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BIG COTTONWOOD CANYON — A woman was rescued out of Big Cottonwood Canyon after police say she was seriously injured in an avalanche Monday afternoon.
About 1:30 p.m., emergency crews were dispatched to the canyon after a report of an avalanche near Little Water Peak that had injured at least one person, Unified Police Sgt. Aymee Race said.
Race said four people were skiing in the area when an avalanche was unintentionally triggered on a soft slab of wind-drifted snow at 9,200 feet elevation, according to the Utah Avalance Center.
The agency reports that all four skiers were caught up and carried by the avalanche, but Race said three of the skiers were able to ski out of it. The skiers who escaped the avalanche called emergency responders, prompting the search and rescue effort for the fourth person who was injured.
Unified Fire Authority crews, with the help of a Department of Public Safety helicopter, responded to the scene and rescued the woman out of the canyon, according to Race. The woman, whose name and age weren't immediately released, was transferred to Cardiff Fork before she was transported by ambulance to a hospital in serious condition, with injuries to her arms and legs.
Race added that the skiers were prepared with beacons that help locate anyone who may be trapped in an avalanche, as well as proper equipment to report the avalanche.
Little Water Peak is located on the northern side of Big Cottonwood Canyon, northwest of Solitude and Brighton resorts and near the Salt Lake-Summit county lines. It's also near Millcreek Canyon.
Utah Avalanche Center officials also reported a pair of naturally triggered avalanches in the Logan section of the Wasatch Mountains on Monday, as well as nearly a dozen natural- or human-triggered avalanches all over the state this weekend. It lists the Wasatch Mountains as having moderate avalanche risk at the moment. Its latest report notes that it's "possible to trigger wind-drifted snow avalanches near ridgelines and terrain features" in the Salt Lake County section of the range.
Avalanche risk was also forecast to rise beginning Monday afternoon, with wind gusts of up to 60 mph and a storm bringing more heavy snow forecast for the region.
Little Cottonwood Canyon's north-side backcountry will also be closed from Gate B to Grizzly Gulch for avalanche mitigation beginning at 10 p.m. Monday, according to the Utah Department of Transportation. It's expected to reopen by 8:30 a.m. Tuesday.
Contributing: Garna Mejia
