Deseret Morning News, Sunday, December 12, 2004

Mountain mayhem

Slides injure one, claim 2nd victim in 2 days

By Brady Snyder and Jennifer Dobner
Deseret Morning News

The lasting image Trace Workman has of his friend Ben Dejong is one of Dejong moving as fast as he could down a mountainside with a massive avalanche barreling down on him.

Trace Workman, left, and Corey Malan help Ben Dejong after he was buried in an avalanche up Farmington Canyon Saturday. Brian Gnehn, Via Davis County Sheriff

But 20 tons of snow move much faster than human legs can, and the 27-year-old from Bountiful was overtaken.

"I saw Ben, and he was running as fast as he can," Workman said. "It was like an ocean wave when it comes in, and it just engulfed him. There was this big powder cloud, and as soon as that settled I couldn't see nothing. I couldn't see one sign of him."

For the next 20 to 25 minutes Saturday morning Workman led a frantic rescue effort that included mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and ended with Dejong's life being saved.

Dejong was lucky, and his rescue served as a joyous highlight in an otherwise dangerous and deadly few days.

Snowslides in Utah's backcountry engulfed at least four people and killed two in the past two days in Salt Lake, Wasatch and Davis counties. Two snowshoers are missing.

• Dejong was caught while snowmobiling with Workman high in Farmington Canyon above Davis County.
• The victim of an avalanche Friday above Brighton and Solitude in Big Cottonwood Canyon was identified Saturday as Zachary Eastman, 23, Salt Lake City. A friend escaped.
• A snowmobiler was killed by an avalanche Saturday near Strawberry Reservoir. His identity has not yet been released.
• And two snowshoers were missing late Saturday in the Mineral Fork area of Big Cottonwood Canyon, where a Salt Lake County search and rescue effort there may have been hampered by slides.

State helicopter pilots assisting with the Mineral Fork search from the air reported "one major and one minor avalanche in the area," Salt Lake County Lt. Mike Wardle said.

The men, one aged 60 and one 32, were reported missing about 5:45 p.m. when they failed to return at the expected time, he said.

Because Mineral Fork is a high-risk area for avalanches — and because the avalanche danger has been so high in recent days — the search for the men was expected to be halted around midnight and resumed at first light, Wardle said.

Steve Achelis, left, of Salt Lake County Sheriff's Search and Rescue, talks with Sgt. Thad Moore about the search for two missing snowshoers in Big Cottonwood Canyon. Keith Johnson, Deseret Morning News

Extreme danger

"All of these slides that have been breaking out have been 3 to 8 feet deep and very difficult to survive," said Bruce Tremper, director of the Utah Avalanche Center.

Avalanche forecasts over the past few days warned would-be backcountry recreationalists of the extreme danger and high potential for slides, especially on or below steep slopes.

"We've had all the important ingredients for an avalanche. We've had a quadruple whammy," Tremper said. "A weak layer of snow is one; a whole bunch of new snow, number two; wind, number three; and rapid temperature rises."

The avalanche-risk assessment, however, was dropped from "high" to "considerable" as snow conditions began to stabilize Saturday, Tremper said.

Strawberry tragedy

Despite those improving conditions, a 42-year-old man was killed near Trout Creek in Wasatch County's Strawberry Valley Saturday. The man, whose name was not released, was snowmobiling with a friend when his vehicle became stuck on a steep slope, Wasatch County Sheriff's deputy Corey Davis said.

The avalanche was reported about 11:30 a.m., Davis said, and measured about 500 feet long and 300 feet wide. It broke above the man and buried him in roughly 4 feet of snow. His companion was not caught in the slide, and with the help of another recreationalist, who was carrying an avalanche beacon, the pair was able to locate the man — who was wearing a beacon — and dig him out, Davis said.

The two called 911 from a cell phone. Investigators were still trying to determine how long the man was buried. A medical helicopter transported the man to a Utah County hospital, where he was pronounced dead, Davis said.

Twin Lakes Pass

Friday afternoon, Eastman was killed near Twin Lakes Pass near the Brighton and Solitude ski areas in Big Cottonwood Canyon. These are the second and third avalanche deaths in Utah in 2004. A snowshoer died in a Deer Valley slide in February.

"He was a free spirit, and (skiing) is what he lived for, that was his love," Eastman's father, Scott Eastman, said Saturday. "That's the only thing that's giving me a little peace in this."

