Another avalanche fatality has occurred in Dutch Draw, located just off the 9990 lift in the backcountry outside the Canyons ski resort. A 24-year-old Salt Lake City man, Timothy Robert Baker, was killed after being buried in a slide at around 3 p.m. in the afternoon.
According to KSL, Baker was snowboarding out of bounds when he triggered the slide and was then buried under three feet of snow. He was flown by a medical helicopter after being located by rescue crews which included Canyons ski patrol and the Summit County Sheriff’s Office. He later died at the hospital.
The preliminary report from the Utah Avalanche Center shows that the slide was 40-feet wide and ran for 100 vertical feet. The report goes on to say a graupel slab under a cliff band was the probable trigger point that released a slab that was 1 foot deep by 40 feet wide that quickly fanned out to 150 feet. Witnesses say Baker was strained through small trees and was buried about three-and-a-half feet deep in debris that was about six feet deep.
Skiers and snowboarders in the area helped looked for Baker by probing with their poles and struck his snowboard, which was broken in half. Ski Patrol arrived soon after and helped dig him out. It is estimated that he was under the snow for around 40 minutes.
The avalanche danger rating for the day was “high,” and an avalanche warning was in effect for the mountains of northern and central Utah. Very strong winds at all elevations combined with dense snow created a high avalanche danger on many slopes.
It seems Baker was not wearing an avalanche beacon and wasn’t carrying any other avalanche safety gear.
For a full report, check out the Current Conditions page on the Utah Avalanche Center website.
You can see the news story with helicopter footage of the slide at KSL.com