Avalanche — Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
December 23, 2001 · NOAA Storm Events record
Event narrative (NOAA)
Russel Foster, Anchorage, his girlfriend and fiveother snowmachiners were with a group riding in the ChugachNational Forest off Palmer Creek Road near the old Swetmann MineSunday.Sometime after 1 p.m., Foster, 35, headed up a slope abovethe rest of the riders, according to State trooper reports. Afriend, Bobby Frankson, was below him when the snowpack on theside of the mountain let loose.The avalanche buried Foster. Frankson went for help.Snowmachiners found foster through a signal emitted by hisavalanche beacon. The searchers used probe poles to identify hisprecise location, and dug Foster out from about 3.5 to 4 feet ofhard packed snow. At least 30 minutes had elapsed since theavalanche.Two hours of CPR failed to revive Foster, who became thethird avalanche fatality in Alaska this wi
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Source: NOAA/NCEI Storm Events Database. Deaths and injuries are those NOAA classifies as direct. Damage is the reporting office's estimate at the time and is not inflation-adjusted. This is a catalogue record, not a forecast.