Utah avalanche danger increasing

Authorities are warning of increased avalanche danger as more storms move across Utah.

It comes as the second avalanche fatality of the week struck in the backcountry near Oakley, in Summit County. Authorities said 53-year-old Dave Balls was snowmobiling in an area known as the Super Bowl on the east side of Windy Beak in the Whitney Basin area on Tuesday when he died in an avalanche.

"He was buried for over an hour and a half," the Utah Avalanche Center said in a statement on its Web site Wednesday. "He was not wearing a beacon and was found with an organized probe line."

Authorities were expected to investigate the cause of the slide today. The Utah Avalanche Center said the slide was as much as 400 feet wide and 4 feet deep.

"Wind loading on a weak faceted snowpack is the most likely structure," the Web site utahavalanchecenter.com said.

Balls' family released a statement Wednesday saying David was snowmobiling with his sons in an area they were all familiar with. Balls and his sons were "very experienced" snowmobilers, the statement said.

He was the founder and owner of Valley Ready Mix, which he ran with his brother-in-law Brent Baker.

Balls is the second person to die in an avalanche this week. An 11-year-old boy is making a remarkable recovery after he was buried for 33 minutes in an avalanche on Sunday.

Max Zilvitis was one of three skiers trapped in an avalanche on an inbounds trail at The Canyons. Jesse R. Williams, 30, of Grand Junction, Colo. died of head trauma when the slide carried him into a tree. Zilvitis and his father, Brian, were also caught in the slide.

"A man and a child below were engulfed, with the man partially buried and the child totally buried," according to a report from the Avalanche Forecast Center.

"The father was able to dig himself out while his son remained completely buried. The ski patrol arrived and performed an outstanding rescue. They set up a probe line using volunteers on the scene. Within minutes, there was a strike by a 15-year-old girl that was on the probe line that the snow safety had organized, and the boy was excavated from the debris with no pulse or respirations."

Monday afternoon Max regained consciousness and has made dramatic improvement each day. Wednesday, Primary Children's Medical Center listed him in good condition and said he had been taken out of intensive care.

Brian and Samantha Zilvitis, of Park City, released a statement Wednesday about their son's recovery.