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.

Girdwood is a tourist community that caters to winter events, with downhill skiing and snowboarding at the Alyeska Resort in a spectacularly scenic location. After a gondola ride 3,200 feet (975 meters) up Mount Alyeska, diners can view seven glaciers from the restaurant named for that view.

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.

It appears to be the first fatal avalanche this winter in Alaska and the country's deadliest since an avalanche in Washington's Cascade Mountains killed three climbers in 2023.

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.

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

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.

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

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.