BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — A U.S. snowboarder, climber and mountain guide has been killed in an avalanche in Argentina.
Liz Daley, 29, from Tacoma, died Monday in the Fitz Roy Massif region outside El Chalten, Argentina. Her sponsor, Eddie Bauer, confirmed the death in a statement.
Daley was on a ski mountaineering expedition with three other members of the company’s snow sports team as well as two production crew members. The rest of the team escaped unharmed from the avalanche.
Daley’s death was the third in a week involving prominent snowboarders and skiers on the mountains along the border between Argentina and Chile.
Chilean searchers on Tuesday found the bodies of professional skiers Carl Andreas Fransson of Sweden and Jean Phillipe Auclair of Canada. They had been missing since an avalanche swept them away while they were hiking in Chile’s south.
Authorities said Fransson and Auclair arrived in the Aysen region of Chile’s Patagonia last week along with two other tourists from Sweden. They were hiking the 11,800-foot San Lorenzo mountain and disappeared when a wall of rocks and snow cascaded down, dragging them to a stream in Argentine territory.
California-based Armada Skis told The Canadian Press that Auclair was the company’s co-founder, but declined to release more details pending permission from his family. On its website, the company describes him as a prize-winning skier and filmmaker, who had a Level One certification in avalanche operations by the Canadian Avalanche Association.
Canadian Olympic skier Jenn Heil took to social media to express her condolences.
“You were a bright light who changed the face of skiing. RIP,” Heil said on Twitter.
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