Officials said the skiers went missing on Lone Peak near Salt Lake City.
Two skiers were killed and a third hospitalized following an avalanche on Utah’s Lone Peak on Thursday, according to the Salt Lake City Unified Police Department.
The skiers are believed to have been buried by an avalanche in the backcountry, police said.
The deceased were identified as two men aged 32 and 23. Aimee Race told reporters.
The skier, who was hospitalized, was being treated for minor injuries after he was able to extricate himself from the snow and tried to save his two friends before calling for help, Race says.
Officials said search and rescue experts were unable to reach the crash site because the avalanche conditions were so dangerous.
On Thursday afternoon, rescue operations were suspended as snow fell again on the mountain, police said. Rescue operations have been suspended until Friday, the Utah Avalanche Center told ABC News.
Large, dangerous avalanches are rare late in the ski season because daytime warmth usually stabilizes snowfall, Craig Gordon of the Utah Avalanche Center told reporters.
A recent storm of about 30 inches changed weather conditions very quickly, raising the risk dramatically, Gordon said. He said the area north of Lone Peak is steep and technical, complicating rescue efforts.
As is often the case for nearby ski resorts with large resources, the Alta Ski Area told ABC News earlier in the day that a ski patrol and an avalanche rescue dog were assisting in the search and rescue effort.
According to Colorado Avalanche Information Center.
