A skier on Alaska’s Mount McKinley died after he and a snowboarder got caught in an avalanche.

Denali National Park officials on Wednesday said victim Nicholas Vizzini, 29, of Washington state and his unnamed snowboarding fellow climber were descending the mountain when the avalanche came at around 6:15 p.m. Tuesday.

The avalanche started its release at around 16,600 feet up and stopped at 15,000 feet.

While a pair of responding park rangers found the snowboarder quickly on top of the avalanche’s debris, Mr. Vizzini was buried deeper, park officials said. Once they found him, rangers dug out an airway and attempted CPR to help him.

CPR was halted after 40 minutes since Mr. Vizzini had suffered traumatic injuries and no longer had a pulse. The snowboarder suffered minor injuries. 

Mr. Vizzini is the second person to die on Mount McKinley during this year’s climbing season. Alex Chiu, 41, also of Washington, died this month from a 3,000-foot fall onto a glacier.

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