ad on turnover to facebook or twitter. tell us what your answer will be. happy new year to you and your entire family. thanks for being with us. see you back here tomorrorecord next. this is a fox news alert. tragedy strikes the united states ski team two. young american skiers killed in an avalanche that happened in austria. one olympic hopeful was from utah. caroline conley joins us with new information on the breaking news story. what can you tell me? this came just a few days into a training session with the u.s. ski team. according to ski officials the two skiers that were killed were 19-year-old bryce astle and ronnie ber lack from new
berlack, a new hampshire native was recently named to the u.s. ski team development team. hi, my name is bryce astle. astle, who grew up skiing in utah was invited to train with the team this season after posting strong results earlier in the season. friends and family heartbroken by the news. he showed me the joy and the sport. sand the love and the passion and made me want to come back and keep skiing. it s hard to be out here without him. fine young man, always had a big smile on his face. we re always real happy to see him and the type of the kid that would come in and say hi steve, look right at you and smile. well this morning, i spoke to a resort official who told me there had been other avalanche accidents in the area. in the days leading up to this tragedy. but those skiers had been equipped with emergency beacons and were able to be rescued. john? so sad, erin mcgloughlin
a group coming down from the mountain when they apparently triggered this slide. like i said, the u.s. ski team is really just in shock over this tragedy. abc s clayton sandell with the story. reporter: high on the mountain, search teams in helicopters with a desperate the rescue crews were on the scene immediately with multiple helicopters and other rescue crew. they were able to extricate the two skiers, but unfortunately it was too late. reporter: four skiers escaped the wall of snow on the austrian slope. those two olympic hopefuls killed. my name is bryce astle. i m an alpine ski racer out of sandy, utah. reporter: bryce astle s skills earned him an invitation to train with the u.s. ski team. he posted this youtube video in the fall to raise the money he needed to reach his dreams. hopefully get me that much closer to reaching the top of the world cup circuit and olympic podium. reporter: ronnie berlack
20-year-old ronnie berlack and 1-year-old bryce astle were among this group of six skiers caught in this massive avalanche. the four others managed to maneuver out to safety. we pulled some video of astle training back in 2013. he and berlack were both incredibly well-respected by their peers and looking forward to a promising career in skiing. rachel nichols joins me now. tell men t a these two. these were the kids we would be rooting for in the olympics in a few years. promising kids sweet young men the account from everyone who s been around them. such a tragedy. ronnie grew up in new hampshire, from the same small town that bode miller is from.
with the breaking details. trace? reporter: yeah, this is horrifying gretchen happened at the saddlen ski resort in austria, home to the annual world cup ray also the european training center for both of these american skiers who were killed. wither talking about 20-year-old ronnie burr lack of franconia, new hampshire and 19-year-old bryce astle from sandy, utah they were not racing at the time. in fact, they were free skiing with four other skiers when somehow, they triggered the avalanche. now the other skiers were able to ski away from the slide and were not injured. it s unclear if they were skiing in a closed off area you authorities say the avalanche warnings they had been posted after several days of snow. both burr lack and astle named to the u.s. developmental ski team because they were coming off exceptional years. astle was raising his own money to train and travel. here he is on youtube. listen to him. this season is going to be extremely costly to me and i am