Compiled by Outside Online

April 15, 2002 Two leading extreme skiers died last week while attempting to ski down Alaska's 18,008-foot Mount St. Elias, the second-highest peak in the United States.

Aaron Martin, 32, of Tahoe City, California and Reid Sanders of West Yellowstone, Montana disappeared off the Tyndall Glacier on April 9 and are presumed dead. Two other expedition members, John Griber and Greg Van Doersten, were successfully rescued a day later by the National Guard.

The foursome had been attempting to ski from the summit to sea level to set what they said would have been the world record for the longest continuous vertical ski and snowboard descent.

According to the Associated Press, Griber watched Martin slide hundreds of feet before disappearing off a 4,000-foot drop. Griber was inching down the glacier on his snowboard with an ice axe in each hand when he heard Martin's slide begin just 40 feet from him. "All I heard was Gore-Tex on ice. He was sliding on his right hip," Griber told the Associated Press.

Immediately after watching Martin's fall, Griber yelled and searched for Sanders in vain. He eventually bivouacked for the night at 16,000 feet before returning to the 14,500-foot camp where Von Doersten, suffering from frostbite, had stayed behind as the others made a bid for the summit.

Paul Claus, who had dropped the members off on April 5 to begin their ascent just above 10,000 feet, spotted Von Doersten and Griber with a stamped out message in the snow reading "two dead" on April 10. Unable to perform the rescue, Claus radioed the National Park Service. The Air National Guard's 210th Mountain Air Rescue group was dispatched to the scene. Designed only to go up to 10,000 feet, the Pavehawk helicopter successfully made its way through the thin air, landing on the ridge and rescuing Griber and Von Doersten.

"It takes a lot more power to fly at that altitude," Staff Sgt. Jeff Wells, a National Guard spokesman, told the AP. ""They went up higher than they're accustomed to."

Claus flew over the scene again on April 12 and saw one body about 3,000 feet below the summit as well as skis and gear along the fall line. The NPS reported this morning that recovery efforts are being considered, but has not concluded whether this is safely possible.

All four expedition members were strong mountaineers with years of experience. Members of the team worked for notable guiding companies such as Exum Mountain Guides and Shasta Mountain Guides. Von Doersten is a professional ski and snowboard photographer and Sanders owned Hellroaring Ski Adventures. Some of the team had been featured in films for the Outdoor Life Network and Greg Stump Films.

"This wasn't snowboarding, this was absolutely survival technique," Griber told the AP of the harrowing descent. "We specialize in high angle, extreme terrain. We're not just a couple guys who went out and said, 'let's go ski this thing.'"