The 34-year-old and a friend triggered an avalanche Saturday afternoon after snowboarding from the top of Snowbasin into Taylor's Canyon. The friend, John Pincombe, 32, escaped, but Smedley was buried.

By Sunday afternoon, search and rescue crews from Weber County referred to their efforts as a recovery, but Smedley's family held out hope.

"We're praying for a miracle," said his older brother, George Smedley. "We're obviously hoping he's OK."

Ryan Smedley, of South Ogden, and Pincombe, of Pleasant View, were part of a group still close even years after their days at Clearfield High School. The 30 or so pals called themselves BHC - the Basin Hardcore Crew.

Many of those friends drank coffee, smoked cigarettes and hugged one another Sunday at the search command center in a cul de sac at the foot of Taylor's Canyon. Someone brought a fire pit and a pile of wood. They vowed to keep vigil until their friend was brought off the mountain.

"We're all kind of just in shock," said Eddie Buckley.

Ryan Smedley and Pincombe climbed to the top of Snowbasin around 4 p.m. Saturday and launched off the west side of the mountain, triggering the avalanche in a chute, Weber County Sheriff Brad Slater said.

The slide was about 150 yards long, 30 to 40 yards wide and about 15 to 20 feet deep at the toe, according to the Sheriff's Office. It was in an area owned by the U.S. Forest Service - not the ski resort - and not maintained against avalanches.

When it gave way, the slide swept past Pincombe and swallowed Smedley, said Buckley, who spoke to a shaken Pincombe about 6 p.m. Saturday.

"He said it hit Ryan from behind and shot him down the hill," Buckley said.

The Utah Avalanche Center listed the avalanche danger for most of the state, including the Wasatch Front, as moderate last weekend, although forecaster Craig Gordon said that means a human-triggered slide is still possible.

"If you're heading into backcountry terrain, you need to always be prepared for self-rescue," he said. That means bring gear like an avalanche beacon and a shovel.

Neither man had a beacon. Pincombe searched for Smedley for about an hour before hiking to a house where he called for help.

Snow, clouds and 20 to 30 mph winds forced the Sheriff's Office to call off the search about 10 p.m. Saturday. Low clouds and snow hampered efforts Sunday, preventing a helicopter from shelling the mountain in order to trigger more avalanches and stabilize the area.

"We still have a treacherous avalanche potential environment," Slater said.

The Sheriff's Office took George Smedley and another brother up in helicopter to show them the area, so they could see for themselves why it was so hard for the searchers. When he returned, George Smedley said he understood. Snowbasin is 10,000 feet tall, and the search area was at about 8,200 feet elevation, above the cloud level.

Still, he said, the waiting was "really hard."

While they waited, friends described Ryan Smedley as an experienced snowboarder and a free spirit who traveled to Hawaii, Mexico and Florida to surf.

"Ryan is his own barrel of monkeys," said friend Dave Beson.

Intermittent snow flurries swirled around the group of friends, who took comfort in their ever-growing numbers. Don and Debbie Noseworthy, who watched the group gather outside their east-Ogden home, carried pot after pot of chicken noodle soup to the hungry crowd. With three children of their own, all of whom love to snowboard, they said, the couple felt for the friends and family of the missing man.

"They're just people that need help," said Don Noseworthy. "We're all interconnected in some way."

A break in the weather around 4 p.m. allowed avalanche control efforts to continue. Within the hour, as many as 20 searchers from the sheriff's office and the Snowbasin Ski Resort ski patrol were scouring the slide, said Weber County Sheriff's Capt. Klint Anderson. Many were dropped onto the slide by helicopter.

Ryan Smedley was not married and didn't have any children. He was the youngest of seven children who grew up in Syracuse, and six of his siblings were at the searchers' command center Sunday. His mother died when he was 3 and his father died of cancer four years ago.

The owner of Lucky 7 Construction, he employed many of his Clearfield High School friends and was in the process of building a home for his stepmother.

Buckley said he and half a dozen friends usually accompanied Smedley to snowboard Taylor's Canyon, and he almost went with Pincombe and Smedley on Saturday.

Although Smedley's family says he wasn't reckless, Buckley described a risk-taker.

"We've all seen avalanches, and several of us have survived them," he said, adding everyone knew it was dangerous. "Those guys know better, too, but [Smedley's] a gambler."

The way Ryan Smedley apparently died really didn't surprise some of his friends.

"This was very much his fashion," Buckley said. "If he was going to go out, he was going to go out with a bang."

Searchers were called off the mountain around 8:30 p.m. With the helicopters no longer available, the rescuers were forced to hike for about an hour to the command post where they were de-briefed and sent home around 10 p.m., Anderson said. The search was scheduled to resume this morning at 8 a.m.

jbergreen@sltrib.com

mwestley@sltrib.com