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SALT LAKE CITY — A woman was back country skiing in Porter Fork with her boyfriend on Saturday afternoon when a large avalanche swept her away and buried her. Now, she's recovering at University Hospital.
Elisabeth Malloy and her boyfriend, Adam Morrey realize that most avalanche stories end up in tragedy. But, they are alive as a result of having the right equipment and expertise along with some luck. The only injury for Malloy was severe frostbite to her right foot and right hand.
"It was a beautiful day, and we were having a lot of fun," Morrey said in recounting their experience. "We were feeling good."
Morrey and Malloy pushed higher up the moutain on their skiing trek, reaching 9,000 feet despite the instabililty that they saw in the snow.
"Our judgment was overwhelmed by the pursuit of skiing steeper slopes of great Utah power," Morrey said.
But, their day changed quickly when an avalanche broke 200 feet above them.
"I was immediately pushed forward down the slope," Morrey said. "I remember hitting a large tree."
Malloy got caught right in the middle of the avalanche.
"I was trying to swim, and I was trying to flail trying to get myself on the surface of the slide as opposed to being dragged under the two feet of snow," she said.
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"It wasn't violent, and I didn't hit anything," Malloy said. "It was just kind a ride."
The avalanche was 700 feet long and two feet deep and slid 800 vertical feet. It buried Malloy in about two feet of snow, during which she lost a boot and a glove.
"Almost instantly after it all stopped," she said. "And it was surreal."
She says it was serene and she started to meditate and breathe slowly. She didn't remember passing out.
"I just had that feeling that I was going to be fine," she said.
Morrey used his beacon and probe to find Malloy. And incredibly, another skier came along to help them on their arduous journey down the mountain.
"Looking back at it, it was miraculous," Malloy said. "It was amazing. It worked, and here we are."
Malloy calls it a perfect storm, everything went right. And even though she suffered severe frostbite on her right foot and right hand, the skin tissue will come around.
Their skiing experience certainly helped save them, but they did owe a lot of thanks to that other skier, Peter Daughter and the search and rescue crews down below that helped as well.
