Man saves his brother caught in Utah avalanche

CACHE COUNTY, Utah (KSL.com) — Two brothers had “a very close call” with what the Utah Avalanche Center calls a “large avalanche,” while riding in the Franklin Basin area of Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest on Christmas Eve.

A local snowmobiler was standing next to his sled, watching as his brother rode above him across a steep section bowl beneath cliffs in Steep Hollow, the initial accident report says.

The man’s brother “saw the slope ripple below and around his sled, but was able to ride off the north flank of the avalanche,” writes Toby Weed, forecaster for the Utah Avalanche Center.

The spectator was hit by the slide, Weed says, which was around 500 feet wide and 2 feet deep, and carried the man about 150 yards, fully burying him.

The man’s brother used his transceiver to locate his buried companion, seeing “a couple fingers of a gloved hand sticking out of the snow.” He was dug out and sustained minor injuries, but both were able to make it out of the backcountry safely.

Currently, a persistent weak layer is “widespread in upper-elevation terrain” of northern Utah, according to forecasters at the center, and “most slopes are plagued by very poor snow structure.”

“Remotely triggered avalanches remain possible, and dangerous avalanches might be triggered from flat terrain below steep slopes. On the other hand, a dangerous avalanche may wait until a rider gets out in the middle of the slab before it releases,” the center reports. These dangers are especially prevalent in the Bear River Range.

The danger of avalanches does not just apply to backcountry skiers and sledders, the center said. At least half a dozen wet avalanches were reported in the area below Temple Fork and above the Logan River on Monday, “due to rain soaking the shallow snow.” Anglers also need to be careful to not get caught in a “classic terrain trap” while fishing.

Forecasters are predicting a storm cycle with 6 to 10 inches of accumulation possible in higher elevations Wednesday, and that “copious snowfall will continue Thursday night and Friday, and on through the weekend and into next week.”

The storms also bring with them “a significant increase in backcountry avalanche danger in the mountains of northern Utah,” the center says “as heavy snow and drifting overload slopes with widespread persistent weak layers and poor snow structure.”

“Smooth meadows and grassy low-angle slopes in sheltered terrain offer the best powder riding options,” according to forecasters.