Avalanche victim led an active life

Heather Gross accomplished more in her 27 years than many people do their entire lives.

"It is pretty amazing what she did," said her father, Dennis Gross. "She just crammed a lot of stuff into her days."

Sunday, Heather Gross was killed in an avalanche while skiing Mount Baldy at Snowbird Ski Resort about 12:30 p.m. She was skiing in an inbounds area of the resort.

"We're numb. We're nothing short of numb," Dennis Gross said Monday.

Heather Gross had lost a ski and was retrieving it when the avalanche buried her, he said. The person she was skiing with had a cell phone and called for help immediately. Officials estimated she was buried about 50 minutes before rescuers with long probing poles were able to find her and dig her out. She was taken to a local hospital where she died a short time later.

Sunday was the first time the high Baldy area had been open this season. Snowbird had conducted avalanche control in the area earlier that day. Heather Gross' accident was the first inbounds avalanche death at Snowbird in 30 years, according to officials. The Utah Avalanche Center reported there have only been five inbounds avalanche deaths in Utah since 1950.

This is the second inbounds avalanche death in Utah in two years, however. A man was killed in a slide at The Canyons Ski Resort in December.

Dennis Gross said he and his wife haven't had much time to think about the accident or whether anything could have been done to prevent it. Though he added, "You kind of think inbounds areas wouldn't have slides."

Dennis Gross said his daughter was an avid skier. She had a season pass and got to the slopes 45 days last year.

But skiing was just part of many of her activities. Heather Gross graduated from Brighton High School in 1999 as a Sterling Scholar in Spanish. She also earned a degree from the University of Utah in Spanish, a minor in Italian, a second degree in chemistry and was working at the time of her death on a master's degree in linguistics as well as studying Chinese.

"She was fanatic about languages," her father said.

Heather Gross had plenty of opportunities to practice her language skills. During her life, she spent a year in Spain taking classes to learn more of the language. She went to China just before the Olympics. She also traveled to New Zealand, Australia, Europe, England and South America.

"In her 27 years she covered a lot of ground," Dennis Gross said.

Heather Gross also had many friends from all over the world.

"People just seem to gravitate to liking her," her father said.

Heather Gross is survived by her father, mother and younger sister.