Snowmobiler dead in Utah avalanche, third fatal slide in week across state

A snowmobiler was found dead after being buried in an avalanche in Utah’s backcountry, authorities said Monday, marking the third fatal slide in the state within a week.

The 45-year-old man from Rose Park, Utah, was reported buried in the slide on Sunday in the Snake Creek area west of Midway, the Wasatch County Sheriff’s Office said.

Unstable conditions prevented rescuers from remaining in the debris field. The search was suspended for the night due to ongoing avalanche hazards.

Search operations resumed at 7 a.m. Monday, beginning with avalanche mitigation efforts to safely enter the slide path, officials said.

The man’s body was recovered shortly before 9 a.m., according to the sheriff’s office. His identity was being withheld pending the notification of family.

The latest death follows two other avalanche fatalities that happened last week.

On Wednesday, a father was snowmobiling with his son in the Snake Creek area when the slide buried him, the sheriff’s office previously said. First responders, however, were unable to immediately reach the location due to hazardous conditions.

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The son used an avalanche beacon to find his father and dig him out of the snow, the sheriff’s office said. Despite the son’s efforts, his father died at the scene.

The father was not immediately identified.

On Thursday, 11-year-old Madelyn Eitas from Rochester, Massachusetts, was buried in a slide near the Brighton Ski Resort while skiing with her family in an out-of-bounds area known as The Rock Garden.

Once Madelyn was located, first responders began life-saving measures on her before she was transported to a nearby hospital in critical condition. She died at the hospital. 

The Utah Avalanche Center on Tuesday said that avalanche danger remains “considerable” in the Salt Lake-area mountains.

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“As a wet and warm storm brings rain up to 9,800 feet by this evening, expect wet snow avalanches to become larger and increasingly likely around the compass throughout the day,” a forecast from the center said.

Fox News Digital’s Sarah Rumpf-Whitten contributed to this report.

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