WEBER CANYON, Utah — A final report issued by the Utah Avalanche Center reveals new details into what led up to a deadly avalanche that killed one skier in March.
The avalanche, which happened on March 9 in upper Weber Canyon, claimed the life of one skier and injured another, both of whom were completely caught buried in the snow.
The man who was killed was later identified as 46-year-old Ryan Barr of San Diego.
READ: Skier recalls deadly Weber Canyon avalanche that killed group member
A completed report by the Utah Avalanche Center explained the skiers were two out of a group of 15 individuals who were in the area at the time.
Of the group, 11 were clients, two were guides and two were snowcat operators who were out for a day of guided skiing in the Western Uinta Mountains.
The group successfully completed eight runs before embarking on their ninth run which ultimately caused the avalanche.
A guide skied down the slope, located just three miles West of Windy Peak and stopped above a group of trees, outside the path the avalanche later took.
After the guide, two skiers descended one by one to meet the guide. Skier three began to descend but fell partway down the slope, the report reads.
Skier three was still on the slope as skier four began to ski down the mountain, at which point the avalanche was triggered.
Within the minute that the avalanche occurred, the guide radioed in for personnel to begin looking for the two buried skiers.
Both guides began searching for the skiers and eventually, guide two located a signal and were able to dig out the face of the skier who was buried. The individual, who is only identified as a man, was dug out and taken to the hospital via helicopter.
The second skier, Barr, was buried deeply in the avalanche and took additional personnel to locate.
Eventually, the group was able to locate Barr and began digging him out. They initially uncovered a boot and discovered he was upside down with his head buried close to two meters, or six feet, deep in the snow.
Barr was eventually uncovered and found not breathing and with no pulse.
Medical care was immediately administered but he was pronounced dead shortly after he was uncovered.
The report details that there were two factors that made a rescue challenging in the situation.
First, Barr was buried very deeply. "Shoveling is the most demanding and time-consuming phase of a rescue which takes longer the deeper a person is buried," the report reads.
Second, there were two people buried. The more people are buried, UAC explained, the more complex and time-consuming a rescue becomes.
Experts believe the avalanche was caused by a weak layer of snow that formed in the first few days of February.
"Until this avalanche, there had been no notable avalanches failing on weak layers from early February," the report reads.
The weak layer was formed after several periods of dry weather in February. Although most of the weak layers were destroyed by a "wind event" on February 15, some slopes were not touched by the wind and instead were buried by snow.
The avalanche ended up being 400 feet wide and nearly 1,400 feet vertical, UAC reports.
