off the ice safely. Turcotte said the team made it more than a mile across the lake, but it became clear that it wouldn’t be safe to go any further to look for the missing skater.
“The ice was cracking, and water was bubbling up beneath my feet. So we turned back. At that point, with darkness coming in and unsafe ice conditions, we were unable to locate the victim,” Turcotte said.
Turcotte went up in a plane at first light Friday morning to scour the area. He saw pockets of open water near the far end of the lake, and he thinks that was where the skater fell in. But he said the search is no longer active, and authorities are focusing on recovering the victim.
“At this point, with no signs of life and no signs of a body and with ice conditions being what they are being, it’s too unstable and unsafe to send rescuers out onto the ice,” Turcotte said.
McGuire is a long-time Alaska resident. His most recent book, The Curve of Equal Time, tells the story of a woman who returns to Alaska from Seattle to work on a salmon fishing boat. He also published a book called Steller’s Orchid in 2019.
McGuire and his wife, Sally McGuire, built their home on the Chilkoot River, where they raised four children.
Haines residents have been skating at Chilkoot all week during a long spell of clear weather. But authorities are advising against that now due to unstable ice created by warmer temperatures, which Turcotte said can rapidly change conditions.
“Lake ice is inherently dangerous and unpredictable, and it can change quickly. You know, we’ve had cold temperatures,” he said. “We’ve also been getting warmer temperatures throughout the days, and it’s been sunny out too, and that affects everything as well.”
He advises people to skate with a partner, to wear life jackets when they skate, to continuously check ice thickness, and to bring rescue supplies. Among them: ropes, throw bags and ice picks that can be used to climb out of the water or help someone else do the same.
