Two skiers died in avalanche in Little Cottonwood Canyon

The survivor tried to save his two friends at a “very objective destination.”

Two skiers died in an avalanche near Lone Peak Summit in Little Cottonwood Canyon on Thursday. According to officials, the men were 23 and 32 years old.

A man was taken by a Salt Lake County volunteer search and rescue team using a cherry picker attached to a helicopter to a staging area at a park on Wasatch Boulevard. The man, wearing a light sweater and ski pants, walked to an ambulance, which left without turning on the siren or lights.

According to Salt Lake County Sheriff Rosie Rivera, he and the men he was skiing with were believed to be friends. There remains a danger of avalanches in the area where the slide occurred, she said.

According to Craig Gordon, a forecaster with the Utah Avalanche Center who was involved in the rescue effort, the men were heading from Hidden Valley Park in Draper to the Lone Peak area when the avalanche struck. Gordon said he was not at the site, but images estimated the site was at least 100 feet long and several feet deep.

Rivera said the call, which Rivera believed was from the man he rescued, came in around 10 a.m

“He could dig himself out,” she said. “He was doing pretty well, other than mentally it’s extremely scary to go through something like that.”

The rescued man, Gordon said, was able to find the other skiers and attempt a rescue.

“This crew had the right equipment: avalanche beacon, shovels, probes. They were on their game,” Gordon said. “Things went sideways. This gentleman helped keep the guardrails in place and I commend him for all his heroic efforts.”

The avalanche occurred near Big Willow Cirque, one of the lower flanks of Lone Peak. Although it is near the base of the canyon and accessible via the S-curve, Jeff Mikaelian, an avid skier in the Wasatch Front backcountry, said the Lone Peak area is not very popular for backcountry touring. He said the long, arduous hike and the relative difficulty of reaching the snow compared to the terrain around Alta and other higher elevations typically serve as a deterrent.

“Usually,” Mikaelian said, “only very motivated people ski.”

Evan Thayer, a forecaster for the website OpenSnow.com, reported on his X account (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday that 42 inches of snow had fallen at the Alta ski area since Sunday. That’s the most snow there in May since 1993, he said.

Skiing has been “amazing” recently, Gordon said, because of the heavy snowfall that remained light in the higher elevations. However, he warned that conditions can change suddenly, especially in spring.

When asked if avalanches are common around Lone Peak, Gordon said the area is so rarely traveled that it’s hard to say. UAC records show no avalanches at Lone Peak or Big Willow last year.

“This is a harsh place,” Gordon said, “and this would be a very objective goal for this crew.”

“This was a group of very experienced, very serious and very dedicated backcountry skiers,” he added with tears in his eyes. “At the moment things are very difficult for us and our entire community.”

Multiple agencies – including Unified Fire Authority, Draper Fire, Sandy Fire, Wasatch Backcountry Rescue, the National Forest Service and the Unified Police Department – ​​responded to the incident. According to the UPD, the search and rescue mission will be conducted out of the city of Alta.

Last year, a skier died in an avalanche in Weber Canyon. Two years earlier, Utah experienced one of the worst avalanche seasons in terms of fatalities. Five skiers and one splitboarder died in two avalanches in 2021.

Editor’s note, May 9, 3:36 p.m.: This article has been updated to reflect that Rosie Rivera is the sheriff of Salt Lake County.