Search crews uncover bodies of 2 skiers buried by Utah avalanche
SANDY, Utah — Search crews on Friday uncovered the bodies of two backcountry skiers who were swept away and buried by an avalanche a day earlier in the mountains outside Salt Lake City and prepared to take them off the mountain by helicopter, Salt Lake County Sheriff Rosie Rivera said.
The men, ages 23 and 32, were killed Thursday morning in the snow slide in the Lone Peak area of the Wasatch Range southeast of the city, officials said. Storms in the previous three days brought up to 30 inches of heavy, wet snow and high winds to the area.
Three men were climbing on a ridge on a slope called Big Willow Aprons and near the summit when the slide inadvertently activated, the Utah Avalanche Center said.
The first climber was carried down the right side of the ridge and partially buried. The other two were swept away on the left side of the ridge and buried, the center said in its report.
The first climber was able to dig himself out and call for help. He was rescued on Thursday afternoon, but weather conditions prevented the recovery of the other two men.
Relatives of the two victims were at the Sandy search site Friday, Rivera said.
The snow broke about 2 feet (61 centimeters) deep and 25 feet (76 meters) wide and slid down about 500 feet (152 meters), the avalanche center said.
The area where the avalanche occurred, Lone Peak, is one of the highest peaks in the Wasatch Range and towers over Utah’s capital. The steep, rugged terrain makes it a popular destination for advanced backcountry skiers, and in the warmer months, experienced climbers can scale the sheer granite walls.
“This is a very serious area. It’s steep. It faces north. The crew that was up there had to be experienced,” Craig Gordon of the Utah Avalanche Center said Thursday.
Rivera confirmed that the men were experienced skiers.
The deaths bring the number of avalanche fatalities in the U.S. this winter to 15, according to the Utah Avalanche Information Center, which tracks avalanche deaths. In the US, an average of thirty people die every year from avalanches
___
Hanson reported from Helena, Montana.