At Least 3 Trapped by Utah Avalanche

An avalanche outside the boundary of a Utah ski resort on Friday trapped at least three people beneath as much as 30 feet of snow, authorities said.

Summit County Sheriff Dave Edmunds said he did not know 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 had been found in the avalanche, which was about 500 yards wide and happened outside the boundary of The Canyons resort on federal land in the Wasatch-Cache National Forest.

More than three hours after the avalanche, Edmunds said it was nearing time to change the focus of the operation from rescue to recovery.

The search was called off at sunset and was to resume this morning.

Jess Fleig, a skier who spoke to Associated Press on a cellphone from a mountaintop while skiing at The Canyons, said he frequented the backcountry but stayed away from the popular Dutch Draw area Friday 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,” Fleig said.

He said debris from the slide went through the valley below and through the trees. He was riding up a resort chairlift with two resort employees and heard the initial radio communication after the avalanche.

Bruce Tremper, director of the U.S. Forest Service’s Utah Avalanche Center, said the area where the slide happened was out-of-bounds, but the resort “can’t close it off. It would be like trying to close a city park,” Tremper said.

The avalanche center warned of considerable danger Friday, which meant human-triggered avalanches were probable.

A series of storms lasting more than two weeks dropped 6-8 feet of wet, heavy snow on the Wasatch mountains, setting up prime avalanche conditions.