The four people who died in Mill Creek Canyon on Saturday have been identified; all were in their twenties.
(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Searchers and rescue workers in Salt Lake County are watching as a Utah Department of Public Safety helicopter lands carrying the belongings and body of one of four people living in a avalanche died in Mill Creek Canyon, Sunday, February 7, 2021.
Editor’s note • This story contains sensitive photography of the recovery of the four skiers who were killed in the avalanche on Saturday.
The deadly avalanche that killed eight skiers on a mountain in Utah on Saturday took place against the backdrop of rising rural use, which coincided with dangerous avalanche conditions created by the flattest winter snowstorm in years.
The United Police Department on Sunday identified the four skiers who died in the upper reaches of Mill Creek Canyon, just outside Salt Lake City, in an area called Wilson Glade. They were members of two separate groups who happened to be on the same slope when the avalanche was released.
Six skiers were completely buried. Two were able to extract themselves and search for their companions using transceivers that transport travelers from the country into avalanche sites, according to the report published by the Utah Avalanche Center. Two of the buried skiers were recovered alive, while four were not found in time. The skiers who died are:
• Sarah Moughamian (29) of Sandy.
• Louis Holian, 26, of Salt Lake City.
• Stephanie Hopkins, 26, of Salt Lake City.
• Thomas Louis Steinbrecher, 23, of Salt Lake City.
The four survivors, all men aged 23 to 38, were rescued from the mountain by LifeFlight helicopters and crews. No one had life-threatening injuries and they were not admitted to hospital.
Due to unstable snow conditions, efforts to recover the four deceased skiers were halted and resumed early Sunday. By noon, the bodies of the victims had been removed from the mountain.
Wilson Glade is adjacent to Alexander Basin, a rugged basin below Mill Creek’s separation with Big Cottonwood Canyon, under the shadow of Wilson Peak and Gobblers Knob. The eight skiers were on Wilson’s northeast face in separate parties, according to officials, a group of five members who came in from Big Cottonwood Canyon and a group of three members who came in from below.
Rescue workers “checked [the area] this [Sunday] morning to see if they should do avalanche control, ”the Unified Police Sgt. Melody Cutler. “They chose not to do it, but the rescuers are there now. It’s still pretty unstable up there. So they try to be as careful as possible. ”
The United States Department of Police transported people and equipment to the avalanche site using a helicopter borrowed from the Utah Department of Public Safety.
(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Tactical Public Operations Operator Nick Napierski, right, helps Salt Lake County search and rescue crews find a net with personal belongings and the body of to remove one of the four people who died. Saturday in an avalanche in Mill Creek Canyon.
The flights were set up from the parking lot where the Mill Creek Canyon Road was closed for the winter. After unloading the pilot crew, the pilot left the canyon to refuel and returned to the scene of the accident at about 12 a.m. to transport the victims back to the scene, where a medical examiner was waiting.
It is not yet known whether the four skiers died of traumatic injuries or suffocation; the slide dragged two of them through areas with trees, Cutler said.
Officials closed the canyon, which is popular this time of year among skiers and hikers, while the entire canyon under the Terraces was open Sunday.
The eight skiers were well prepared and had the necessary equipment for the conditions, the Salt Lake County Sheriff said. “Our hearts go out to loved ones of the skiers who were lost in the avalanche,” Sheriff Rosie Rivera said.
Saturday’s tragedy was not only a testament to the unstable snow pack of this winter, but also the crowd in Wasatch, where the excellent snow and ski terrain can be easily reached from plowed mountain roads and ski areas. Over the past few years, avalanche forecasters in Utah have been warning that an accident could happen to more victims, given the growing number of parties touring near each other.
The pandemic seems to be pushing even more powder seekers to Wasatch fields, thanks in part to the capacity constraints that ski resorts have implemented to reduce the risk of coronavirus transmission. According to avalanche forecaster Craig Gordon, the avalanche in recent weeks has been particularly dangerous due to the low snowfall of the winter.
“It’s completely counter-intuitive to think it’s barely snowed this winter, yet we’re seeing extremely dangerous avalanche conditions,” Gordon said. “Especially in a shallow snowbag the layers become weak, they become sugar, it becomes an unstable foundation.”
Thin snow packs, such as those recorded in Utah’s mountains this winter, usually lose their cohesion because moisture migrates faster through the snow pack.
“The instability continues for long periods and now it is buried and in the lower part of our snow suit,” Gordon said. ‘Every time we load it with new snow or wind, it activates the sleeping layers and brings it back to life. And it’s the perfect combination for deceptive avalanche conditions here in the Wasatch. ”
‘AREAS OF HIGH DANGER exist this morning in steep upper terrain. This danger is most pronounced in the north by the southeast slopes. A SIGNIFICANT danger exists at medium heights and this is where we can see some calls today. Avalanches can be up to 5 feet deep and more than hundreds of feet wide. ”
The risk of avalanches in Utah is unlikely to diminish any time soon.
“What we need to cure this snowpack and start turning the turn, which represents at least a glimmer of hope, is a constant storm and we need to put some thick insulating layers on top of this snowpack,” Gordon said. said.
“But now we have just become nickel and faded, and once it starts to snow and when it starts to snow heavily, it will not happen overnight,” he said. ‘Avalanche conditions will be very crazy or troublesome. … It’s been with us for a while. ‘
Former Salt Lake City Mayor and zealous outdoor man Ralph Becker went skiing outside the avalanche on Saturday. The 68-year-old heard helicopters and hospital helicopters flying.
Becker said the tragic event occurred after a period of time, due to the work of the Utah Avalanche Forecast Center and others, the state has seen a significant reduction in avalanche accidents and deaths. Officials and agencies warned that there would be dangerous avalanche conditions this past weekend.
“If you are really careful and understand avalanche conditions, you greatly reduce your risk,” Becker said. “Obviously it was a slope that people should not have been on yesterday.”
Although this country experienced extremely risky conditions during the winter, many people go through the pandemic to go skiing, including people with less experience.
Becker hopes Saturday’s avalanche will serve as a wake-up call. “I hope it attracts people’s attention and makes them so much more careful,” he said.
“I do not want to see people not going to the country and enjoying it,” he said, pointing to the ‘enormous amount’. [of] health benefits, physically and mentally for us. “But,” he said, “it is an unnecessary risk to climb such a slope under the conditions we have this winter, at least until this time.
“I hope it makes people in the country careful again, because yesterday was just as tragic and massive.”