Man and Young Girl Killed in Separate Utah Avalanches Amid Volatile Winter

Two avalanches in roughly 24 hours left an 11-year-old girl and an adult man dead as Utah grappled with dangerous, storm-driven snowpack conditions, local agencies said. The deaths came after the first major snowstorm of the 2025-26 season produced widespread slide activity across the Wasatch, and UPI reported the two fatalities in an update dated Feb. 20, 2026.

The snowmobiling fatality occurred west of Midway while a father and his juvenile son rode in rough country during Wednesday’s storm. Sources differ on the exact place name, Fox and the Wasatch County Sheriff’s Office identified the site as the Snake Creek area west of Midway, Park Record described it as Ant Knoll in the Big Flat area west of Midway, and a local broadcast transcript used the phonetic "Aunt Nolles" in the Big Flat area, but all accounts agree the father was buried when a slide released. Park Record said the father became stuck at the bottom of a steep slope and the son triggered the slide while trying to dig him out; Fox reported the son used an avalanche beacon to locate his father and dig him out, but "despite the son’s efforts, his father died at the scene." First responders were unable to immediately reach the location because of hazardous conditions.

The child killed in a separate incident was identified by FOX13 as 11-year-old Madelyn Eitas of Rochester, Massachusetts. Fox reported she was backcountry skiing with her family near Brighton Ski Resort Thursday when she was buried in a slide. A YouTube news transcript said a multi-agency investigation is underway involving Unified Police, the U.S. Forest Service, and the Utah Avalanche Center as officials piece together how the Brighton-area slide occurred.

Park Record and the Utah Avalanche Center logged intense activity during and after the storm, recording 35 avalanches on Wednesday and 27 on Thursday. Park Record said Wednesday’s storm prompted a National Weather Service winter weather advisory, caused slide-offs and traffic backups along Interstate 80, and produced "several close calls," including a Park City Ridgeline slide that carried two people who were ultimately unharmed.

Avalanche specialists described why the storm produced such volatile conditions. KSL and Deseret quoted Champion saying, "We created the pretty standard setup, which is having a strong slab on top of a weak structure. What you don't want is strong over weak. Ideally, you'd want weak over strong or a big storm that comes in a little bit warmer and gets lower density. We had the opposite situation." Champion added, "The avalanche danger is HIGH on upper- and mid-elevation slopes facing northwest through north and east. Recent snowfall and strong winds have created very dangerous conditions. Avalanches triggered in wind-drifted or new snow could step down more than 4 feet into weak-faceted snow, producing large, dangerous, and potentially deadly slides." KSL and Deseret also noted that 20 to 50 inches of new snow fell on top of sugary, faceted layers that formed during January, which was described as the "third driest ever in Utah."

Local search and rescue and law enforcement urged caution. Wasatch Search and Rescue commander Kam Kohler warned, "Conditions on the mountain are as bad as they have been all winter. The deepest, softest snow is the most treacherous right now. It’s really, for most places, a no-go." Salt Lake County Sheriff Rosie Rivera echoed concerns about dangerous conditions. Park Record summed the week as Utah “finally got a major snowstorm this week, but with it came a flurry of avalanches, resulting in the first fatalities of the season, two deaths in as many days.”

KSL and Deseret also framed the Utah deaths as part of a larger western avalanche uptick and relayed an account of a carefully organized, professionally guided backcountry hut trip to Frog Lake Huts outside Truckee, California, noting, "We have many unanswered questions, but here is what we know at this time: Eight close friends planned a professionally guided, two-night backcountry hut trip to Frog Lake Huts outside Truckee, California. The trip had been organized well in advance. They were experienced backcountry skiers who deeply respected the mountains. They were trained and prepared for backcountry travel and trusted their professional guides on this trip. They were fully equipped with avalanche safety equipment."

The Utah Avalanche Center and local agencies have advised people to avoid avalanche terrain and to check UAC forecasts before any backcountry travel as investigators continue to piece together timelines and exact locations for the two fatal incidents.