Utah avalanche leads to shelter in place order at ski resort
Apr 6, 2023, 2:04 PM
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A Utah ski resort says it is dispatching patrollers along the path of an avalanche to make sure nobody was caught in its path as it cascaded across a highway onto a beginner run on Thursday.
The avalanche that began on Mount Superior — a peak in Utah’s Wasatch Range — had expanded to the western edge of the Snowbird ski resort, which had reopened after the entire mountain closed a day prior due to torrential snowfall.
“We are taking every measure possible to confirm that no guests or employees were impacted,” Snowbird said in a statement on Twitter, adding that it’s using avalanche rescue dogs, radar technology, and probes to inspect the aftermath.
The resort ordered guests to shelter in place Thursday afternoon.
The avalanche was naturally occurring and not a result of explosives or other mitigation techniques regularly used in the mountain passes, the statement said.
Utah has been blanketed by snow this week. Snowbird reported on Wednesday that an early week storm had dumped more than 5 feet (1.7 meters) on the resort.
