- A snowmobiler died in a Utah avalanche on Feb. 18, which narrowly missed his son.
- The avalanche swept the father 300 feet downhill, burying him under 2 feet of snow.
- Utah Avalanche Center warns of high avalanche danger after recent heavy snowfalls.
MIDWAY — A snowmobiler who died in the first of three fatal avalanches in Utah last week had become stuck on the mountain moments before a massive slide swept him away and narrowly missed his son, according to an incident report released on Thursday.
The man, whose name and age have not been released, was snowmobiling with his son north of Ant Knolls near Wasatch Mountain State Park on Feb. 18, when his vehicle got stuck in a bowl on the slope. His son rode over to help him when the avalanche was triggered by their snowmobile activity, the Utah Avalanche Center wrote in its final report.
It led to a 700-foot vertical, 250-foot-wide slide that swept up the father and just missed his son.
"The father and his snowmobile were carried approximately 300 feet downhill. He came to rest against a tree and was buried under about 2 feet of snow," the agency wrote.
The son was able to locate his father through the beacon he was wearing and partially unbury him, but the man had already died.
Utah avalanche experts arrived at the scene a day later to examine the conditions that led to the fatal slide. They determined that it originated near the ridge of an east-northeast-facing slope in an area with a 34-degree angle.
Snow from the last few weeks piled atop a weak layer of snow created by mostly warm and dry January conditions. It appears to have buckled, causing the massive slide 400 feet above the snowmobile riders.
The fatal slide indicated "just how unstable the snowpack had become," the agency wrote in the report, adding that the report is meant to understand avalanche causes to help others avoid similar incidents.
A man riding a snow bike, Brian O'Keefe, 45, of Salt Lake City, was killed by an avalanche in a similar area just west of Midway days after the incident. The Utah Avalanche Center has yet to release a report about that slide.
An 11-year-old Massachusetts girl was also killed in an avalanche near Brighton Ski Resort last week, as well.
A 57-year-old man who was critically injured after being trapped in an avalanche Saturday in Big Cottonwood Canyon also died, the sheriff's office announced Thursday. He and another man were caught in an avalanche near Butler Fork.
Those represent some of the dozens of natural and human-caused avalanches reported since the state's biggest snowfall of the year last week.
Conditions remain unstable in many areas of the state.
The Utah Avalanche Center issued a warning on Wednesday, following another storm that delivered more snow to Utah's northern half this week. While that alert wasn't extended on Thursday, the center warns that avalanche danger remains "high" to "considerable" across most of central, northern and eastern Utah.
People are urged to avoid slopes of 30 degrees or higher, have a beacon and not travel in the backcountry alone.
"Avalanche conditions are dangerous," forecaster Bo Torrey wrote in one report. "Very large, natural avalanches occurred (on Wednesday), and more are possible (on Thursday). "The avalanche danger is considerable on all aspects and elevations, and human-triggered avalanches are likely."
