One of two skiers caught in the avalanche in Hidden Canyon, just outside of the Brighton Resort boundary, was buried face down and was rescued by a third party, according to new information released Monday afternoon by the Utah Avalanche Center.
The two young men, ages 17 and 18, triggered and were caught in an avalanche Friday after entering the unpatrolled backcountry terrain on the Big Cottonwood Canyon’s eastern border, according to the avalanche center’s updated observation report. The avalanche measured 600 feet long, 200 feet across and was between 2 and 4 feet deep.
The report said one skier was partially buried. The other was completely buried upside down in the snow with one exception: His ski boot was sticking out of the debris. Neither was wearing avalanche rescue gear.
Another person who saw the slide and was carrying a beacon and probe skied down to uncover the buried skier. The partially buried skier also dug himself out and helped in the rescue.
Though blood was found at the scene, Brooke Maushund, a forecaster for the Utah Avalanche Center, said no one was seriously hurt.
(Utah Avalanche Center) The red circles in this photo taken Jan. 3, 2026 in Hidden Canyon near Brighton Resort show where two teen skiers were buried earlier that day. One was partially buried and the other 'critically' buried, according to a new observation report released Monday by the Utah Avalanche Center. Both walked away from the scene.
“Since they lost their gear, they weren’t able to fully ski out,” Maushund said. “But they were well enough to walk themselves out of Hidden Canyon.”
Greg Gagne, also a Utah Avalanche Center forecaster, said observers hadn’t seen many big avalanches that broke to the ground until Friday’s slide. However, he said rainfall on Christmas had made the conditions unpredictable and the staff knew “we had a dangerous snowpack structure.
“It was,” he said, “just waiting for something.”
That something turned out to be two Brighton passholders who were making their second lap through the Hidden Canyon backcountry. Since then, the danger has only worsened.
Several feet of particularly wet snow has fallen in recent days in the mountains around Salt Lake City (Brighton reported receiving more than three feet of snow between Friday and Monday). And up to a foot more is expected by the end of the week, according to the forecasting site OpenSnow.com
As a result, the Utah Avalanche Center on Monday raised the avalanche risk level to between “Considerable” and “High” in northern Utah and southeastern Idaho. That includes the Wasatch, Bear River and Western Uinta mountains. Those are two of the highest ratings on the avalanche center’s danger scale, directly below “Extreme.” A “High” rating means the center expects “large avalanches in many places.”
Gagne added that the Christmas ice event has made predicting where avalanches will occur more difficult than ever.
“There’s no pattern to them,” he said. “So, it’s a really tricky situation.”
At very least, he recommends backcountry travelers avoid steep, northerly slopes. Slopes of 30 degrees or less should be relatively benign, he added.
The slide was discovered by avalanche center staff and Malia Bowman, a member of Brighton’s Snow Safety squad, on Saturday when they were examining the paths of two other avalanches in the area. One was believed to be triggered Tuesday and another was set off and reported by a snowboarder Friday. The Utah Avalanche Center classified the danger Friday as “Moderate,” Gagne said. By its definition, that means “Human-triggered avalanche dangers are possible.”
On Saturday, after observing the size of the slide, the blood and the evidence of rescue, the Utah Avalanche Center issued a call out for more information on the Hidden Canyon slide. Though it stated in all caps in its social media postings that it was seeking information and the people involved were not in trouble, many commenters online doubted anyone would come forward.
To the contrary, Maushund said the skiers caught in the slide were the ones who contacted the avalanche center and shared additional information. Gagne said the Utah Avalanche Center also received an Instagram message from someone claiming they were the ones who rescued the skiers. The third person, Maushund said, has asked to remain anonymous.
Jared Winkler, a spokesperson for Brighton Resort, said the skiers did not break any resort rules by entering the Hidden Canyon backcountry, which is on Forest Service land. He said egress gates exist, but that skiers and snowboarders are allowed to duck the rope to exit into Forest Service terrain.
However, while that area is adjacent to the resort, Brighton does no avalanche mitigation outside of its boundaries. Both Winkler and the avalanche center staff recommended that anyone planning to enter that terrain take precautions, such as receiving avalanche training, carrying safety gear and knowing the avalanche forecast before entering.
“I think all of us at Brighton feel the same way as our public: We don’t want to turn it into where people can’t ski the sidecountry,” Winkler said. “We want to make sure that people have access to the sidecountry, the far back country, places you can recreate and kind of challenge yourself a little bit more if you want that more challenging terrain.
“But, we want people to do it safely.”
Correction: Jan. 6, 2026, 3:30 p.m. • A photo in this article that incorrectly identified a view as being of Hidden Canyon from Brighton Resort has been replaced.