‘Shoulder Season’: Search & rescue crews warn of changing conditions in Utah’s backcountry

SALT LAKE CITY — It’s a novel time of yr in Utah the place temperatures bounce forwards and backwards and the specter of antagonistic climate circumstances can pop up in a matter of minutes.

Members of the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue staff seek advice from late Could because the “shoulder season.”

“[The weather] appears to be like nice, after which it goes dangerous on you. It could rain, it could possibly snow, and most significantly, the water begins flowing off the mountain,” stated Alan Bergstrom, a 20-year veteran with the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue staff. “It’s a really scary time for us; It’s a short while the place the water is difficult and quick.”

Bergstrom’s concern is the snowmelt and runoff contributing to some harmful circumstances at space creeks, streams and rivers.

“It’s quick, it’s chilly, it by no means stops, you don’t understand how robust it’s,” Bergstrom stated of how folks generally underestimate the facility of water.

This previous weekend, a hiker was stranded on the other facet of a creek close to Little Cottonwood Canyon. Salt Lake County SAR responded to get the hiker safely again to the opposite facet.

In Utah County, various hikers and climbers needed to be rescued with the assistance of helicopter hoists.

“We begin to get folks out who simply aren’t ready for the climate circumstances that they’re going to come across up right here within the mountains,” stated Chief Dave Marsella with the North Fork Fireplace Division, which supplies medical help on search and rescue callouts close to the Sundance space and Provo Canyon. “At 8, 9,000 toes, it’s nonetheless winter.”

Each Marsella and Bergstrom warn of the altering circumstances this time of yr and the drastic distinction in temperature relying on elevation and site.

“Plan on inclement climate — costume appropriately,” Marsella. “Flip-flops usually are not acceptable for mountain climbing up the facet of the mountain.”

Bergstrom and Salt Lake County SAR at all times suggest the “10 necessities” to anybody making ready to move out into the backcountry.