"There were no warnings," said Michael Thomas of St. Louis. "I was driving down the road and the next thing we know the car is tumbling."

Also in the car were

Thomas' wife and five children - ages 3, 5, 6, 9 and 10 - and two teenage Alta ski resort employees who had just hitched a ride with the family.

It was the Thomases' first trip to Utah.

" 'Life Elevated,' right?" quipped Michael Thomas as he waited for a ride at the mouth of the canyon with rescue crews.

No one else was caught in the slide, which occurred about 6 p.m., and it became the most dramatic event of the Pacific storm system that moved into Utah earlier this week and built up steam on its way out Thursday.

Authorities closed Little Cottonwood Canyon about noon for avalanche control, the Salt Lake Sheriff's Office reported. One lane was reopened at 4:30 p.m. so skiers and snowboarders from Alta and Snowbird could return to the valley, Snowbird spokeswoman Laura Schaffer said.

Taking advantage of the reopened road, the Thomas family headed down the mountain after a day of skiing at Snowbird. They only made it about 4 1/2 miles from the resort when the avalanche picked up their Nissan Armada rental and threw it off the side of the canyon near the White Pine area.

"The snow is extremely wet and very heavy. It doesn't surprise me at all that it would sweep a car of the road," said Salt Lake County Sheriff's Sgt. Todd Griffiths, one of the first responders to the scene.

Griffiths said the slide that hit the Thomas family was a natural avalanche that occurred despite efforts to control slides in the canyon. He said that the avalanche danger remained high.

He estimated the slide that hit the SUV was 6 feet tall and 100 yards wide.

"You're just falling, it's surreal," said Michael Thomas of surviving the avalanche.

When the SUV came to a rest, some of the kids were crying, but nobody was seriously injured. Everyone was wearing a seatbelt. Thomas said the doors of the SUV couldn't be opened, so the two Alta employees kicked out one of the windows and helped the family climb out.

By the time the group scrambled up the side of the canyon back to the road, rescue crews were waiting. The family and the Alta employees were treated at the scene of the slide.

"I did OK," said Michael Thomas' 10-year-old son, Adam Thomas, who came out the worst of the bunch with bruises on his forehead, face and knee. "I helped to get some of the other kids unbuckled," he said.

Emergency crews had dug out the road, Griffiths said, but conditions were still too dangerous to retrieve the SUV. Little Cottonwood Canyon was closed overnight, stranding skiers who were unable to get down the canyon before the avalanche.

Those above the slide came back up, Schaffer said.

Snowbird management was trying to accommodate about 200 people. Despite only 90 rooms at the Alta Lodge, all 35 stranded there were accommodated.

Big Cottonwood Canyon has been restricted to residential traffic only.

Most of Thursday's snow fell in the mountains - almost 2 feet at Snowbasin, Alta and Snowbird.

About half an inch of snow fell in Salt Lake City during Thursday morning's commute, before turning to rain by 1 p.m. in most areas.

Up on the campus of the University of Utah, about 11 inches of snow fell. Evening classes were canceled at 5 p.m. so crews could remove excessive snow from parking lots. Classes were expected to resume today as scheduled.

How the snow stacked up

Brighton - 20 inches

Snowbasin - 22 inches

Tony Grove - 12 inches

(Logan Canyon)

Pleasant Grove Bench - 6 inches

Taylorsville - 1 inch

East Layton - 7 inches

Chalk Creek - 8 inches

(Uinta Mountains)

Salt Lake City International Airport - 0.5 inches