Familiar with the terrain and well-equipped, approximately twelve expert skiers were making their way through a foot-and-a half of fresh snow when an avalanche struck them in an out-of-bounds area near a popular Washington ski resort.

Three men lost their lives Sunday when they were swept about a quarter-mile down a canyon, and a 4th skier was caught up in the slide was saved by a safety device, authorities stated. The large group had separated into 3 smaller groups before the avalanche, but all the backcountry skiers were buried to some extent. Those who were able to free themselves rushed to dig out the victims and performed CPR unsuccessfully on the 3, believed to be in their 30s and 40s.

Deputy Chris Bedker, who is with the King County Sheriff’s search-and-rescue unit said most of the people involved in this were well-known to the ski community up there, especially to the ski patrol, adding it was their friends who they recovered.

The Stevens Pass deaths were part of a deadly Sunday on Washington ski slopes. A male snowboarder lost his life in a separate avalanche incident at the Alpental ski area east of Seattle, authorities said.

The men who died on Stevens Pass fell approximately 1,500 feet down a chute in the Tunnel Creek Canyon area, King County Sheriff’s Sgt. Katie Larson said.

The 4th skier who was swept down the mountain about 80 miles northeast of Seattle was a woman who looked to have avoided a similar fate because of the avalanche safety device she was wearing, Larson said.

Survivor Elyse Saugstad was indentified by ESPN.com as a professional skier, who stated that she used an airbag after the avalanche hit. ESPN Freeskiing editor Megan Michelson was with the skiers and was not injured, it said.

Michelson stated that the initial slide was about 30 feet wide and three feet deep, but rapidly grew as it swept away Saugstad and the 3 victims.

Saugstad said she deployed the airbag from her backpack immediately, crediting it with saving her life.

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