Skier's body retrieved from Yukon avalanche

Searchers have recovered the body of a backcountry skier killed in an avalanche earlier this week at the Kluane National Park and Reserve in southwestern Yukon.

The RCMP have not yet released the man's name, but his skiing companions have identified him as Honza Galac, 29. He was living in Whitehorse but was a citizen of the Czech Republic.

Galac was skiing on Sunday with three friends on the north face of Observation Mountain, in the Slims River area, when an avalanche was triggered. The snowslide swept Galac away and narrowly missed a fellow skier, Filip Bursa.

"Immediately when the avalanche stopped, we switched our beacons to rescue mode and tried to find him," Miroslan Merta, another one of Galac's friends on the ski trip, told CBC News Wednesday in Whitehorse.

Investigators travel to site

Merta said they found Galac's position after about 20 minutes, then spent the next 10 minutes digging him out of the snow, but he was already dead by then.

"It was very, very, very sad," Merta said.

Members of the RCMP, Parks Canada and the Yukon coroner's office, as well as an avalanche investigator, have flown by helicopter to the avalanche site, RCMP Sgt. Don Rogers told CBC News.

"They were able to get within two kilometres of the site, at which point they had to ski into the area," Rogers said in an interview Wednesday morning.

"The body was recovered and returned back to Haines Junction, where it's been turned over to the coroner's service."

While the avalanche took place on Sunday, the remaining skiers did not report it to police until late Monday, as they had to ski back to Haines Junction.

Experienced skier

Merta described Galac, an active volunteer with the Whitehorse cross-country ski club, as an avid outdoor athlete who was skilled in backcountry skiing, mountain climbing and kayaking.

The group of four, which included three of Galac's friends from the Czech Republic, had started their three-day trip in Anchorage, Alaska, and skied their way into Kluane National Park.

Police said all the skiers in the group were experienced and carried proper safety equipment with them, including avalanche beacons and probes.

Snow conditions during the trip were variable but not extremely hazardous, Merta said.

"Everybody from [our group] know that there is a small, small risk. But I think comparatively, when you drive a car, it is the same risk," he said.

'He loved the Yukon'

Friend Rudy Sudrich said he and Galac had planned to climb Mount Logan next month. He described Galac as an experienced skier who did not take foolish risks.

"He loved the outdoors, he loved the Yukon," he said. "For all those guys, they chose the Yukon as a place to live, where they want to spend the rest of their lives."

Sudrich a memorial for Galac is being planned.

The RCMP have not officially released Galac's name to date, as they have been waiting for direction from the Czech Republic Embassy in Canada.

RCMP officials said all of the man's family members are in Europe and police did not want some to learn of the death through the media. However, police said Tuesday that his immediate family had been notified.