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Two outdoorsmen killed in Logan Peak avalanche: Accident ? The slide broke 250 yards wide from the cornice to the bottom.
PROVIDENCE, Dec 25, 2008 (The Salt Lake Tribune - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
Two young men described as experienced snowmobilers died in an avalanche Wednesday, the first clear morning after multiple storms had left the Bear River Range with more than 3 feet of fresh snow.
The two men, Jesse Ryan Johnson, 23, of Hyrum, and 22-year-old Erik Jorgensen, of Paradise, were with two other longtime buddies in an area called Rodeo Grounds near Logan Peak.
The snowmobilers were on "a very extreme slope," and the slide broke 250 yards wide from the cornice to the bottom, Bilodeau said.
"These were not rookie snowmobilers," said Gary Anderson, a friend of Johnson's family and their LDS stake president. He added both men were experienced in the backcountry.
"It's a hot spot. Everybody goes up that canyon," said Derek Grange, a friend who has snowmobiled the Rodeo Grounds before with Johnson and Jorgensen.
He and other friends gathered at Logan Regional Hospital later Wednesday to comfort the distraught Johnson and Jorgensen families.
Family members were not ready Wednesday to discuss the deaths, said Craig Rasmussen, the Johnson family's LDS bishop.
Brock Reed was with his two friends Wednesday morning, but declined later in the day to discuss the avalanche.
However, Reed described both Johnson and Jorgensen as fun-loving. "They would do anything to help anybody," he said.
"They never failed to make you laugh," said Jake Olsen,
another member of a large group of friends, that included the four snowmobilers, who were together from middle school through Mountain Crest High School in Hyrum.
Anderson said Johnson and Jorgensen were the kind of young man every parent wants their daughter to marry: respectful, close to his parents and siblings, hard workers.
Jorgensen was a newlywed and was studying at Utah State University to become a pharmacist, his friends said.
Johnson served an LDS church mission to Canada and returned about a year ago, they said.
Johnson is survived by his parents, two brothers and two sisters.
Jorgensen is survived by his wife, his parents, a brother and a sister, according to his friends.
Stephen Hunt contributed to this story.
Avalanche danger expected to rise as more snow falls
The Utah Avalanche Center listed the avalanche danger Wednesday in the Logan area backcountry as "considerable."
Avalanche ratings include low, moderate, considerable, high and extreme.
The center warned against backcountry travel in the mountains from northern to central Utah, including the Uinta Mountains and the Bear River Range.
They also issued an avalanche watch Wednesday in anticipation of heavy snow and winds expected today, which could overload "an unusually weak snowpack," the center said.
http://utahavalanchecenter.org
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