Alaska national park worker dies in avalanche witness says worker triggered

Denali Nationwide Park and Protect, Alaska — A Denali Nationwide Park and Protect worker died when he was caught in an avalanche whereas snowboarding within the backcountry, not removed from the park’s entrance, officers stated Friday.

Eric Walter, who supplied radio-based security help and dispatch companies for Nationwide Park Service operations throughout Alaska, died within the Thursday avalanche, the park stated in a ready assertion.

A person advised the park’s kennel employees that they noticed a skier set off an avalanche on an unnamed north-facing slope about 10 miles into the park, close to the sprawling park’s solely highway.

Responding rangers discovered an unoccupied truck parked a few mile away from the avalanche web site. A ranger used a recognizing scope to search for survivors within the avalanche particles.

The ranger noticed two skis, one vertical and the opposite mendacity flat on the floor, the assertion stated.

The park’s mountaineering workforce, primarily based in close by Talkeetna, flew to the location on a contracted helicopter. Two rangers decided the skier, later recognized as Walter, had died.

“Our ideas are with Eric’s household on this difficult time,” Denali Superintendent Brooke Merrell stated within the assertion.

“Eric was a much-loved member of the Alaska Regional Communications Middle (Denali Dispatch),” the park stated.