Avalanche: Weber Canyon

Four riders, two adults and two teenagers, played in the Super Bowl before before reaching Windy Peak and descending towards Giant Steps. They climbed the heavily windloaded slope several times before one rider got stuck. Several attempts were made to punch a trail to the stuck sled. On the last attempt to get to the ridge, the rescuing snowmobiler triggered this large slab, on a very steep ENE facing slope, which broke into weak snow near the ground. The rescuer was able to outrun the slide, but in the process, buried two in his group- one to their waist and one completely.

This young rider was buried underneath his sled with only his head sticking out of the snow. Another person on the slope was partially buried to their waist.

Members of the group dig out the buried sled

With no rescue gear other than two shovels (one of which was on the buried sled) this was a very close call and could have easily had an extremely sad outcome. While quite shook up with many lessons learned, fortunately everyone came out unscathed.