Two brothers have safely returned home after one triggered an avalanche while out snowmobiling with their father on Christmas Eve.
The family, who was not immediately identified, was in Cache County’s Logan Canyon when one of the brothers triggered an avalanche as he rode across a steep slope beneath a section of rock face, according to an incident report from the Utah Avalanche Center.
He was able to ride off its northern side but watched as the avalanche swept up and carried his older brother, who had been standing next to him and below the slope.
The avalanche pushed the brother and his sled down the slope, carrying them for approximately 450 feet and through a group of trees. It completely buried him.
Their father was stuck down the hill and at the bottom of the avalanche, but switched his avalanche transceiver — a device that emits a radio signal that can be picked up by other transceivers in the area — into search mode. He attempted to climb up to the avalanche’s tip, but the snow was deep and wouldn’t support him.
The younger brother used his transceiver and an “effective search pattern” to get a signal and move closer to his brother. Eventually, he saw the fingers of his brother’s gloved hand sticking out of the snow and dug him out to safety.
The older brother broke his leg in the accident, but was able to ride out of the backcountry with his younger brother.
“On December 26, We went up to the scene of the accident and recovered the bent-up and broken sled and a badly ripped airbag that the older brother had deployed when he was caught by the avalanche. The damage to the sled, the airbag, and the rider was caused by all being dragged violently through a group of trees by the avalanche,” the center said.
“Those guys had a very, very lucky Christmas Eve,” Toby Weed, a forecaster with the Utah Avalanche Center, told Salt Lake City’s Fox 13.
The incident comes as the center issued a backcountry avalanche warning for over the weekend.
The warning is in effect through Saturday morning, with heavy snow and strong winds expected to bring “very dangerous conditions and high avalanche danger” to many areas of northern Utah over the coming days.
People should avoid traveling on or under steep terrain and at mid- and upper-level elevations in the backcountry, as well as carry and know how to use avalanche rescue equipment. Avalanches can be triggered on slopes that are 30 degrees and steeper, but may also start from below or at a distance.
Every year, an average of 28 people are killed in avalanches across the U.S. This season has seen a fatality in Idaho.
“Number one, always access and read the forecast. The forecast that day, was for considerable avalanche danger, and that’s actually the same danger that it is here in Logan today,” Weed said.
