2 backcountry skiers safe after avalanche

ALTA — Two backcountry skiers escaped without injury Sunday after they triggered an avalanche in Little Cottonwood Canyon.

The slide occurred about 2:01 p.m., and the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Department dispatched a rescue team because it believed the skiers may have been trapped.

"A witness from the bottom saw the people when they triggered it, but they disappeared behind a ridge line so it was believed they got swept away," said Salt Lake County sheriff's deputy Brent Davis.

After searching for about an hour and interviewing the witness and the two skiers who triggered the slide, officials determined no one had been lost in the avalanche.

Davis said the two skiers were doing nothing illegal, they simply started the slide while skiing in the backcountry — on the north side of the canyon road, between the Snowbird and Alta ski resorts.

"They triggered it below them," he said. "I think they triggered it and traversed into a safe area. Luckily, it didn't fracture above them."

No estimate was available on the exact size of the slide, but Davis said it was not as large as avalanches can be in that area.