ANCHORAGE, Alaska, Feb. 21 (UPI) -- Alaska state troopers say the snowmobile riders who defied avalanche warnings to retrieve a friend's body should have stayed out of the back country.
Jeremy Stark was one of two young men killed Friday when they were buried by an avalanche in the Stock Bowl, about 70 miles southeast of Anchorage, the Anchorage Daily News reported. Stark's body was dug out Wednesday and brought out of the back country on a sled, while Christoph von Alvensleben remains under the snow.
The search was carried out by volunteers on snowmobiles.
"This group -- they like to push the limit," said Beth Ipsen, a state police spokeswoman. "That's how we got to this point in the first place."
The Chugach National Forest Avalanche Information Center recommends that everyone stay out of the back country because of the extreme risk of natural and human-triggered avalanches. Stark, von Alvensleben and the three snowmachiners with them are believed to have triggered the deadly slide.
Joshua Smith, one of the 11 people involved in the search, said the group was experienced and well aware of the danger.
