PROVIDENCE » Two young men described as experienced snowmobilers died in an avalanche Wednesday, the first clear morning following multiple storms that left the Bear River Range with more than 3 feet of fresh snow.

The two men, Jesse Johnson, 23, of Hyrum, and Erik Jorgensen, 22, of Paradise, were with two buddies - all friends since middle school - on Christmas Eve morning.

They were near Logan Peak, in northern Utah, when they were caught in an avalanche near an open, snowy bowl called Rodeo Grounds. The slide was reported to authorities about 10:30 a.m. via satellite phone by a member of a separate snowmobiling party.

"These were not rookie snowmobilers," said Gary Anderson, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints stake where Johnson attended.

Tanner Hunsaker, who was invited to go on the outing but declined, said both men were wearing avalanche beacons.

Cache County Sheriff's Lt. Matt Bilodeau said that's how rescuers found the two bodies. Neither man could be resuscitated.

The snowmobilers were on "a very extreme slope," Bilodeau said. The slide broke 250 yards wide from the cornice to the bottom.

"It's a hot spot. Everybody goes up that canyon," said Derek Grange, a friend who has ridden snowmobiles with Johnson and Jorgensen before to Rodeo Grounds, which is accessed via Providence Canyon.

Johnson returned from Canada after serving an LDS mission about a year ago. He was studying at Utah State University to be a pharmacist. Jorgensen was married earlier this year.

"They were young men who were always doing good. They were never in trouble," said the Johnson family's LDS bishop, Craig Rasmussen.

Grange and other friends gathered at Logan Regional Hospital on Wednesday afternoon to comfort the distraught Johnson and Jorgensen families.

Family members were not ready Wednesday to discuss the deaths, said Craig Rasmussen, the Johnson family's LDS bishop.

Brock Reed, who was with his two friends Wednesday morning, declined to discuss the avalanche.

He did, however, describe Johnson and Jorgensen as fun-loving men. "They would do anything to help anybody," he said.

They both liked to hunt all kinds of game, and in summer 2007, Jorgensen worked with Johnson as a fisherman in Alaska, said Grange and Reed.

Anderson said the fishing operation belongs to Johnson's grandfather, and many in the family worked there each summer.

"They never failed to make you laugh," said Jake Olsen, another member of a large group that hung together from middle school through Mountain Crest High School in Hyrum. Both Johnson and Jorgensen were athletic, friends said.

Anderson said the two men were the kind of guys every parent wants their daughter to marry: respectful, close to their parents and siblings, hard workers.

Friend Clint Raymond of Wellsville said Jorgensen hoped to become a pharmacist.

Johnson is survived by his parents, two brothers and two sisters.

Jorgensen is survived by his wife, his parents, a brother and a sister, according to friends.

The Utah Avalanche Center, http://utahavalanchecenter.org/, said there was a considerable to high danger level for slides throughout Utah.

The center warned against backcountry travel in central to northern Utah, including the Uinta Mountains and the Bear River Range.

-- Stephen Hunt contributed to this story.