Less snow should give Utah break this week

Despite snowy weather during Christmas week, traffic and recreational accidents were minimal.

Still, understanding and respecting Utah's weather was the difference between life and death for a group of skiers on Christmas Day. And with more snow followed by warming temperatures forecast for this week, skiers, snowmobilers and others going into the backcountry are urged to be well-prepared for avalanche dangers.

The National Weather Service said that this week's weather will be less active than last with a chance of snow Monday night in higher elevations. The rest of the week should be dry with lower temperatures ranging in the 30s, said Mike Seaman, a Weather Service meteorologist.

The Utah Avalanche Center is rating the avalanche danger in mountain ranges in the Salt Lake, Provo, Uintah and Logan areas as high, saying that human-caused avalanches are very likely in these areas on slopes above 30 degrees. Those dangers, as well as multiple accidents last week, are highlighting the need for preparation.

In one of those avalanches, on Thursday, a skier was buried four feet below the snow after an avalanche swallowed the man and carried him down the slope, pinning him against a tree. Fortunately the group he was skiing with was comprised of skilled backcountry skiers and the man was found and uncovered in a short 10 minutes following the slide.

The story could have been much different, said Bruce Tremper, director of the Utah Avalanche Center.

"It's a rare thing to get a live recovery when someone is buried more than five feet below the snow," Tremper said.

The slide happened on the north side of Little Water Peak along the Big Cottonwood ridge line. The slope is a conservative 30 degrees, according to Tremper, and he said such slides are rare on such low slopes.

Tom Digel was a member of the group skiing on Christmas and is a volunteer observer for the center. Digel was described by Tremper as an "extremely experienced" backcountry skier who helped lead the rescue efforts on Thursday.

"I try to practice full rescue scenarios at least a few times every season and that made all the difference," Digel said. "Practicing allowed me to focus on the task at hand during the rescue, so I didn't succumb to the bad thoughts, like how will I tell his wife."

All four skiers in the group were equipped with beacons, and Digel said they made all the difference in speeding the rescue. When he practices, Digel said, he often "geeks out" and will bury his beacons as deep as possible so he can account for irregular readings at deeper depths from the sensors.

On Christmas, the Utah Avalanche Center had issued an avalanche warning that was rated high for most slopes. Digel said he was aware of this and that is why the group chose the slope it did. He described the slope's angle as "low" and said the old growth of trees in the area suggested avalanches were rare in the area.

However, Digel admits that the group miscalculated the clearing the slide was triggered in.

"It was great snow with a layer of boot-top powder on a good base," Digel said. "But we knew that it was the cream on a menacing layer."

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E-mail: cnorlen@desnews.com