Efforts to recover the three men who died in an avalanche Tuesday while they were on a guided heli-ski trip in the Chugach Mountains near Girdwood were halted due to dangerous conditions and difficult terrain — and may not resume until conditions improve,

Dangerous avalanche conditions in the area persist, stalling recovery efforts and prompting warnings from forecasters.

The three men killed Tuesday by a massive avalanche during a guided heli-skiing trip in the Chugach Mountains near Girdwood came together in Alaska after meeting years ago in Minnesota.

Alaska Wildlife Troopers said an avalanche buried three skiers under a blanket of snow between 40 and 100 feet deep in a small resort town.

This is Alaska’s first fatal avalanche reported this season. It is also the country’s deadliest since February 2023.

Three skiers who had flown by helicopter to a remote mountain range were swept away by an avalanche and likely killed under the weight of dozens of feet of snow, Alaska State Troopers said Wednesday.

Tuesday’s slide measured more than a half-mile long with a debris pile estimated to be 40 to 100 feet deep, authorities said.

The skiers were caught in a slide Tuesday afternoon near the west fork of the Twentymile River, which buried them “between 40 feet and nearly 100 feet deep.”

Officials at the Chugach National Forest Avalanche Center have confirmed that three skiers on a heli-skiing tour died in an avalanche near Girdwood, Alaska, southeast of Anchorage, this week. The avalanche occurred on March 4 at about 3:30 pm.