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Posted: 10:24 AM- The body of a 37-year-old skier was recovered this morning from Big Cottonwood Canyon.
Vegard Lund, of Stavanger, Norway, apparently died Wednesday in a 400-foot-long, 100-foot-wide avalanche near the top of Gobbler's Knob, at about 10,800 feet elevation.
His would be the fourth avalanche death in Utah in less than a week.
Searchers earlier today discovered tracks running along a ridge and into a basin, then ending at a fracture and a "fairly significant slide," said Salt Lake County Sheriff's Lt. Paul Jaroscak.
That discovery was made from the air, because the danger was still too great to send people in, he said.
Avalanche control was later performed in the area, and four people were sent in on foot after searchers detected the signal from an avalanche beacon, according to Brett Kobernik, a spokesman with the Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center.
Shortly after 10 a.m., sheriff's Sgt. Todd Griffiths announced Lund's body had been found. Skiers were dispatched to retrieve the body because the wind was too strong for a helicopter fly to the site.
Lund had last been seen around 1:45 p.m. Thursday.
He and a married couple he knows took off from the Butler Fork trailhead at 9 a.m. Wednesday and split up in the afternoon. Lund said he was heading toward the north face of Gobbler's Knob, sheriff's Lt. Rod Norton said.
The trio was supposed to meet back at the trailhead at 4 p.m., but Lund never showed up. The couple called 911 about 6:40 p.m. The search began about 7:45 p.m. Wednesday using snowmobiles and two helicopters, the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office reported.
High winds have prompted the Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center to request a backcountry avalanche warning for the mountains of northern and central Utah, according to the National Weather Service.
Avalanche danger is expected to rise from considerable to high on any slope with recent wind deposits steeper than 30 degrees, according to the service. A snow storm forecast for Friday means the avalanche danger will last through the weekend.