This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Three men riding snowmobiles near the Utah-Idaho line were caught in an avalanche Saturday afternoon. One of the men suffered broken bones.
A dispatcher with the Bear Lake County, Idaho, Sheriff's Office said the men were riding snowmobiles in the St. Charles/Green Canyon area about 1 p.m. when the avalanche occurred. Most of the men's ages and identities were not immediately available, but the injured man was 28.
One man suffered a broken arm and two broken femurs in the slide and was suffering from shock, a dispatcher said. Initially, a helicopter was dispatched to the scene but was canceled because of low visibility in the area.
Rescue teams from the sheriff's office, Franklin County, Idaho, and Cache County all responded to bring the man out of the canyon. They planned to bring the man to the mouth of Green Canyon, where an ambulance was waiting to take him to Bear Lake County Hospital in Montpelier, Idaho.
He was off the mountain and on his way to Logan Regional Hospital by about 10 p.m., said Cache County Sheriff's Lt. Doyle Peck.
Details about the size of the avalanche were not immediately available. The Utah Avalanche Center on Friday issued a warning about dangerous avalanche conditions for all mountains in northern and central Utah, including the Bear River Range, Wasatch, western Uintas and Manti Skyline. Conditions were expected to last through the weekend and that backcountry travel in steep terrain is not recommended.
The center said warm temperatures, snow and high winds expected Saturday will keep avalanche danger at a high level on Sunday.
Brooke Adams