Avalanche kills Chilean 'boarder

BIG COTTONWOOD CANYON — A snowboarder who was visiting from Chile was killed Monday after an avalanche buried him while he was in an out-of-bounds area near Brighton Ski Resort.

Atilio Giorgio Cremaschi Yazar, 27, was snowboarding near Pioneer Ridge just after 2 p.m. when the slide occurred. He was with a friend, who had to make his way down the hill before he could find a member of the ski patrol and report what had happened, said Salt Lake County Sheriff's Lt. Jon Fassett.

Brighton ski patroller Patrick Eibs said the avalanche ran nearly 100 feet wide and more than 400 feet down the slope from the 10,321-foot ridge. He said Cremaschi Yazar fell through a wind-swept cornice, or overhang, onto a steep slope and triggered a three-foot deep avalanche, burying all but one glove under the snow.

The ski resort's Wasatch Backcountry Rescue team located Cremaschi Yazar about 20 minutes later using probing poles, Fassett said. The rescue team dug the man out and began trying to resuscitate him before the county's search and rescue crews arrived.

Emergency crews at first thought they would need a hoist to lift the 'boarder out of the area, but a Life Flight helicopter was able to land nearby. The crews loaded him into the helicopter and flew him to University Hospital in extremely critical condition.

He was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Officials said Monday's incident is a solemn reminder to all backcountry recreationists to be extremely careful in the spring. As the weather starts to get warmer and the winds kick up with spring storms, Fassett said it's more important than ever to check avalanche conditions before venturing out of bounds.

Conditions Monday were listed at "moderate to considerable," he said, meaning that a skier is likely to cause an avalanche, with the danger increasing as the day went on.

It was the third avalanche-related death so far this season.

Marshall Higgins, 31, was killed New Year's Eve while snowshoeing the Primrose Cirque area at Mount Timpanogos. His body has not been recovered. Earlier this month, snowboarder Ryan Smedley, 34, died after triggering an avalanche in the Taylor's Canyon region near Ogden's Snowbasin Ski Area.

During the 2004-2005 ski season, eight people were killed in avalanches in Utah, one of the deadliest seasons since the state began keeping records in the 1950s. Experts have said this season isn't expected to be as bad.

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Contributing: Wendy Leonard

E-mail: preavy@desnews.com