Many outdoors enthusiasts in the territory are bidding farewell to a friend they've come to know well over the past year.

Jan Galac died last Sunday when he was buried by an avalanche while on a three-day back-country skiing trip in Kluane National Park with three other skiers, who survived.

"He was a very likable person,” Galac's friend Rudy Sudrich told the Star Thursday.

He described the 28-year-old (he would have turned 29 in December, Sudrich said) as a man who was very familiar with and experienced in back-country travel, and did not take unnecessary risks in his skiing and river travel.

It was the Yukon wilderness and opportunity for outdoor adventure that brought Galac to the territory from his home in the Czech Republic.

Sudrich, who also immigrated from the Czech Republic more than 40 years ago, got to know Galac through the Whitehorse Cross Country Ski Club.

Galac was easy to talk to, enthusiastic about any sport adventure and made friends easily. That meant he didn't seem to have the same difficulties many new immigrants do in adjusting to their new lives in Canada, Sudrich said.

The pair did back-country ski trips in Kluane National Park, the Skagway and Haines summits, and other spots in the region.

Their next trip would have seen them climb Mount Logan next month.

Sudrich was one of many friends Galac had who enjoyed the outdoors. With those friends, he explored rivers, glaciers and trails throughout the Yukon and Alaska.

As the outdoors community mourns the loss of a good friend, an investigation into the cause of Sunday's avalanche is continuing.

Conditions in the back-country can change quickly. A park warden at the Kluane National Park office in Haines Junction said Thursday it's especially important to be alert and watch for snowslides and slumps in the late afternoon.

"Snow conditions change throughout the day,” said Richard Cherepak.

He has been responding to media inquiries over the avalanche risk in the park since early this week, when the fatal snowslide occurred.

The slide, 500 metres long, included multiple streams of snow.

The two men who weren't taken with the slide found Galac and the other skier it had taken, but couldn't revive Galac. The men were equipped with safety beacons, probes and other safety and rescue gear.

Galac was buried under more than a foot of snow, and the remaining three men were forced to leave his body on the slope. It was later recovered.

Stressing that he is not an avalanche expert, Cherepak said the park is continuing its practice that requires all back-country users to register in person before they go out.

During that time, they are given information on safe travelling.

Back-country travellers are also strongly encouraged to be trained, carry the proper gear and have a back-up plan so that if they don't return by a planned time, someone is aware of that and contacts authorities.

Parks Canada, Cherepak added, has high expectations that anyone travelling in the back-country – whether it's at Kluane or any other national park and for any reason, whether its hiking, hunting or skiing, among many others – is aware of the risks involved and is self-reliant.

It's fairly common knowlege that at this time of year, in the late afternoons the sun is at its most powerful strength. Thus back-country enthusiasts should be alert for any changes in snow conditions, he said.

An investigation is underway to look at the cause of the slide that will be provided to Parks Canada.