Not being able to get any accident reports from either Alaska Helisking or Trooper Bentz, we decided to get legal help.
The day before we went to San Francisco to meet with the lawyers, we received a phone call from Haines. It was Donna Cottati. She said they were able to collect money from Haines residents for us to go there. Alex explained to Donna that after learning disturbing information about the avalanche, not getting any accident report from Haines, and knowing from the trauma center doctor that Nick died in Alaska, we started to believe that Dr Nobel, from Haines Clinic, was covering up for Alaska Heliskiing, and there was possible malpractice. Alex told Donna that we were going to meet with lawyers to find a legal way to request a report. Donna was surprised and sounded upset with our decision, asking “Do you have money for lawyers?”
The same day Alex also talked to Brandon Corbett. In the conversation, Brandon said that he would give us a hard disk with footage from the group with Rob Liberman, taken minutes before the avalanche. He also said that he had erased the search and rescue footage and kept only 36 still images. The next day, while we were meeting with the lawyer, Kalei received on her phone an accident report from Alaska Helisking. A thought came to our minds: who, of the two we spoke with the day before on the phone, might inform Alaska Helisking that we were going to meet lawyers?
CAIC Avalanche Report Swanny 031312
Avalanche danger level in the accident report was downgraded to “Moderate”, compared to Eric Steven’s information from Haines Avalanche Information Center of “Considerable”.
Haines Avalanche Information Center
There was controversial information between the eyewitness accounts and the Alaska Heliskiing statements.
At this time, Alaska Heliskiing report wasn’t filed with the National Avalanche Center in Colorado. Part of the report was filed with Colorado more than seven months later, on November 27, 2012. In respond to the false report we published a comment in Chilkat Valley News.
CHILKAT VALLEY NEWS
AVALANCHE REPORT INCOMPLETE, FALSE
By Alex and Natalia Dodov
On November 27th, seven months after the avalanche accident that killed two people, ColoradoAvalancheCenter received an accident report from Alaska Heli Skiing Company. The author of this report is an employee of Alaska Heli Skiing Company and was also on site as a rescue member.
The report is hasty, uncompleted with false information.
The report didn’t have any information of the snow conditions on March 13th. After new snowfall accumulations of approximately 5ft with additional wind deposits, the avalanche warning coming from HainesAvalancheInformationCenter was posted as “Considerable”. The websites forecast/conditions/rating describes an upside down snowpack with 3 distinct week layers.
In a private conversation Alaska HeliSkiing Company snow forecaster Tim Thomas told our friend and Haines Borough member Rob Goldbeg that Alaska Heliskiing was aware of the dangerous condition (unstable snow,growing surface hoar layer and wind deposit snow) on the day of March 13th.
Why the report didn’t have any detailed information about the safety protocols & precautions of the day such as the snow stability check. If the report was based on the eyewitnesses statements Alaska Heli Skiing Company would know and include in their report that a snow pit was dig by Rob Liberman on the previous run before the avalanche. The snow pit showed an unstable snow condition. The guide didn’t take the group to ski this run but instead of following his safety protocols to call the helicopter to pick up the group, he took the group to an alternative run without checking the snow. Taking the group to the second run, the guide did not check the snow there either, even though the clients expressed concern. He assured them “Don’t be concerned, it is just an alpine bowl” ……
Why was the crown inspection four days after the avalanche?
What the report was based on?
Alaska Heli Skiing Company have in their accident report that the third skier took a heavy fall and impacted the snow, but did not trigger the avalanche. The truth is, according to the eyewitnesses that the third skier was Casey Osteen. Casey didn’t fall on his run, it was the second skier Ryan Kirkpatrick. He was caught by surprise by a rock outcrop and roll, flipping forward, landing on his board, without impact the snow. This happened at the end of his run, at the bottom of the gully. Alaska Heli Skiing Company’s report states that Nick Dodov CHOOSE to go much farther to the right and this is where he triggered the avalanche. The truth is according to the eyewitnesses that they all heard on their radios Rob Liberman guiding Nick Dodov ; “Go to the right, there is a better powder snow there.”
