Avalanche victims died doing what they loved most

By Bill Sheets

For The Herald

EDMONDS — Georgia Bakke and Lawrence Duff, the Edmonds couple who died in an avalanche on a British Columbia mountain Tuesday, had skied in similar conditions before.

Susan Majeski McKnight, 53, of Lake Forest Park, also was killed.

"The entire family and all his friends feel comforted by the fact both Larry and Georgia died doing what they loved doing," said Duff’s sister, Eleanor Howard of Edmonds. "Being physically fit and active was the most important part of their lives."

After Duff was nearly killed in an avalanche in 1995, the family became "somewhat prepared" for his being killed on some other adventure outing.

The three victims and their five companions, all experienced skiers, were staying at Kootenay Mountain Huts on Mount Carlyle, about six miles north of Kokanee Glacier Provincial Park and 30 miles north of the U.S.-Canadian border, above Eastern Washington near its border with Idaho.

Avalanche danger on the day of the accident was rated considerable by the Canadian Avalanche Association, according to a news release from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. A police spokesman said it appeared the skiers had all of the needed equipment and were doing everything right.

Of the group of eight, three went off to another location. When the three victims and their two companions reached the top of the mountain, Duff, Bakke, McKnight and a fourth person started down. At that point, the snow gave way. Only the fourth skier was high enough to ski to the side and out of the avalanche, said Paul Bakke, the victim’s brother.

The fifth skier watched in disbelief as the ridge tumbled down — "except the 10 feet of snow he was standing on," he added.

The surviving skiers dug out the bodies and then returned to their cabin to notify police via radio-telephone.

A subsequent autopsy revealed the victims suffered massive internal injuries from being pummeled 1,000 feet down the mountain in the snow, Bakke said.

Had the avalanche occurred in individual chutes instead of having the entire ridge collapse, "they would have been safe," he said.

Bakke said his 42-year-old sister "was very enthusiastic and full of life and a good organizer of things, and perceptive at helping people when she was out on a trip like this."

She had met Duff, 54, in The Mountaineers club, Bakke said.

"He was a very intelligent man — a good conversationalist, had a good sense of humor and was very good at what he did."

Duff, an Edmonds native and Meadowdale High School graduate, was a paralegal for a law firm in Redmond, his sister said. Duff had been a runner, switching to bicycling when he developed knee problems.

Duff also was an avid skydiver, having jumped about 1,000 times, Howard said.

"Every time he went up in a plane, we held our breath," she said. "About everything he did was dangerous."

A memorial service for Georgia Bakke and Lawrence Duff is planned for Feb. 10 at The Mountaineers in Seattle. Details are pending.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Bill Sheets is editor of the Edmonds Enterprise. You can call him at 425-673-6525 or send e-mail to sheets@heraldnet.com .