A Deschutes County Sheriff's Office Search and Rescue team member responds to a rescue call after an avalanche buried two skiers in the Cascade Mountains of Central Oregon, Feb. 18, 2025.
Deschutes County Sheriff's Office
The Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office has released the names of two people killed by an avalanche in Central Oregon this week.
Terance “Terry” Skjersaa, 57, and his wife, Susan Renee Skjersaa, 52, were overdue Monday night when friends began searching for them, according to a press release from the sheriff’s office.
Friends found the couple deceased shortly before midnight. Their bodies were buried by an avalanche in Happy Valley, a popular winter recreation area near Broken Top Mountain in the Central Cascades mountain range. Search and rescue crews recovered the bodies Tuesday morning.
The Skjersaa family is known for pioneering and fostering ski sports in Central Oregon. The International Skiing History Association has chronicled the family’s profound and long-lasting mark on Bend.
Terry Skjersaa’s grandparents, Olaf and Grace, opened Bend’s first ski shop in 1939, according to a biography from Terry’s work as a real estate broker. Renee Skjersaa was an educator with Bend La-Pine Schools for nearly 20 years, according to her LinkedIn profile.
“As longtime residents of Central Oregon, they have touched many lives, and their legacy will continue to live on,” Central Oregon Avalanche Center Development Director Lauren Altemari said in a statement.
Renee and Terry Skjersaa were well-loved members of the community, said Bend Mayor Melanie Kebler.
“They were really tied to Bend, and our outdoor lifestyle here and a lot of people are shocked right now. My condolences go out to anyone that knew them, any family or friends. It’s a loss for Bend,” she said.
The Avalanche Center published a preliminary accident report Wednesday morning detailing what led up to the deaths. The avalanche happened at 6,700 feet on a south-facing slope and ran for 320 vertical feet through a tight clump of trees.
COAC forecasted “considerable” avalanche danger that day. Gabe Coler, the organization’s lead forecaster, said most avalanche fatalities happen when danger is “moderate” or “considerable.”
Avalanche experts agree those levels of risk can be harder to safely navigate.
When an avalanche does occur, fast moving snow and debris like trees or rocks can become fatal.
“It’s not necessarily about how big that slide was in this case, what it’s about is the fact that it did run into trees, which is a really big deal,” said Simon Trautman, director of the National Avalanche Center.
Unstable snowpacks have layers of snow that are both strong and weak. That’s part of what led to Monday’s avalanche, which COAC called a “storm slab.”
A storm slab essentially means it’s been snowing a lot, said Victor McNeil, executive director of the Wallowa Avalanche Center, based in Joseph. Thick, heavy snow means skiers and snowboarders need to seek out steeper slopes to make it down a hill.
“Unfortunately, a slope that’s greater than 30 degrees also has a higher chance of an avalanche being triggered,” McNeil said.
Avalanches can happen anytime there is snow on the ground and in a matter of seconds, said Emma Walker, education director for the American Institute of Avalanche Research and Education,
Tell-tale signs include evidence of recent avalanches, “whumpfing” or collapsing in the snow, shooting cracks, rapid temperature changes and rapid heavy rain or snowfall or windy conditions that can move large amounts of snow around.
Walker said danger zones for temperature increases or slope angles are a “grey area.” She encouraged people to monitor a matrix of slope angles, topographical maps and known avalanche terrain. She also directed people to take avalanche safety courses and check their local avalanche centers before going out into the mountains.
Traveling below an avalanche-prone area can also unleash dangerous slides. COAC’s report on the avalanche that killed the Skjersaas states the cause isn’t yet known, but it’s likely the skiers triggered it.
This is often the case, McNeil said, because “usually the snowpack is right on the tipping point, but it needs that extra load, or what-have-you, from a backcountry traveler to actually get the avalanche to release.”
In Central Oregon, COAC publishes free avalanche bulletins daily on its website and on the Avy app.
Avalanche danger in the Central Cascades is currently “considerable,” a three on a scale of zero to five, according to the COAC forecast.
