OGDEN, Utah (AP) - The Latest on the winter weather and avalanches in Utah (all times local MST):
9 a.m.
A Utah ski resort worker who had just finished clearing the slopes because of the high risk of avalanches ended up getting stranded in one himself.
Powder Mountain marketing manager Jean-Pierre Goulet said Tuesday he spent about 45 minutes stranded in his truck on State Road 158 northeast of Ogden after one of a number of avalanches slid down the mountain Monday afternoon.
Goulet told The Associated Press they had just got the last of the skiers off the hill at about 2:30 p.m. and he was heading to restock supplies when a wall of snow pinned his truck against a retaining wall. He says he was able to get out of his vehicle unharmed and didn’t have to wait long until crews dug him out.
Goulet says about 30 employees spent the night in resort condos and with local homeowners. The road and the resort remained closed Tuesday.
Goulet says there are about a half dozen avalanches that have covered the road with snow and debris and will have to be cleared. He says the biggest is about 7 feet deep.
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The high threat of avalanches has closed several roads and ski resorts in Utah and temporarily trapped a resort employee in his car northeast of Ogden.
Emergency responders made contact with the employee shortly after the avalanche struck Monday afternoon near the Powder Mountain ski resort.
State transportation department spokesman John Gleason told The (Ogden) Standard-Examiner crews freed him from his car unharmed at about 5 p.m. Monday.
State Road 158 leading to the resort was among the highways closed earlier in the day. The resort remained closed Tuesday after the Forest Service Avalanche Center in Salt Lake City issued an avalanche warning for northern Utah and southeast Idaho, including the Wasatch and Bear River ranges, and western Uinta mountains.
The center says heavy snow combined with strong winds has created widespread areas of unstable snow at all elevations.
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