Ronald Berlack (left) and Bryce Astle. Photo: U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association
2015 is starting off on a heavy note for the snow sports community. According to The Local Austria, two promising young American skiers (junior members of the U.S. Ski Team) died in an avalanche on Monday morning. Bryce Astle (19) from Salt Lake City and Ronald Berlack (20) from Franconia, New Hampshire were part of a group of six in Sölden, Tyrol when they “left a patrolled ski piste in Gaislachkogel and skied off piste towards Rettenbachtal. It’s believed that they triggered an avalanche and two of them were buried under the snow.”
Rettenbachtal, or the Rettenbach glacier, is the venue of the annual season-opening World Cup races. Sölden has been the European base for the U.S. Ski Team since 2011.
Despite an avalanche forecast that warned of “considerable” danger with a level 3 rating, neither carried beacons with them. Therefore, in order to find the buried skiers, the rescue team relied on probes. When they eventually found them beneath three to four meters of snow, it was too late and attempts to resuscitate them failed.
Photo: LWD Tirol
U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association president and CEO Tiger Shaw shared by way of Alpine program’s official page: “Ronnie and Bryce were both outstanding ski racers who were passionate about their sport — both on the race course and skiing the mountain. Our hearts go out to the Berlack and Astle families, as well as to their extended sport family. Both of them loved what they did and conveyed that to those around them.”
“We are all very close,” Alpine director Patrick Riml told The Associated Press. “We train a lot in Park City. We’ll see how they handle the whole thing and how they react.”
He added, “It’s a shock for everybody. Two great boys, great athletes, good skiers. They were fun to have around. We are all in shock, still. It’s very tragic.”
Vermont’s Burke Mountain Academy, where Berlack recently trained and father Steve is a coach, shared their own disbelief of the circumstances: “Only last week Ronnie was here at BMA training with us. Ronnie was someone we all loved and deeply respected. He had a huge spirit. There is no one who better represents our core values than Ronnie. Our hearts go out to his parents Steve and Cindy, and his sister Carolyn.”
Astle was a later addition to the team, but had made great strides in the past year and was looking forward to a strong showing the season ahead. “He was hoping … to be in the next Olympics, that was his goal,” hiss mother Laura shared, “and he was pretty much on his way.”
The team, free to decide whether they would still compete in Tuesday’s night race, decided to proceed as planned. They will be wearing mourning bands in remembrance of their two fallen teammates.
