On Monday afternoon the woman was skiing with three others on Little Water Peak in Big Cottonwood Canyon at about 9,200 feet. It’s northwest of Brighton and Solitude near the Salt Lake-Summit county lines.
“There was a close call with a group of four skiers that were involved in a wind-drifted snow avalanche," Utah Avalanche Center Forecaster Dave Kelly said. "One of those skiers was injured enough to require helicopter evacuation from the [Department of Public Safety] and the other three skiers were able to ski out of the terrain and back to the trailhead.”
The woman caught in the slide went to the hospital in serious condition, with injuries to her arms and legs.
The UAC is forecasting considerable avalanche danger on all slopes, particularly at upper elevations near ridgelines and sensitive terrain features.
Nearly a dozen natural or human-triggered avalanches were reported across Utah this weekend. One involved a snowmobiler at 9,800 feet in American Fork Canyon, who triggered an avalanche 1,500 feet wide and two feet deep.
