The Massachusetts girl who died in a Big Cottonwood Canyon avalanche last month was skiing just outside a marked Brighton boundary with her family when she was swept away by snow.
Those details, outlined in a new Utah Avalanche Center report, have officials reiterating that it’s still risky to leave resort boundaries, even if riders don’t venture far.
“Utah leads the nation in avalanche fatalities of riders who leave ski area boundaries,” officials said in the report. “In general, the backcountry adjacent to ski areas—sometimes referred to as ‘sidecountry’—can be deceptive. Very different avalanche conditions often exist just feet away from the boundary, despite its proximity to a ski area.”
(Utah Avalanche Center) Brighton's trail map, pulled from the resort's website on Feb. 24, 2026. The Feb, 19 avalanche area is highlighted in purple, outside of the yellow ski area boundary.
Madelyn Eitas, 11, was skiing with her father and brother at Brighton Ski Resort on Feb. 19 when they exited into an out-of-bounds area below Lake Mary toward the Mary Main Bowl, according to the report.
Recent storms had accumulated nearly 50 inches of fresh powder on top of a weak layer of snow, which caused a high risk of avalanche that day, avalanche center officials said in their report.
The boundary where Madelyn and her family exited was marked by a rope line and signage saying, “Ski Area Boundary: No Ski Patrol or avalanche control beyond this point.”
Madelyn was ahead of her other family members as they exited the boundary west of Brighton’s Crest Lift, according to the report. An avalanche broke above her as she traversed along a wide slope above the Rock Garden, another popular out-of-bounds ski area, the report said.
The avalanche carried Madelyn more than 200 vertical feet and buried her just downhill of a tree, according to the report. The avalanche was about 400-600 feet wide and about 1-4 feet deep, an avalanche center official said in a video.
Bystanders called Brighton Ski Patrol and emergency services while Madelyn’s brother used an app to zero in on her location. The family had no avalanche rescue equipment, and by the time an avalanche rescue dog located Madelyn four feet below the snow surface, she had been buried for about 17 minutes, avalanche officials said.
Ski patrol administered life-saving measures for nearly 30 minutes before an ambulance arrived, according to the report.
The avalanche center recorded 22 other avalanches in the Salt Lake City area on the day Madelyn was killed, but no other fatalities were reported.
Avalanche center officials urged anyone who leaves a ski boundary to treat the terrain they enter as backcountry, meaning they should check the avalanche forecast, carry avalanche equipment and travel with a partner.