Why Alaska Heli Skiing Company doesn’t want to reveal the actual time line from the moment the victims were buried under the snow until the victim bodies were excavated? According to the eyewitnesses statements the first guide was dropped on the avalanche debris at least thirty minutes after the avalanche broke.
Why doesn’t the report include clients Ryan Kirkpatrick, Dwight Bailey and Brandon Corbett were involved in the search and rescue? If the company questioned them, according to their statements they would know that only two guides helped, it wasn’t until late in the search and rescue when the place was swamped by the other guides, too little too late. Why Alaska Heli Skiing Company doesn’t have the names and the level of emergency wilderness first AID, CPR qualification of the guides involved in the search and rescue.
After the accident Rob Liberman was transported straight down to Haines Medical Clinic, why Nick Dodov was transported to the base of the AH to wait for a paramedic car? Why doesn’t the report say who made these decisions?
Why Alaska Heli Skiing Company didn’t have in their accident report the findings of Rob Liberman’s toxicology report? The report shows THC marihuana three times higher than background levels.
What was the Alaska Heli Skiing Company drug policy?
The Alaska Heli Ski Company published fraudulent information on their web site stating that they are members of fictitious heli ski association that monitors very closely their safety programs and all of the company’s guides meet the requirements of this non existing heli ski association.
If Alaska Heli Skiing Company crafted false information on their web site to attract clients, we are not surprised that their accident report has been fabricated with false information too,
When we got back from San Francisco, we received a letter from Donna Cottati saying; “It matters not to me if they shut down this company. But please don’t allow the lawyers to file charges on our emergency services or the clinic.” We also received an email from Vicki Gardner, the owner of Alaska Helisking;
Dear Alex and Natalia, Let me begin by offering my blessings. Please know that you are in my prayers daily. Sometimes words do not come easy, especially ones that may bring pain to others who receive them. And in these times, such words must come directly from the heart. I have had many hours of deep thought over the incident and the deaths of Nick and Rob. I would like to introduce to you who I am and offer my help with any questions or thoughts that you may have. I hope it is not overdue, but I felt that you would contact us when you were ready and that it may take a generous amount of time for that to happen. When Kalei contacted me, I directed her to Orion because he had the logistics of the slide that I did not have with me at the time. But since then, I have felt that I needed to share with you my thoughts and feelings. I am a mother of four children, each of who enjoy their natural surroundings and extreme sports. My oldest, Nicholai, is a raft guide in Haines on the Chilkat River which is a very swift moving body of water of extremely cold temperatures. They all enjoy surfing, sailing, paragliding and they all are heliskiers. I cannot imagine the devastation that a loss of my child would bring to me and I have tried to put myself in your place but I believe that no one could imagine that pain until it is real. My Grandmother lost her son at an early age and she said to me that it was the hardest pain to bear for any person. I have had many recent feelings of holding my children back from their dreams in light of Nick and Rob’s death this year. But my daughter, who is 8, just today climbed back on to her horse through tears, the same horse who broke her foot by stepping on it a year ago. She cried in fear as she made the jump up, nothing was going to stop her from doing something that she loves so dearly. This is how I feel about my guides in Alaska and the customers this business brings to us. My reason for being involved in this livelihood is not for economic reasons, fame or even because I love the sport so much. It is because of the people that come to us with such excitement for life. They are living their dreams and have such wonderful spirits that I feel blessed to just be a part of it all. I was at base the morning of the avalanche. I sat by Nick while medical attention was being rendered and I prayed. I gave my heart to him, asking him to stay with us and continue to live life with us. But for the first time in my life, nature took him, therefore taking something from me that I wanted very badly. I wanted him to live, to share the ski stories again with us and to continue to follow the dreams that made him so happy. But I was called to the clinic to identify Rob and I sat with Nick’s group when the doctor gave us the news of his condition. It was one of the saddest days of my life. I asked myself if I wanted to be a part of something so risky and if I wanted my children to be a part of it. And after three days, I looked in to the creamy white mountains of Haines and knew that I could not deny anyone their dreams of being there in the very heart of those mountains, doing what they love to do. I also spoke to Donna Cattoti and Rob Goldberg in great length a few days after the incident and they enlightened me with your family history. I know that it was only a matter of time before I needed to contact you myself. Please do not feel pressured to respond but know that I am here if at any time you would like to talk. I would love to meet you and could travel to California whenever the time is right. Also, please know that you are more than welcome to visit me at any time. During the summer months, I live in Pemberton, BC farming (my girls ski here until the end of May). And Alaska is always home and open to you. Peace be with you and yours. My love, thoughts and sincere heartfelt.
