Two U.S. Ski Team Prospects Killed in Avalanche
BERMAN: Terrible accident has skiers around the world mourning two of their own this morning. Nineteen-year-old Bryce Astle and 20-year-old Ronnie Berlack were killed Monday in an avalanche in Austria. Four others managed to escape the rush and call for help. Rescuers were unable to get to Astle and Berlack in time. CNN's Erin McLaughlin has more on this tragedy. Good morning, Erin.</s>ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, John. Well, this is a dark day for the U.S. ski team. Two of its prospective members were killed at an Austrian ski resort. They had been, the athletes had been skiing off-trail at team's European training base when an avalanche took their lives.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a very sad day for the U.S. ski team.</s>MCLAUGHLIN (voice-over): On these Austrian slopes, a beautiful day gave way to disaster. As two skiers lost their lives Monday. Two Olympic hopefuls, 20-year-old Ronnie Berlack and 19-year-old Bryce Astle, were among a group of six athletes skiing down the mountain. The group venturing into an area off the prepared path, and under an avalanche alert. According to the resort, the skiers triggered the avalanche that took their lives, the other four able to ski out without injuries. The rescue effort lasting nearly an hour, 60 people, two helicopters, dogs and medical staff rushing to the scene. Berlack and Astle found buried under nine to 14 feet of snow, according to the resort. Berlack and Astle both had promising ski careers ahead of them. Berlack, a New Hampshire native, was recently named to the U.S. ski team development team after two top 20 finishes at the U.S. Alpine Championship.</s>BRYCE ASTLE: Hi, my name is Bryce Astle.</s>MCLAUGHLIN: 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.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 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.</s>STEVE HEATH, FRANCONIA VILLAGE STORE: 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.</s>MCLAUGHLIN: 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.</s>BERMAN: All right. So sad, Erin McLaughlin for us, thanks so much. Michaela?</s>PEREIRA: Joining me now is Sasha Rearick. He's the head coach of the U.S. men's ski team and he knew Bryce and Ronnie. He joins me on the phone. Sasha, I'm glad I can speak to you, how are you doing?</s>SASHA REARICK, HEAD COACH, U.S. MEN'S SKI TEAM (via telephone): We're holding strong as a family together. The entire U.S. ski team, the athletes that are here and also the athletes that are spread out around Europe doing different competitions. We're holding strong as a family. For sure, it's been an emotional 24 hours, but the strength of our family is unbelievable.</s>PEREIRA: You speak about this family. I know that skiers and downhill sports athletes are very close-knit. You often train at the same facilities and I understand that your development team, there were six people skiing when this horrible accident happened. And that some of the other skiers tried to rescue Ronnie and Bryce. Tell us about that.</s>REARICK: Yes, four of our athletes were first ones on the scene -- digging, helping, helping rescuers point in the right direction, shoveling as fast and as hard as possible. Our coaching staff, was nearby, ran up the hill, to where the avalanche finally settled and took part in the whole process, too. The amount of strength that those encouraged, that those individuals demonstrated was remarkable.</s>PEREIRA: Remarkable indeed. And such heartbreaking, such trauma for them to endure. I understand it happened near the European training base, and the European training base and Austrian Alps. At one point, the group of skiers went off-trail and that's what triggered the avalanche. Is this a rare kind of accident to happen in your experience?</s>REARICK: Yes, I've been with the U.S. ski team for 12, 15 years and this is the first time we've had any incident like this. You know, the athletes were out skiing like our, like the general public of the general tourists that are here in Soelden, enjoying the great mountain, huge mountain that it is here.</s>PEREIRA: A beautiful area. Huge majestic mountains. Give us an idea about these two young men, two incredible young athletes, Ronnie Berlack, Bryce Astle. I want you to tell us a little bit more, Ronnie from Franconia, New Hampshire, he was injured recently, wasn't he?</s>REARICK: Yes, Ronnie was a tremendous team player, teammate to individuals, everybody loved his energy and enthusiasm for being part of the team. It was his dream, to be a ski racer, to be on the national team and reach his Olympic aspirations, and such a team person, always looking out for coaches and athletes and the service guys, tremendous individual, always, always wanting to do the best for the team. And Bryce, which has always had a smile on his face, always enjoyed whatever he was doing. Whether it was training hard or hanging with friends, he just had a smile on his face, which brought energy and enthusiasm to anybody around him, especially me.</s>PEREIRA: I can hear it in your voice, the you're struggling to come to terms with this, two young men cut down in their prime of their lives. I understand that you've got some racers that are going to be competing today in Croatian world cup events. And the skiers have the choice, whether to compete or not. You talk about this close-knit group. Do you get a sense that they want to go ahead and still enter the competition? Or are they struggling to make sense of all this?</s>REARICK: I mean everybody is going to handle this differently. And we're putting together plan so that each individual coach, athlete, service, physio, can move forward. And in the best way they can. And for many of the athletes, that's going to mean getting in the start gate. Getting back in the saddle and charging down the mountain. That's what Bryce and Ronnie would have wanted us to do. You know, so the guys there in Zagreb, I left there last night, and they bonded together and said we're going to charge, we're going to race in their honor. You know the athletes that are here in Soelden who were closer to the scene, were making plans individually for what's best for those guys, to move forward and gain strength from this tragedy for the rest of their lives.</s>PEREIRA: Well, it will likely impact them for the rest of their lives, we know there's a lot of people impacted by this, two lives lost. The families, the people of the ski team, all the support people as well. Our thoughts and prayers are with you all. Sasha Rearick, we thank you so much for joining us and we send our best to you and the team.</s>REARICK: Thank you very much.</s>PEREIRA: Alisyn?</s>CAMEROTA: OK, Michaela. Well, New Yorkers say a final farewell to former New York Governor Mario Cuomo at his funeral this morning. We look back at the man and his legacy, with someone who often disagreed and sparred with Cuomo, former Education Secretary Bill Bennett.