The avalanche rolled offthe eastern aspect of Mt Timpanogos in the Wasatch Mountain Range.
“What the heck, bro! That’s one of the largest avalanches I’ve ever seen in real life,” skiers could be heard saying in footage of the Bear Claw ski area.
The clip, which was captured by holidaymaker Thomas Farley went viral this week, faster than a rolling cloud of snow.
“The avalanche did not make it to the resort boundaries, but the massive powder cloud did,” the skier told Newsweek, describing how he had been “covered in a super thick cloud of snow for one or two minutes”.
Sundance Resort’s deputy assistant ski patrol director and avalanche dog handler, Tracy Christensen, told the Herald that skiers were alarmed but nobody was hurt.
”It occurred in a designated wilderness area. It was an impressive avalanche with an impressive powder cloud that reached the boundaries of the Sundance ski area, but at no point were our guests in danger or in harm’s way,” he said.
Skiers were caught up in a huge avalanche cloud at the Sundance ski area. Photo / Twitter; Thomas Farley
It was in an area that had no avalanche mitigation and was out-of-bounds for resort skiers. However Christensen said that it was the result of an equally impressive snow season, which delivered 12 metres of snow, a record for the resort.
Sundance was one of several Utah ski areas that had extended its opening into next month, owing to continuing generous ski conditions.
At Alta, one of America’s oldest ski-only resorts, visitors were treated to 19m of snow this season.
This was possibly too much snow. This weekend more than 1000 visitors were trapped in the ski village at Alta and neighbouring Snowbird by an avalanche warning.
Alta ski area in the Wasatch Mountains has had record snow levels this season. Photo / Marc Piscotty, Visit Utah
The areas linked by Cottonwood Canyon were declared “interlodge” - shelter in place at resort buildings - on Friday, as avalanche mitigation took place.
The Utah Department of Transportation cleared SH26 late on Friday evening to allow an evacuation of skiers and staff, before closing the road again at 10pm.
Long-term visitors said it was the stormiest they had ever seen conditions in two decades.
“When you get 5 inches [13cm] an hour things go big and things get sideways real quick,” Alta’s marketing Brandon Ott told Ski Magazine.
It hasn’t only been a record snow season that has kept Utah in the headlines over winter.
Lifestyle guru and Oscar-winning actor Gwyneth Paltrow is back in Salt Lake City this week, for a trial about a historic ski accident. The actress has countersued a 76-year-old optician for a ski accident that occurred at the Deer Park resort in 2016, near Sundance in the Heber valley.
