This topic comes up after a serious life-threatening incident at least once a ski season – don’t duck resort ropes to access closed terrain, as terrain that’s roped off at resorts may pose serious avalanche risk or feature other hazards.

A scary situation unfolded in the area of Utah’s Brighton Resort on January 2 after two skiers – age 17 and 18 – exited the ski area to access backcountry terrain by ducking a closure rope.

The situation wouldn’t be fully understood until the following day, when on January 3, a Utah Avalanche Center forecaster and resort snow safety personnel were investigating another skier-triggered slide that took place in the area the prior day. During the investigation, two burial holes were discovered that were unrelated to the initial slide, one hole found with blood in the snow. Investigators switched gears and sought answers related to this second slide.

According to a report from the Utah Avalanche Center, the investigation into the slide revealed that the holes were from a separate slide caused by two young skiers, 17 and 18, who had ducked a rope to travel out of bounds below the Great Western lift, entering the Hidden Canyon area. After one successful run, the skiers took the lift back up the mountain for another go.

The second lap is when the avalanche broke off, described as about two to four feet deep and 200 feet wide. The slide carried the skiers about 500 feet downslope.

Once the slide subsided, one skier was critically buried, head down in the snow and with only a ski boot sticking out. Thankfully, the other skier was only partially buried and was able self-extract to come to the assistance of the first skier with the help of witnesses. After the buried skier was free of the snow, both were able to walk to safety, neither being seriously injured. Apparently, one of the skiers did sustain some sort of wound that left some blood behind at the hole where they were buried by the slide.

Both skiers were season passholders at Brighton Resort and were familiar with the terrain they were entering, but neither had any sort of avalanche safety gear with them at the time of the slide.

Thankfully, this story has a happy ending, though it could have ended in tragedy had things gone a little differently. Opinions vary, but most experts agree that the chances of surviving an avalanche burial start to steeply drop after about 10 to 15 minutes. In this case, had the buried individual’s boot not been visible or if both skiers had been left covered in snow, it’s easy to see how a search and rescue effort could have taken longer than that.

When buried in the snow, asphyxiation is a serious risk, and getting out of the snow is much more difficult that most might think – especially if arms and legs are trapped and immobilized.

This instance is a good reminder for those visiting resorts around Colorado and the rest of the country this winter to stay in-bounds, as well as a good reminder for those entering the backcountry to always be prepared with the proper avalanche safety training, avalanche safety gear, and the current avalanche risk forecast.

In Colorado, that forecast can be found on the Colorado Avalanche Information Center website. Never enter the backcountry during the snow season without taking proper avalanche safety precautions first.

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