Alaska Avalanche Kills Former O.C. Woman

A former Orange County woman was killed last week when she tried to save a friend who had been carried away in an avalanche while snowboarding in Alaska.

Katrina Winchell, 32, died Tuesday from multiple injuries. She had gone by helicopter on a skiing and snowboarding expedition on Mt. McGinnis near Juneau with four friends.

Winchell and Matthew Brakel were snowboarding down a ridge when the avalanche started. Winchell was on one route, but Brakel had gone to a steeper one. As the avalanche carried Brakel away, Winchell started yelling for him and then dived into the avalanche after him, witnesses said.

Both died later Tuesday at Bartlett Regional Hospital.

Friends said the humanitarian act was part of Winchell’s nature.

“She would have done it for anybody,” said Trudy Berichia, a family friend of 29 years. “She would have done it whether she knew the person or not. Whether it was an animal, cat, dog. She loved life, but she wanted everybody else to also.”

Winchell, who moved to Juneau three years ago from Garden Grove, worked as a pub manager at the Hangar on the Wharf, a popular restaurant and nightspot in Juneau. She also modeled skiing equipment, skied on a team, painted and made jewelry.

“She loved anything artistic,” Berichia said.

Winchell was a graduate of Bolsa Grande High School in Garden Grove and of Cal State Fullerton, where she majored in fine art.

Services will be at 1 p.m. Friday at Pacific View Mortuary in Newport Beach. Winchell is survived by her parents, Ann and Bill Winchell of Garden Grove; sisters Pollyann Winchell of Garden Grove and Jeanette Voros of Rialto.