Zachary Eastman and a friend had skied the area all day Friday, and both were trained in avalanche safety, his father said. As early as last week, the pair had been to a refresher course on using avalanche beacons, he said.

But sometimes with Mother Nature "you just don't know which way it's going to go," Scott Eastman said.

Farmington Canyon

Dejong might have suffered a similar fate in Davis County.

Workman of Clinton and Dejong regularly frequent the backcountry of Farmington Canyon, snowmobiling below Bountiful Peak. Workman figures they visited the canyon 20 times last year, and with a few feet of fresh snow, Saturday seemed the ideal time to hit the powder again.

"They just love riding up in Farmington Canyon," Trace's father, Mark, explained. "They're these extreme riders."

It was Trace who apparently triggered the slide, which Davis County Sheriff's Capt. Kenny Payne described as "very large."

It was about 9 a.m. when Dejong was using a video camera to film some of his friend's moves in a lofty chute.

Then the mountain caved in.

"I climbed out of the chute and that whole mountainside came down," Workman said. "I looked down, and it was like the whole mountain went out from beneath me."

Down the hill Dejong desperately tried to start his snowmobile, but the engine wouldn't crank. With a dead motor, the Bountiful man turned and ran, only to be swept up in the powder.

Workman sped down the hill and began desperately searching for his friend. Fortunately, Dejong was wearing an avalanche beacon that allowed Workman to locate the area where his buddy was buried.

Workman dug with his hands for a couple of minutes before being joined by Corey Malan of Ogden.

"We just started digging frantically," Malan said.

The rescue

The pair located Dejong's boot about 5 feet below the surface when Malan's two friends caught up with a shovel.

In a painstakingly slow five to eight minutes the foursome uncovered more leg, a knee, a thigh, a torso and finally Dejong's head, which was buried face down.

"At that point it was pretty dark," Workman said. "He was purple and blue and was pretty discolored. At one time I thought he was dead. I thought it was too late."

The rescuers said there was just a faint hint of breath coming from Dejong's mouth, and Workman offered some mouth to mouth that seemed to help.

The group had already used a cell phone to call for a medical helicopter, and as they waited Dejong lay unconscious for 10 to 12 minutes.

When the helicopter appeared over the mountain, Dejong suddenly sprang to life.

"The first thing out of his mouth was, 'I just can't believe you guys found me,' " Malan said.

Payne said Dejong was airlifted to University Hospital as a precaution. He had no broken bones or obvious injuries, Payne said.

It was a rescue effort that turned out much better than one Malan participated in back in 1996 when another friend, Rick Adams, was killed by a massive slide in Farmington Canyon. Searchers didn't find Adams' body for over a month.

'A life saver'

The difference was Adams' lack of an avalanche beacon, which issues a transmission that allows rescuers to pinpoint where a person in buried in the powder.

In Dejong's case, his beacon saved his life, police and rescuers said.

"It's a life saver," Malan said. "I won't go up without one."

Of course, a beacon does not give people a license to cheat death.

Eastman, the Salt Lake man killed Friday, was also wearing a beacon, but rescuers couldn't revive him despite using CPR.

Avalanche forecasters stressed that much of the new snow that blanketed the Wasatch Front mountains last week had not meshed with old snow, creating a great slide danger. Compounding the problem were sunshine and high temperatures, making the snow even less stable.

"That snow had not bonded underneath. Boy, there are avalanches all along those hills," Malan said. "There were at least six or seven in the next four bowls over. It's really bad up there right now. I told everyone I've seen going up there not to go."

Tremper said avalanche forecasters did allow an avalanche warning to expire Saturday morning, but he said conditions, with high temperatures and new snow, remain perilous.

Avalanche information

Avalanche warning and safety information is available from the Utah Avalanche Center. On the Web, see www.avalanche.org/~uac. The local avalanche hotline number is 801-364-1581.

