At least three captured in US avalanche
Rescuers are searching today for at least three people trapped in up to 30ft of snow after an avalanche outside a Utah ski resort.
Summit County Sheriff Dave Edmunds said he did not know precisely how many people were missing in the slide, but said he was “willing to say more than two”. He did not know if victims were wearing avalanche beacons, which would transmit their locations, even under the snow.
No bodies had been recovered, and no survivors have been found in the avalanche, which was about 500 meters wide and happened outside the boundary of The Canyons resort on government land in the Wasatch-Cache National Forest.
More than three hours after yesterday’s avalanche, Edmunds said it was nearing time to change the focus of the operation from rescue to recovery.
“We plan to continue the search as long as it’s safe,” Edmunds said.
Jess Fleig, a skier who spoke to The Associated Press on a mobile phone from a mountaintop while skiing at The Canyons, said he frequented the backcountry but stayed away from the popular Dutch Draw area near where the slide took place.
“I looked at that ride probably 20 or 30 minutes before it went and what immediately came to mind is that’s trouble waiting to happen,” the 35-year-old disc jockey said. ”It’s a very popular area. You have to hike 10 or 15 minutes to get there, but it’s marked with skull and crossbones and a warning that you could die.”
Fleig said debris from the slide went through the valley below and through the trees. He was riding up a resort chair lift with two resort employees and heard the initial radio communication in the moments after the avalanche.
At that time resort crews were not sure how many people might be in the slide, but said that through binoculars six or seven people could be seen scurrying about the rubble, Fleig said.
A series of storms lasting over two weeks dropped wet, heavy snow on the Wasatch mountains, setting up prime avalanche conditions.
