[3] They had been gathered by Chris Rudolph, a charismatic marketing director at the attached ski area.
[2][4] The remaining three skiers, Jim Jack, Chris Rudolph and John Brenan, were killed through a combination of blunt force trauma and asphyxia.
[2][4][5][6] The Wellington avalanche of 1910, the deadliest in U.S. history with 96 fatalities, occurred in the vicinity 102 years earlier.
It happened about a mile (1.6 km) to the northwest, along the Great Northern Railway, in the early hours of March 1.
The avalanche attracted a high level of media attention because of the experience and notoriety of all sixteen skiers and snowboarders on the trip.