Brother of the Year award goes to this man. A Utah native almost died after getting buried by an avalanche on Christmas Eve, no less. Fortunately, his eagle-eyed brother was able to spot him, seeing his fingers sticking out of the snow.
The two had gone snowmobile riding through the Steep Hollow area of Franklin Basin in Cache County. That's when disaster struck. An avalanche barreled towards them as they were riding down a slope, burying one of the brothers. The resulting wave of snow pushed him more than 150 yards, burying him.
He would have died if not for his brother's help. Toby Weed, a forecaster with the Utah Avalanche Center, told Fox 13 Salt Lake City that the brothers came prepared. That preparedness help avoid a certain tragedy.
"The brother who was not buried used his transceiver to find the brother who was buried, and it got him pretty close," Weed said. "And when he got close enough, he could see a couple of fingers sticking out of the snow of his brother and was able to dig him out."
Fortunately, the buried brother only walked away with a couple of minor injuries. He also has a tale for the ages. How many people can say that they survived an avalanche? "Those guys had a very, very lucky Christmas Eve," Weed said.
Avalanche Dangers
One just has to look to past cases where snowmobilers hadn't been so fortunate. Weed highlighted a time when four snowmobile riders triggered an avalanche in Providence Canyon. Two of them died as a result.
More recently, Swiss snowboarder Sophie Hediger died after getting trapped in an avalanche. She was just 26 years old. The incident happened this past Monday.
'We are stunned and our thoughts are with Sophie's family, to whom we express our deepest condolences,' federation CEO Walter Reusser said in a statement.
'For the Swiss Ski family, the tragic death of Sophie Hediger has cast a dark shadow over the Christmas holidays. We are immeasurably sad. We will keep an honorable memory of Sophie.'
The forecaster urges those attempting to hit the slopes to read the forecast for the day.
"Number one, always access and read the forecast. The forecast that day, it was a considerable avalanche danger," he said.
