This week’s storm that dropped up to 49 inches of snow at some Utah ski resorts has led to several avalanches, two of which were fatal.
Wasatch County Sheriff’s Office deputies and search and rescue teams responded to an avalanche near the Snake Creek Trailhead, northwest of Midway, on Wednesdayafternoon. According to the sheriff’s office, a man and his juvenile son were snowmobiling in the area when the avalanche occurred. The adult was killed.
Another avalanche near Brighton Resort the next day claimed the life of a young woman, according to Unified Police detective Quinn Wilkins.
“It was just off the path where it was available and able to be skied on,” he said. “It was made notice to the investigators on the scene and to the entirety of the investigating body that the young girl had actually passed away from her condition at the hospital.”
As of Feb. 19, 26 avalanches have been reported to the Utah Avalanche Center in various locations around Utah. That includes an in-bounds avalanche at Powder Mountain on the same day, where no injuries were reported.
“The conditions are ever changing with the unpredictable snowpack,” Salt Lake County Sheriff Rosie Rivera shared in a written statement. “This incident is a reminder that avalanches can happen in an instant.”
After a record-setting slow start to the winter, this week’s storm saw the state’s snow water equivalent jump from 5.6 on Feb. 16 to 7.2 on Feb 19. That’s the depth of water snowpack would yield if it were to melt. While that’s good news for Utah’s water situation, Utah Avalanche Center forecaster Nikki Champion said the storm put the entire state under an avalanche warning.
“We had a weak foundation, we got a ton of snow, anywhere from 20 to almost 50 inches of snow, all of that fell on a weak base,” she said. “Combine that with strong winds, and we have been seeing very dangerous avalanche conditions across the whole state.”
That layer of snow is known as a persistent weak layer, which often forms over long stretches of calm, cold conditions.
“We call them a persistent weak layer for a reason,” Champion said. “They don't like rapid change. So a ton of new snow overloads them.”
Utah’s dangerous conditions come after a tragic incident in California on Feb. 17 where 8 skiers were killed, with one still missing, after an avalanche near Donner Summit.
The Salt Lake County Sheriff’s office has issued a statement urging anyone traveling into the backcountry to exercise extreme caution given current conditions.
“We want people to enjoy the Cottonwood Canyons, but safety must come first,” Sheriff Rivera said. “When conditions are unstable, the smartest decision may be to avoid backcountry recreation altogether.”
Champion said people going into the backcountry need to realize conditions have changed.
“We had such a long period of dry weather that we need to kind of switch our brains back on,” she said. “We got all of this snow. We don't want to let that kind of muddle our thinking. We need to be conservative. We need to be patient.”
Champion also stressed the importance of proper gear and education. That gear includes an avalanche beacon, shovel and probe and the knowledge of how to use them. For now, she said, never traveling alone and avoiding avalanche terrain — which is any slope over 30 degrees in pitch — will be the safest option for those still wanting to venture into the backcountry.
“Continue to practice safe travel techniques,” she said. “[Skiing down] one at a time, good communication, not having folks on a slope, all of that is going to be key moving through the next few weeks.”
Future conditions in Utah, Champion said, are at the “mercy of weather patterns.”
“The things that help these weak layers trend in the right direction would be consistent loading or warmer temps. … But conditions are going to remain dangerous for sure, through the weekend, likely through the next few weeks.”
Produced with assistance from the Public Media Journalists Association Editor Corps, funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.
