Very disturbing news. Kip Garre, local Tahoe area ski mountaineer and Allison Kreutzen were found dead this morning (28apr11) by friends in an avalanche debris pile at the bottom of a couloir on Split Mountain in the Sierra Nevada range.

More details from Powder.com

For more insight on Kip check out Backcountry Magazine’s story on Kip Garre.

Locals view from Truckee’s Moonshine Ink.

Personal note: I didn’t know Kip and news of his passing might have simply been yet another name tied to a statistic but for some reason that’s not how it hit me. Perhaps it was because the Split Couloir had recently crossed my radar and was under consideration as a destination but I think it was more the realization that I just hadn’t met him yet, but would eventually because of my personal knowledge of a few of the people involved in the search for he and Allison when they failed to return home. The reaper could have been spinning on the other side of that row of mutual friends and recent descents in the 50° realm and how anxious I was in doing them underscores how tenuous our walk on this earth can be.

May the peace of God that surpasses all understanding comfort the family and friends of Kip Garre and Allison Kreutzen at this tragic time.