picture courtesy of Central Oregon Daily News

(Bend) – Authorities have identified the pair killed in a Central Oregon avalanche as Terry and Renee Skjersaa, a family well-known in Bend’s ski community.  Terry Skjersaa’s grandparents Olaf and Grace Skjersaa opened Bend’s first ski shop in 1939. 

 

Deschutes County Sheriff Kent Van derKamp says Monday’s conditions were a recipe for avalanche. “When we have good hard snowfall and then it’s followed by some warm weather and some rain, it creates an unstable snowpack.” He says, that means recreators need to take extra precautions, “We warn people who are in the backcountry to be prepared, have an avalanche beacon, have an avalanche airbag, but most importantly: look at those forecasts and make sure you’re planning your trip accordingly and avoiding those areas.” Van derKamp adds, “Tell people where you’re going. Show people on a map where you’re expected to be, so people where to look if something happens. That’s what these folks did; they actually were prepared, but I don’t think they were prepared enough to know it was a danger.”

 

After the couple didn’t return as expected, “Their friends ultimately were able to find them with a phone tracker. They went out and searched for them and found a debris field.” He says they notified Search and Rescue at around midnight, “About 2 a.m., they made it to the debris field and found that it was still unstable,” says the Sheriff, “So they withdrew until daylight, and then they went in and completed the rescue once it was deemed safe.” Their bodies were recovered Tuesday. 

 

Van derKamp says the danger remains, “Some of the forecasting we have from the Central Oregon Avalanche Center confirmed that avalanche activity is still “potential” and actually, I think they’re calling it “moderate” now in that same region from the watershed all the way up into the high Cascades.”