A man who died Saturday after being buried in an avalanche while snowmobiling in the Chalk Creek area of Summit County has been identified as 49-year-old Jason Lyman of Mona.
The Summit County Sheriff’s Office said Lyman died Saturday in the East Fork of Chalk Creek around midday.
The victim’s companions dug him out after 30-40 minutes, when they began CPR, according to Summit County Sheriff’s Lt. Andrew Wright. Lifesaving efforts were made for another 40 minutes as Utah Department of Public Safety helicopter arrived and transported Lyman to an Evanston, Wyoming, hospital where he died.
No one else was injured in the incident.
Three snowmobilers, including a 14-year-old boy, were riding in the area of Summit County when the avalanche was triggered that buried one man, Wright said.
Utah Avalanche Control reported that both the man who was buried and his friend had beacons, but “were not skilled at its use,” and neither brought a probe.
Officials received information from an avalanche beacon about 1:20 p.m., Wright said.
A Department of Public Safety helicopter located the victim and transported him to an Evanston medical center, Wright said. The man was declared dead at the hospital as a result of the injuries he suffered from being buried in the avalanche.
The avalanche was an estimated 500-600 feet wide and between four and 10 feet deep at the tip, according to an e-mailed statement from the sheriff’s office.
No one else was injured.
Lyman was the second resident of Juab County to die as the result of an avalanche this year.
On Jan 18, an avalanche occurred north of Electric Lake in Emery County. Michael Besendorfer, a backcountry skier, was killed in the avalanche.
According to the Utah Avalanche Center, there have been four fatalities as a result of avalanches in the state this year.
They were: February 9, 2019, Uintas Accident, Chalk Creek, Snowmobiler; February 7, 2019, Southwest Accident, Circleville Mountain, Snowmobiler; (On the same day another Utahan was killed in an avalanche in Bonneville County, Idaho, outside Idaho Falls.) January 25, 2019, Moab Accident: East Face Laurel Peak, Snowmobiler; January 18, 2019, Skyline, Accident: Electric Lake, Skier.
