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.

Troopers identified the three missing skiers caught in the avalanche as David Linder, Charles Eppard and Jeremy Leif.

A 38-year-old Minnesota man was identified as one of three people believed to have died in an avalanche south of Anchorage.