Avalanche — Matanuska Valley, Alaska

2001-11-11 · Matanuska Valley, Alaska

Event narrative

A small wind slab avalanche released under a 30 year old woman and her male friend. The slide carried the two about 100 yards down the slope. The man came to rest on top of the snow. The woman was buried, head-down, under three feet of snow. She was pulled out, not breathing and blue, about 25 minutes later and, at an earlier report, was in critical condition in an Anchorage hospital. The patient was pulled off of life support at 6:45 am AST Tuesday, and was pronounced dead at 2 pm AST Tuesday.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5269323. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.