Worker in Alaska's Denali National Park dies after triggering avalanche

A DenaliNational Park and Preserve employee died when he was caught in anavalanche while skiing in the backcountry, not far from the park'sentrance, officials said Friday.

Eric Walter, who provided radio-based safety support and dispatchservices for National Park Service operations across Alaska, died inthe Thursday avalanche, the park said in a prepared statement.

An individual told the park's kennel staff that they saw a skiertrigger an avalanche on an unnamed north-facing slope about 16 kilometresinto the park, near the sprawling park's only road.

Responding rangers found an unoccupied truck parked about a mileaway from the avalanche site. A ranger used a spotting scope to lookfor survivors in the avalanche debris.

The ranger saw two skis, one vertical and the other lying flat onthe surface, the statement said.

The park's mountaineering team, based in nearby Talkeetna, Alaska, flewto the site on a contracted helicopter. Two rangers determined theskier, later identified as Walter, had died.

"Our thoughts are with Eric's family in this challenging time,"Denali Superintendent Brooke Merrell said in the statement.