Thanks to Bob Sullivan for scanning these articles ======================================= Missing Friend Presumed Dead By Brian Maffly THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE. One snowmobiler is dead and another missing after they triggered a 50-foot-wide avalanche that barreled down a ravine and buried them under a wall of snow in the northern Wasatch Mountains near Ogden. The two victims were touring dangerous terrain in Cutler Basin - near Ben Lomond Peak - with two others at the time of the accident, Utah's first avalanche fatality involving a snowmobiler. The victims' names were not available Saturday night, pending notification of family members. All four snowmobiles were Ogden men in their late 20s and early 30s, said Weber County sheriff's Deputy Jeff Malan. It was Utah's second deadly weather-related incident in two days. Friday, 14-year-old Michael Allred was crushed in a rock slide triggered by rain and melting snow in Big Cottonwood Canyon. Searchers believe the man they found Saturday was trying to outrun the avalanche after a companion riding above him unleashed a stab of wind-loaded snow. The other two snowmobilers, one a brother to one of the victims -were cruising a different slope around 11 a.m. when they realized they could not hear their companions' machines. They rushed to their aid only to find the brother's machine protruding from avalanche-deposited snow. One snowmobiler remained to dig out his brother while the other left to call for help on a cellular phone and meet rescuers. It was not until 3 p.m. that the sheriff's seven-member team was able to get to the brother, buried under tons of snow 15 feet from his snowmobile. He was found under nearly 10 feet of snow. Rescuers said he had been carried through trees and apparently suffered fatal internal injuries. Rescuers flew in Crystal and Lucy, two avalanche dogs from Alta Ski Resort, to assist in the search for the remaining victim, who is presumed dead. The dogs alerted on one spot, but no clues were found when searchers dug up the area, according to Bruce Tremper of the Utah Avalanche Forecast Center. Although efforts were stopped Saturday when darkness fell, searchers plan to resume this morning after stabilizing the slope, Malan said. Forest Service crews may use explosives to blow down large cornices hanging over the search area. The victims knew the area and were aware of the slide hazard, Malan said, but were not wearing avalanche beacons, devices that transmits a constant locating frequency. Until recently, snowmobilers rarely were killed in avalanches. But last winter, nine out of the 11 avalanche fatalities in the United States were snowmobiles. Snow machines are powerful enough to put their riders in avalanche-starting zones - generally slopes of more than 30-degree angles to the ground. "They're going virtually anywhere skiers go," Tremper said. "They can cover 100 times more terrain than a skier can cover and very few take avalanche classes or carry rescue gear." The two Utahns lost Saturday were the second and probably the third avalanche fatalities along the Wasatch Front this winter. Jeff Waugh, 27, died in a snowslide Nov. 6, while backcountry skiing near Snowbird. A second avalanche was reported up Little Cottonwood Canyon Saturday afternoon, but searchers who probed for victims said they had no reason to believe anyone was buried in the snow. =========================================================== Victim Fled, But Couldn't outrun slide By Brian Maffly THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE Devon Wheeler probably saw the wave of snow in time to turn his snow machine down the hill. His buddy, Richard, was in a steep ravine above him when a deep slab of wind-deposited snow broke loose. The avalanche probably buried Scothern immediately and then caught up with Wheeler, perhaps when he was only a few feet from safety. No survivors witnessed the accident, but avalanche experts believe this scenario explains Saturday's fatal snowslide in the upper reaches of Ogden Valley, just east of Ben Lomond Peak. About four hours after the 11 a.m. slide, Weber County sheriff's searchers found Wheeler's body wedged against a tree under 5 to 10 feet of snow. Searchers failed to find Scothern's body by nightfall Saturday, although a trained rescue dog detected something on a spot in the narrowest part of the gully. They returned Sunday morning only to call off the search because a new snowstorm prevented helicopters from airlifting personnel into the backcountry. The storm left a foot of new, wet snow in the slide area, located high up Cutler Basin above North Fork Park. "It's just too dangerous," said Weber County sheriff's Deputy Jeff Malan, who is