By Rick Bowmer and Amy Beth Hanson | Associated Press

SANDY, Utah — Two backcountry skiers were killed and one was rescued after an avalanche Thursday in the mountains outside of Salt Lake City that occurred after several days of spring snowstorms, authorities said.

A rescue team responded just after 10 a.m. to an avalanche reported near Lone Peak in the Wasatch Range southeast of Salt Lake City, Salt Lake County Sheriff Rosie Rivera said.

One of the skiers, who was able to dig himself out of the snow, had been rescued by midday and was taken to the hospital, Rivera said.

A rescue team in a helicopter flew over the area Thursday afternoon and confirmed the other two skiers were deceased, Rivera said. They are two men, ages 23 and 32. Their names have not been released, but their families have been notified, the sheriff said.

Conditions were not safe enough to allow for a recovery on Thursday, and crews planned to go out Friday morning, weather permitting, Rivera said.

Rivera said she believed the man who was rescued was the one who called for help. Officers were speaking with him at the hospital to get more information about what happened, the sheriff said.

The skiers hiked into the area Thursday morning, she said.

Craig Gordon with the Utah Avalanche Center said about 2.5 feet (76 centimeters) of heavy, wet snow fell in the area in the past three days.

The skiers would have had to have been very experienced to even be in the “very serious terrain,” he said.

The deaths bring this winter’s tally of avalanche deaths to 15, which is less than the average of about 30 people who are killed by avalanches in the U.S. every year.

Hanson reported from Helena, Montana.

One of BYU’s 2024 signees requested a release from his National Letter of Intent as 6-foot-7 forward/center Isaac Davis announced he is heading north of Provo to play for Utah State.

Rated a 3-Star recruit by 247, Davis signed with BYU back in November. Davis is an explosive athlete who can finish above the rim and is an underrated passer.

I don’t want to speak for Isaac and go into details to why he is no longer at BYU, but sometimes conversations with coaches can cause both sides to consider what the future holds. BYU’s new coaching staff had a different vision for Isaac than what he was hoping for.

With Davis’ departure, BYU has 9 scholarship players lined up for next season. BYU can add up to 13 scholarship players. BYU is active in the transfer portal and international market to fill out the roster; Kevin Young has deep international connections from his time in the NBA. I mentioned some of BYU’s targets on Sunday.

Below are BYU’s current scholarship players for the 2024-2025 season.

• Fousseyni Traore
• Trevin Knell
• Noah Waterman
• Dallin Hall
• Richie Saunders
• Dawson Baker
• Trey Stewart
• Brody Kozlowski
• Keba Keita

Southern Utah Events Guide – May 9, 2024

Southern Utah Events Guide – May 9, 2024. This week’s Southern Utah Events Guide features the Mystics Festival, Colorado City Music Festival, comedy, markets, art shows, local live music, and more.

If you would like to add an upcoming event, you can add one here, or if you need to cancel or edit a previously submitted event, you can do so here. We would like to ask those who have had an ongoing event or one that had had to be postponed, is no longer happening, or has had changes that you update those changes on the calendar.

The Independent is known as St. George and southern Utah’s events source. It produces the events calendar for southern Utah as the definitive calendar for the surrounding area. No need to wonder what is happening in southern Utah anymore; just check out our events calendar for St. George and southern Utah daily.