BEST FRIENDS: Hagan says Gashler (above, with his dog, Wanda) ‘was always smiling.’ Courtesy Doug Hagan

A freak snowslide in a remote area of the Sierra Nevada claimed the life of a Stanford alumnus on New Year’s Day, but his companion and former Stanford classmate escaped.

Joseph “Drew” Gashler and Doug Hagan, both Class of ’88, were backcountry skiing during a blinding snowstorm west of Truckee, Calif., when a cornice above them collapsed, burying both. Hagan managed to dig his way out but could not locate Gashler. He eventually made his way to the Peter Grubb Hut, a crude shelter built in the 1930s, where he stayed for two days as the storm raged. A search-and-rescue team later found Gashler’s body beneath four feet of snow. He apparently had been killed instantly when the snowslide threw him into a tree.

Officials said the cornice did not appear dangerous, and skiers had passed under it many times in recent years. That Gashler happened to be there at the moment it gave way “was just bad luck,” said Sgt. Joe Salivar, a Nevada County sheriff’s officer.

A former Peace Corps volunteer and an accomplished guitarist, Gashler built robotic underwater vehicles that collected oceanographic data at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. He was engaged to Teri Nicholson, ’89, who lived with him in Pacific Grove, Calif.

“His circle of family and friends was big,” says Hagan, who first met Gashler on the Stanford sailing team. “At his memorial it was amazing to learn how many people had shared a slice of Drew’s life—in different and very personal ways.”