Avalanche — Copper River Basin, Alaska

2001-03-18 · Copper River Basin, Alaska

Event narrative

Another avalanche death, 6 miles east of the Richardson Monument at Mile 198 of the Richardson Highway (about 70 miles south of Delta Junction), was reported in Monday's Anchorage Daily News. The avalanche occurred about 3 pm Sunday, March 18, 2001.A group of snowmachiners were out for the day and stopped behind Courage Mountain. When the avalanche let go, snow machiners in the area tried to get out of the way. Gary Frederick, 37, of Delta Junction and Bambi Bender, 25, of North Pole, were caught in the slide. About 20 people began probing the area immediately after the avalanche and Bender was quickly pulled out uninjured. Frederick was found about 15 minutes later, buried in about 15 feet of hard-packed snow. It took about 45 minutes to dig him out. Attempts to revive him were unsuccessful.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5230458. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.