coordinating the search. "We're really worried about putting our people up there." Malan plans to return today or Tuesday after the weather clears and Forest Service crews blast snow cornices hanging over the slide area. Wheeler and Scothern are the first snowmobilers to perish in an avalanche in Utah. Wheeler, a 30-year-old Ogden man, and Scothern, 25, of Roy, were touring with Wheeler's younger brother Doug and a friend, Gregg Chambers, at the time of the slide. Both victims were married and fathers. Scothern had two boys, ages 1 and 3, and Wheeler had an infant daughter with another daughter due in May. Funeral services for both victims are pending. Malan said all four of the snowmobilers were experienced riders and familiar with the area. Chambers and the younger Wheeler didn't hear the avalanche, but their companions' silence alarmed them. They went looking and found a ski from Devon's machine protruding from the snow in the avalanche area, Malan said. No one in the party was wearing a locator beacon; despite the fact the two men had no clues except the protruding ski, they hit the snow digging. Chambers called for help on a cellular phone, then left to meet rescuers, while Doug remained to search for his buried brother. The survivors declined to be interviewed Sunday. While sheriff's searchers suspended their efforts, three avalanche observers and a rescue dog spent four hours skiing to the accident site Sunday. Tom Kimbrough, a U.S. Forest Service avalanche expert, found a 100-foot fracture line where the avalanche started at an 8,800 foot elevation. The fracture line, known as a crown face, was an average of 6 feet deep, and 11 feet deep in some places. The bulk of the avalanche roared down an hourglass-shaped gully, probably burying Scothern at its narrowest point. Avalanche rescue dog Crystal sensed something there Saturday, as did the dog accompanying Kimbrough on Sunday. "We dug down 7 or 8 feet and then probed down to the full length of the probes and we still didn't touch bottom," said Crystal's handler, Bruce Ewert, an Alta ski patroller. "There's probably 25 or 30 feet of debris there." Not much snow is needed to bury someone under fatal depths in a gully, making such areas particularly hazardous. "If you're trying to get on that ridgeline that's the wrong place to go do it," Kimbrough said. The slide area was filled with "terrain traps," features that compound the avalanche hazard, such as cliffs and trees. "There was a bunch of ways to get killed there," Kimbrough said. "The bottom is full of trees. If you didn't get buried in the gully, one of those trees is going to have your name on it." Rescuers believe the avalanche slammed Wheeler into a tree, possibly causing fatal injuries. Since 1980, backcountry skiers have led the way in dying in North American avalanches, followed by mountaineers. But last winter, snowmobilers accounted for nine of the 11 avalanche deaths in the United States. Buried snowmobilers have a better chance of survival than skiers because they wear helmets and face masks that create air pockets, Kimbrough said. ============================================================= On a ridge Brian Maffly THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE High above this hamlet, frigid winds tear at volunteers digging snow pits and pushing poles into the ice. They are searching for the body of Richard Scothern, who presumably died Saturday with his friend Devon Wheeler when their snowmobiles triggered an avalanche on Ben Lomond Peak. The slide left a long mantle of jagged snow in the gully where Wheeler's body and snowmobile were found Saturday. And as searchers probe cementlike snow much deeper than the 15- to 20-foot poles they carry, they worry about sending another torrent of white down the mountain. "The first day, Saturday, was really uncomfortable because it looked like it was going to go," says volunteer John Crowley, who works at a Davis County lumberyard. Three to 4 feet of fresh snow fell during the next two days, delaying a full-scale search until Forest Service crews were able to detonate hand charges above the slide. Using a sensitive metal detector, volunteers found Scothern's Yamaha under 10 feet of snow Wednesday. It was sitting upright and pointing downhill. "We were hoping if we found the snowmobile, he would be hanging onto it or around it," Crowley says. But as darkness settled on Cutler Ridge on Thursday, the search for the father of two young sons was called off for another heartbreaking day. "We want him to be out," says Scothern's wife, Kari, who waits at the Weber County sheriff's command post, thanking scores of volunteers ferried up and down the mountain by helicopter. "Our lives are on hold until