In an average year, four people die in avalanches in Utah’s mountains and this year the risk has arrived early.
Utah’s Avalanche Center has around 150 slides reported each year but they think that is only half the real number. Last weekend, there were 11 large avalanches with four reported on Sunday alone. No one was injured but avalanches can be deadly, and given that there are no addresses or street signs out in the backcountry, where skiers, snowboarders and snowmobilers may set off an avalanche, it is vitally important for effective communication to cope with the vast terrain.
Therefore there has now been a special training class to help more than two dozen emergency dispatchers from Salt Lake County to understand what they are dealing with when people are trapped in an avalanche.
They took a tram ride to the top of Hidden Peak at Snowbird and saw the coordination it takes with a helicopter, multiple rescue teams and avalanche dogs to save a person who has been trapped or injured in an avalanche. This way it enabled them to see the action and coordination among as many as 11 agencies that it takes to rescue a person trapped or hurt in an avalanche.
