BIG COTTONWOOD CANYON, Utah — Solitude ski patrollers were made aware of an overdue skier on Monday, and when they decided they could use some additional staff to help with the operation, they called on Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue.
“We don’t get called out to a lot of rescues in ski resorts; the patrollers take care of it, and it’s rare for us to respond to an accident like that,” said Todd Taylor, a squad leader with Salt Lake County SAR. “We’re against the clock, racing the clock, hoping to find somebody that’s injured, immobile, just can’t get back down to the base of the ski resort and their truck.”
Despite using snowmobile teams, ground crews, drones and snowshoers, it wasn’t until Tuesday morning that data from a cell phone ping led the rescue teams to a specific area on the mountain.
“Steep tree area between two ski runs at Solitude, lots of ski tracks through there, natural place a lot of people ski,” said Taylor, who described the cluster of trees along the "Sensation" at Solitude Mountain Resort.
The skier was found deceased. He was identified by Unified Police as 37-year-old Devon O’Connell, of Cottonwood Heights. It’s believed he was skiing with a partner earlier in the day but decided to take a few more runs by himself before returning to his vehicle.
“Number one tip with the snow as deep as it is and as good as it is right now is to ski with a partner,” advised Taylor, who has been skiing for 40 years and has spent nearly a decade with SLCO SAR. “You’re going to encounter obstacles, deep snow, tree wells, but if you have a friend, ski partner, they can help dig you out or go get ski patrol if you’re injured.”
Taylor also recommends calling for help sooner rather than later. Given the conditions, additional searching during daylight can always give SAR crews a leg-up before nightfall.
“All of us have skied along through some trees before and got lucky, and this one was a tragic result,” said Taylor, who was part of the team working when the skier was located. “There’s no doubt that our patient today was a skier like us, like our friends, family members, enjoys the same mountains that we do, same ski resorts, so it’s a fellow skier that we lost today, and it’ll hit the community hard.”
“Whether this is a traumatic injury or it’s an avalanche... the clock is ticking once you’re injured. Having a partner, having that as part of your safety protocol, that’s paramount,” echoed Craig Gordon, a longtime forecaster with the Utah Avalanche Center. “When you’ve got a partner, man, that is going to be your lifeline.”