Vicki Gardner Alaska Heliskiing 1 877 SKI HAINES (907) 303-0040 cell
After our lawyer called the Haines Police Dept, he received Trooper Bentz’s incident report.
Again there was false and controversial information between the eyewitness accounts and Trooper Bentz’s statements.
The time line from the medical clinic in Trooper Bentz’s report was incomplete, and there was no real report from the clinic from the time Nick arrived there to the time he was flown to Seattle. A very important part of the report, that Trooper Bentz didn’t send to the lawyer, was Rob Liberman’s toxicology report.
CHILKAT VALLEY NEWS
Autopsy finds THC in guide’s blood
May 10, 2012 | Volume 42, No. 19 | View PDF
A toxicology report on a heli-ski guide involved in a fatal avalanche March 13 found marijuana-based THC in his blood at higher than background levels.
Alaska Heliskiing guide Robert Liberman, 35, and client Nickolay Dodov, 26, were killed in the avalanche that occurred during a commercial trip by Alaska Heliskiing. Four other clients were in the group during the morning outing on a peak near the TsirkuRiver. Recent autopsies of the men showed both died of asphyxiation.
Liberman’s toxicology report, requested by the State of Alaska and conducted by NMS Labs of Willow Grove, Pa., found THC in Liberman’s blood at 2.8 nanograms per milliliter. According to the lab, levels of THC run between 50 and 270 ng/mL after smoking a joint, and drop to less than five nanograms after two hours.
The reporting limit for THC, the principal psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, is one nanogram per milliliter, according to the report.
Liberman’s toxicology report also found “Carboxy THC,” a metabolized form of THC, in concentrations of 16 nanograms per milliliter, where the reporting limit was five nanograms. Levels of the metabolized compound range from 10 to 101 ng/mL, 32 to 240 minutes after smoking marijuana, according to the report.
Officials with NMS Labs and the state coroner’s office each declined comment on the report.
It’s difficult to say whether the amounts of THC cited in the report would have an effect on a person, said one state official. “Whether someone would have a response to that level (cited in the report) is up to the individual,” said Dave Verbrugge, a chemist who studies analytical toxicology at the state’s public health lab.
“There’s going to be some individual variability, including factors like physiological response,” Verbrugge said.
No toxicology report was requested in Dodov’s autopsy, which was conducted by the KingCounty coroner’s office in Washington state. Dodov was flown to Seattle immediately after the avalanche, where he was pronounced dead.
Alaska Heliskiing had no comment on the matter this week.
Later in the summer, while investigating, we found out Rob Liberman’s nick’s names were “Go Red”, “Outlaw” and he was known by his Telluride friends as “Rob The Stoner”. Why a great skier like Rob would need to get stoned? Was he really need to get stoned before guiding clients, or was it the bad influence of Alaska Helisking owners? We learned through our investigation that Alaska Heliskiing owner, Sean Brownell, has a history of smoking marijuana while heliskiing with clients. We learned that Sean Dog was kicked out of Skagway, where he was heli guiding with Out of Bounds Heliskiing company for pot smoking. We have been told that after this he moved to Haines and, before he established Alaska Heliskiing, he was dealing drugs and smuggling heavy drugs over the border.
alexnatalianickdodov 
Your efforts for the truth are commendable.
It’s unbelievable how so many untruths occurred.
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