For the rest of us, Christmas and New Years merely marked the close of another year. For three avalanches victims in the Timpanogos backcountry, the time for resolutions is past.

Utah County Sheriff Search and Rescue operations began early Christmas morning, 2003. 50 pagers began chirping at 4:12 a.m., interrupting dancing visions of sugar plums. Over a dozen members responded, dressing groggily and driving up to thirty miles up Spanish Fork Canyon, another 17 up Sheep Creek road, then riding snowmobiles through a storm to locate a couple snowed in in their truck by the heavy snowfall. If any kids waited for dad or mom to get home before tearing into their pile of gifts, you can imagine the character they developed in those long hours.

By evening, the day’s second call arrived. A back country skier had gone missing somewhere between Salt Lake and Utah Counties. Search and Rescue again responded, driving carefully up a dangerously slick American Fork Canyon while road crews worked to clear the roads from the continuing storm residue. As numerous small avalanches reached the road, most SAR members were sent to the canyon mouth to wait while a few snowmobiles were dispatched up Mineral Basin. The skier was located on the SLC side before midnight, and only half a dozen members remained with a few more sleds until the first volunteers returned safely.

You’d think it might have stopped there. Winter usually means the quiet season for search and rescue calls. It’s cold out and most folks prefer to stay indoors. Most Utah County mountains are too steep for much backcountry skiing, and the resorts have their own ski patrol and medics for local emergencies. The majority of an average year’s 100 calls come during the warmer months – sometimes every few days, sometimes weeks apart, and occasionally over half a dozen stacked into a single day.

The next day, however, with Sundance closed due to heavy snowfall and extreme avalanche danger, a series of avalanches swept down a steep, narrow chute in the Primrose Cirque and entrained several hikers and skiers who had been hiking up for a momentary thrill ride down the steep, deep & fresh.

At least two individuals were only partially buried. One extricated him or herself and escaped from the avalanche runout zone (as far as I know, this individual’s identity has never been established), while passing hikers helped another escape. A third dug himself out only to be knocked down and partially buried again by the next slide. This was not the ride any of the boarders had imagined.

On the other hand, the group of snowboarders who were still missing three members had not been ignorant of the danger. They had discussed the fact that it wasn’t wise to be there on such a day, but as with so many other youth time and time again, good judgment and caution yielded to adrenaline and the illusion of immortality.

At least five separate slides began a thousand feet above the hikers and roared into the chute above them. When finished, the slide path covered 80 acres and piled over 30 feet deep in spots.

…more soon. In the mean time, visit www.avalanche.org for current conditions.