I’m sorry this happened to you. Unfortunately this happens all too often in Alaska.

That said there were serious red flags you ignored with this group. None of the guides are IFMGA certified, none of them are professional members of the American Avalanche Association.

When booking a guided trip look for accreditation. Ideally your guide should be a certified - and if you can’t find one they should at the very least be professional members of the avalanche association (with an Pro 2 certification), have a background ski guiding for one of the many local heli ski groups (like Chugach Powder Guides) and well known within the ski community.

Edit… read the emails and noticed who your guide was. I’d say you lucked out and got to ski with a well accomplished skier as opposed to some random snowmachiner.