Avalanches deadly two days running

Saturday: A snowmobiler dies and another is lucky to survive after blacking out under 4 feet of snow

By Jason Bergreen The Salt Lake Tribune Salt Lake Tribune

Avalanches along the northern Utah mountains Friday night and Saturday killed two people and nearly snuffed out the life of a third man, equaling half of the total deaths recorded all of last season.    The latest fatality occurred around 11:30 a.m. Saturday in Wasatch County when a 42-year-old man snowmobiling in the Trout Creek area of Strawberry Valley was buried in 4 feet of snow. The victim was wearing an avalanche beacon but witnesses were unable to locate him for about an hour, the Wasatch Sheriff's Office reported.     The man, whom police did not identify, was flown to Utah Valley Regional Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.     On Friday night, an Avalanche near Grizzly Gulch claimed the life of 22-year-old Zachary Eastman of Salt Lake County. Eastman was trapped under 2 to 3 feet of snow for about five minutes after triggering the avalanche while skiing across a backcountry slope.     The Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center had issued an avalanche warning for the northern Utah mountains and extreme southeast Idaho earlier Friday. That warning was downgraded from "high" on Friday to "considerable" Saturday.    "There were only a few avalanches Saturday, but they were triggered by people and they were very large," Utah Avalanche Center director Bruce Tremper said. "The avalanche activity that occurred two days ago has greatly diminished."    Recent snow, strong winds and rapidly warming temperatures contributed to the high avalanche danger, with avalanches occurring at unusually low elevations, according to the Forest Service's Web site.    A 27-year-old Bountiful man trapped in an avalanche Saturday is lucky to be alive.    Through the camcorder's tiny lens, Ben Dejong watched his buddy, Trance Workman, power his snowmobile up the face of Bountiful Peak. He then heard a crack and saw a wall of snow rushing toward him.    The sunshine filling the Farmington Flats area of Farmington Canyon Saturday quickly turned to shadow as the avalanche sped toward Dejong.    Suddenly the size of the slide doubled, than tripled, and then appeared to cover the whole side of the mountain.    The power and force behind the quickly disintegrating mountain appeared less dangerous through Dejong's camera's lens than he could fathom. In an instant, a wave of fear rushed over him and he began running.    "I thought, 'I'm not going to make it,' " Dejong said, recounting the ordeal from his home Saturday afternoon.    The rushing snow, he said, sounded, "just like the wind."    Dejong took three steps, turned to grab his own snowmobile and was immediately crushed by the ocean of snow. The impact sent Dejong spinning head over heels down 10 feet of the mountain. He was smashed into darkness 4 feet under the snow before coming to a stop. He was alive and conscious thanks only to a small air pocket between his lips and the snow.    "I was buried stiff and I couldn't move an inch," Dejong said. "I said, 'That's it, you know I'm gone.' I said my goodbyes in my head, then I did some screaming."    Dejong remained alert for about 5 minutes before blacking out.    "I've never felt so trapped like that," he said. "It was 5 billion times worse than I could have imagined."    The next thing Dejong remembers is being awakened by Workman pounding on his chest.    "I thought I had slept in and was being wakened up," Dejong said.    Since becoming workmates at Central Davis Sewage and friends more than six years ago, Dejong and Workman had ridden in this backcountry area more than 100 times.    The injury inflicted on Bountiful Peak by Workman's snowmobile triggered the avalanche, he said. Workman sat stunned on the ridge as the avalanche bore down on his friend.    "I was gasping for air," he said. "I couldn't fathom it, it was so big. The whole mountain cracked underneath me. There was no snow left."    Within seconds, Workman was racing to rescue Dejong.    "I saw him go up in the air," Workman said. "It looked like he jumped and tried to swim."    The avalanche covering Dejong measured 200 feet wide, 8 feet deep and had traveled about a quarter of a mile down the face of the mountain.    When he reached the area where Dejong had disappeared, Workman began searching for his missing friend with a avalanche beacon. As the sound got louder, he noticed a ski from Dejong's snowmobile sticking out of the snow. The shovel the men had brought had been washed away in the avalanche. Workman had to use his hands.    "I was just digging as fast as I could," he said.    Minutes later, another snowmobiler arrived with a shovel and began helping.    After digging for several minutes, the pair came upon a boot. Then they saw Dejong's shaved head.    "He was found face down, unconscious and blue," Davis County Sheriff's Capt. Kenny Payne said.    "I'd thought I'd be attending a funeral," said Workman, who immediately began CPR.    Luckily, Dejong began breathing on his own, though only slightly. Workman yelled at him to wake up.    "What about the girls? What about your wife? What about the girls? What about your wife?" he kept repeating.    Dejong answered by opening his eyes.    He was transported by helicopter to University Hospital. He was released around 2:30 p.m., suffering only from bumps and bruises he got when his snowmobile hit him.    At home recuperating Saturday with his wife and two daughters, Dejong reflected on his good fortune. "I'm lucky beyond my years," he said.    jbergreen@sltrib.com