he's out. The 3-year-old cries every day. He keeps asking, 'When is dad coming home?' " The search is difficult, frustrating work. From the helicopter drop-off point, the volunteers firefighters, college professors, physicians, carpenters and sheriffs' deputies - must trudge a quarter-mile through waist-deep snow to the gully. There, seven search dogs alert them to spots where human scent may be percolating up. Moving across the 300-yard slide path in single file, searchers shove poles into the ice. Then they dig pits 10 to 15 feet, and again push poles downward, hoping to detect the body. "The scent might hit an ice layer and try to find a way up," ex plains Vicki King of American Rescue Dogs. "That's why the probes (poles] are so important. They make a complete path to the surface." Scothern and Wheeler were close friends who worked together at Morton International, where they tested auto-safety equipment. Like Scothern, Wheeler was a Young parent. He left behind a 2-year-old girl and his wife, Julianne, is expecting in May. Wheeler of Ogden and Scothern of Roy often toured Weber County canyons and high county They are the first snowmobilers in Utah to be killed by an avalanche. While neither man was wearing an avalanche beacon, Scothern was familiar with the 10,000-foot peaks that rim Odgen's northeastern skyline. "He loved Ben Lomond," says his younger sister Tanya Scothern. "That was his mountain." After days of strong, warm winds, north-facing slopes were loaded with heavy caps of snow. Scothern and Wheeler ventured into a steep canyon, and unleashed a slab 100 feet wide and 50 feet long. The flowing snow piled high in the deep gully. Fresh powder and racing winds made a tough search even more harrowing. "The ridge landings were very treacherous," says Mike Doster, a pilot from Classic Helicopters. Time after time, he lifts his Bell 206 Long Ranger off Cutler Ridge into the blowing fog. The chopper - rented by Weber County - carries searchers to and from the command post at North Fork park and the ridgetop. "We're encountering white-out conditions," Doster adds, sipping coffee in the old school-bus searchers use for a home base. "It's arctic conditions up there." Still, searchers will return to their work today, says Weber County Sheriff Craig Deardon. "The mission is not finished," adds searcher Fred Koegler. "It's really like finding a needle in a haystack. You look at that area and you think spring thaw. We have 20-foot probes and they're going all the way down." =============================================================== By Brian Maffly THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE Two days after uncovering Richard Scothern's boot, volunteer searchers found its mate Sunday afternoon under several feet of snow among some trees. The find gave renewed vigor to the 9-day-old search for the missing snowmobiler, presumed dead in an avalanche-filled gully on Ben Lomond Peak. A short time later, a searcher's shovel struck something. More digging uncovered a man's foot. Scothern, a 25-year-old father of two boys, had been buried under more than 12 feet of snow, his bead pointing downward, said Weber County sheriff's Deputy Jeff Malan. A wall of snow poured onto the Roy man as he drove his Yamaha snowmobile up a steep slope in North Fork Canyon on Jan. 14. The slide also killed Scothern's companion, 30-year-old Devon Wheeler of Ogden, whose body was recovered a few hours after the slide. They were the first snowmobilers in Utah to die in an avalanche. "It's been a long nine days," said, Malan, who has supervised search efforts every day since the avalanche. Winter weather and persistent avalanche conditions delayed full-scale efforts for three days until Wednesday when sheriff's officials airlifted 30 volunteers to the slide area. The site is located about two miles and 2,500 vertical feet above the sheriff's command post in the North Fork parking lot. A metal detector led searchers to Scothern's snowmobile that day, but the victim's body eluded searchers' shovels and 12-to-15 foot probe poles. Volunteers borrowed a snow tractor and mounted a plow blade onto it. They bulldozed snow out of the gully, but Scothern's body remained hidden. "He wasn't in the center where we thought he would be," said Malan, who assigned crews to dig out wooded spots along the periphery of the slide area, The victim was found on the right edge of the gully, while the avalanche apparently pushed his Snowmobile across the gully and farther downhill. Some 65 volunteer searchers put in more than 2,000 hours, and the Weber Sheriff's Department spent more than $ 10,000, primarily to rent a helicopter to ferry searchers to and from the slide, according to Sheriff Craig Dearden.