SALT LAKE COUNTY, Utah — Following a nearly 8 hour wait, a skier who was injured after being nearly completely buried in an avalanche in Neffs Canyon was finally transported off the mountain and taken to the hospital.
Video below shows skier arriving after being removed from mountain following avalanche:
The incident originally happened before noon Wednesday with officials saying the avalanche was approximately 200 feet wide and up to 3 feet deep when it hit in the Thomas Fork area of the canyon.
The man injured was skiing alone when he was caught up in the avalanche and buried up to his chest for 45 minutes before an off-duty EMT with the Unified Fire Authority heard the man crying for help. The unidentified man suffered a broken femur and an arm injury, with hypothermia a concern due to his time being buried in the snow.
Search and rescue teams were dispatched to bring the man off the mountain due to the weather making it impossible for a helicopter to get to the area. Once conditions improved, equipment issues caused a further delay until the skier was finally evacuated around 7 p.m.
The EMT stayed with the injured person until he eventually was evacuated.
“I mean the guy's a hero, it’s incredible, went skiing, it’s his day off, and he spent his whole day up there with this poor guy," said Michael Finger, a squad leader with Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office Search and Rescue.
"We was off-duty, just out enjoying some recreation time when he spotted someone in trouble and responded and has been up there all day and the reality is he could have come down at any point," said Sgt. Melody Cutler with Unified Police Department
No one else was caught in the avalanche.
With so much snow falling across northern Utah over the last week, avalanche activity is high in the area. On Tuesday, a backcountry skier was rescued after being caught in an avalanche in Little Cottonwood Canyon.
"The avalanche danger is high, we need to be paying attention to those things and what we’re doing, but the reality is this is just one of those things that happens in Mother Nature we can’t predict," said Sgt. Melody Cutler with the Unified Police Department.
Watch below as police give update on skier rescued from avalanche:
