ALTA, Utah — A group of search and rescue volunteers and first responders rescued a man who fell while backcountry skiing in between Little Cottonwood Canyon and Big Cottonwood Canyon Tuesday afternoon.
The Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office's search and rescue team responded to the Little Cottonwood side, and the Utah Department of Public Safety's helicopter went into the backcountry and retrieved the injured skier.
Officials said the skier was with a group when he fell a "significant" distance around 1 p.m. near Mount Superior. The cause is not known yet, but officials confirmed that it was not an avalanche.
Around 2:20 p.m., the man was brought down from the mountain by the DPS helicopter. He was then transferred into a LifeFlight medical chopper and flown to the hospital.
The skier, a 59-year-old man, is reported to be in critical condition.
Little Cottonwood Road (State Route 210) was closed in both directions at a stretch of highway between Alta and Snowbird, but it has since been reopened.
