Avalanche kills four skiers in canyon near Salt Lake City

SALT LAKE CITY — Four backcountry skiers in their 20s died when one of the deadliest avalanches in Utah history hit a popular canyon, police said Sunday.

Four other people were also buried in the Saturday slide but managed to dig themselves out and didn’t suffer serious injuries, according to Unified Police of Salt Lake County.

The skiers were from two separate groups, and all eight had prepared with the necessary avalanche safety gear, authorities said.

The four killed were all from the Salt Lake City area, not far from the spot where they were swept up by the skier-triggered avalanche in Millcreek Canyon.

“Our backcountry outdoor community is very connected, so this type of loss touches many people and really is heartbreaking,” Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson said. “These are people who love doing what they did and lived life to the fullest.”

Three of the deceased were identified as Salt Lake City residents: Louis Holian and Stephanie Hopkins, both 26, and Thomas Louis Steinbrecher, 23. The fourth, 29-yearold Sarah Moughamian, was from the suburb of Sandy.

They were experienced skiers who were well known in the community, Drew Hardesty with the Utah Avalanche Center told The Salt Lake Tribune. The avalanche danger around Salt Lake was high Saturday, the center said as it tweeted a warning hours before the avalanche.

A faint distress call alerted police to the slide shortly before noon Saturday. The survivors found their four companions and dug them out, but they were already dead, police said.