San Diego native Ryan Barr, 46, died March 9, 2023, in upper Weber Canyon after being buried in an avalanche while on a guided skiing tour with Park City Powder Cats.
His wife Caroline filed a lawsuit in July against the company, which operates at Thousand Peaks Ranch in Oakley.
She claims her husband was not given a shovel and did not receive any avalanche training from Park City Powder Cats prior to their expedition. The complaint says Barr was given an avalanche beacon.
The lawsuit also provides more details about the final run of the day Barr was killed.
His wife alleges the company took the group on a “party run,” which involved skiing in an area no other clients had touched all season long.
“The paid guests were told that for the last run of the day, they were going to ski somewhere that no other clients had skied all season long,” the complaint filed July 6 states. “In other words, this particular group would be the first.”
Along with calling the route selection dangerous, the lawsuit claims Park City Powder Cats sent more than one skier at a time on the traverse across M&M bowl, which contributed to the avalanche danger along with record snow.
“Rather than hike to the top of the summit and ski the spine or ridge, the Park City Powder Cat guides made the choice to have the group traverse across a head wall under a cornice out to the ridge with a narrow gully at the bottom of the slope,” the lawsuit states. “The guides selected the route without regard to avalanche conditions, snow conditions, the steepness of the slope, the lack of beta testing, and the terrain trap (gully) at the bottom.”
An avalanche was ultimately triggered. It was 4 feet deep, 400 feet wide, and ran over 1,000 feet vertically.
Barr was buried alive under feet of snow and eventually suffocated.
The lawsuit alleges that Barr’s friends weren’t allowed to help tour guides search for his body when he was initially buried.
Barr’s wife said Park City Powder Cats did not notify her about her husband’s death until three days after the incident.
Through Salt Lake City-based legal firms Adams Davis and Gross & Rooney, she is seeking financial damages as a result of negligence.
Park City Powder Cats did not respond to requests for comment.
In a statement immediately following Barr’s death, the company said:
We at Park City Powder Cats are all deeply saddened by this terrible tragedy.
Our hearts and deepest condolences go out to their friends and family. It is impossible to put into words the sorrow that we feel and the grief that is shared by the entirety of our Powder Cat family.
In our 29 years of operation this is the first tragedy we’ve experienced of this magnitude. We consider every one of our guests to be family and will continue to put our primary focus on the safety and well-being of our guests and staff.
