A skier who was attacked by a brown bear was hoisted to safety in the Alaskan countryside over the weekend, officials said.
The man was stable in a hospital after Saturday’s attack on a mountain northwest of Haines, in the southeastern part of the state, near the top of the Alaskan swamp, the Coast Guard and state soldiers said.
The skier, who suffered head and hand injuries, was transported by MH-60 Jayhawk Coast Guard helicopter, the Guard said in a statement.
He was attacked while he and two other skiers were climbing a mountain to ski and unknowingly came across a den with a brown bear and its cubs, Alaskan police said in a report.
The bear came out of the den, attacked one of the skiers who rolled down the hill and then left, the soldiers said.
Skiers were about 1,600 feet high on what was described as steep terrain. The other two skiers were not injured and went down the mountain on their own, officials said.
The Coast Guard said they were well prepared and able to seek help in 15 degree weather as the sunset approached quickly.
“Their satellite communication device provided the precise GPS coordinates and the elevation of their location. Equally important, they had brightly colored fabric to signal the helicopter when we approached,” Coast Guard Lieutenant Commander Will Sirokman, who was co- pilot in the rescue said in a statement. “It was absolutely crucial for us to find them in a timely manner.”
The state department of fishing and hunting said bear attacks are rare.
The Alaska Epidemiology Section, in a 2019 study of bear attacks in the state, identified 10 deaths in eight bear attacks between 2000 and 2017.
Sixty-eight people were hospitalized for the injuries of 66 bear attacks in that period, according to the report. The authors noted that there were important limitations to their review, such as injuries treated in the field and varying levels of detail in the death reports.
At least two people were killed by bears in Alaska in 2020. A man was killed near Hope on July 26, the state department of fishing and hunting said, and an Ohio man on an elk hunting trip was killed by a bear in September at Wrangell -St. Elias National Park and Reserve.
