Authorities on Thursday identified three skiers who were buried in an avalanche in Alaska this week and are presumed dead.

David Linder, 39, of Florida, Charles Eppard, 39, of Montana, and Jeremy Leif, 38, of Minnesota, were identified as the skiers.

The avalanche occurred at about 3:30 p.m. Tuesday near Girdwood, Alaska. The skiers were in the Chugach Mountains as part of a larger group that reached the area via helicopter, the Alaska Department of Public Safety said in an alert.

The avalanche buried the skiers under up to 100 feet of snow, which slid down from an altitude of about 3,500 feet to 700 feet.

The Chugach Powder Guides were unable to recover the three skiers.

State troopers and others were unable to fly out to the area Wednesday due to weather, but planned to return to figure out how to recover the bodies. The troopers will evaluate whether there is a chance of another avalanche.

Experts are recommending that people stay off the Chugach slopes, where several human-caused avalanches have occurred recently.

“There’s just this weak snow that formed in the beginning of February and it’s since been buried by several smaller storms, and it’s a foot or two deep on average and it’s still making avalanches,” Andrew Schauer, lead forecaster at the Chugach National Forest Avalanche Center, told KTUU-TV.

Mr. Schauer did not say whether the avalanche that swept up Messrs. Linder, Eppard and Leif was caused by people.

• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.