Way We Were: America s most daring skier, right here in Park City parkrecord.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from parkrecord.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Courtesy of the Utah Avalanche Center
The pandemic drove people to head for the hills, the popular thinking goes, a COVID-fueled exodus as people sought outdoor recreation and a safer way to get out of the house.
But when that adventure turns out not to be so safe, it’s up to members of Summit County’s Search and Rescue team to respond.
“There are so, so many people out there,” said Kevan Todd, the team’s vice commander. He said parked cars can stretch 2 miles from a popular lot on the Mirror Lake Highway.
That would threaten to strain search-and-rescue resources even in the best of times, but last year certainly was not that. It featured a backcountry snowpack of rare instability and danger, resulting in multiple fatal avalanches, and the pandemic itself provided logistical challenges that prevented team members from training together or responding to calls the way they normally would.
Local high schoolers attended the fifth annual avalanche safety class at the Canyons Village side of Park City Mountain Resort on Sunday. The class included an hour-long virtual meeting and five hours of field study.
Industry experts emphasize basics of ski safety at annual summit summitdaily.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from summitdaily.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.