Search ongoing for 2 missing skiers 'trapped' in avalanche near Salt Lake City, sheriff says

A search for two missing skiers in Utah is ongoing after an avalanche on Thursday morning, police said.

Salt Lake County emergency crews responded to Lone Peak Canyon, a mountain summit in the southeast area of Salt Lake City, Utah, around 10:15 a.m., the Unified Police Department of Greater Salt Lake (UPD) said in a news release.

Once the crews arrived, they learned that three male skiers needed rescue after an avalanche, according to the department.

Officers requested help from Salt Lake County Sheriff Search and Rescue, Draper Fire Department and other agencies due to the "location and challenges with these rescues," the release said.

1 skier rescued, 2 remain missing

So far, one skier was rescued and was taken to a hospital after he was "able to dig himself out," Salt Lake County Sheriff Rosie Rivera said during a news conference Thursday afternoon.

"He was in pretty fair condition other than mentally," Rivera said about the rescued skier. "Going through something like this is extremely scary."

The other two skiers remain"trapped in the avalanche on the mountain" and the area they're in is "quite a ways back," according to the sheriff.

Authorities are speaking to the rescued skier and the other skiers' family members to try to get more details about what happened, Rivera said. One of the missing skiers' girlfriends also showed up at the scene, she added.

Rescuing the remaining skiers could 'take some time,' sheriff says

Helicopters are surveying the area to ensure that search-and-rescue teams could move on foot, the New York Times reported. No crews have gone up the mountain yet because it is "not safe," Rivera said.

"They're going to be doing some mitigation to make it safe for our folks to go up and try to rescue these folks," according to the sheriff.

"What we want to put out there is please contact our office if you're going to come up," the sheriff said. "This is critical that we can get up there and do our very best in trying to rescue these folks or recover them... it's going to take some time."

Crews are "hopeful" they will get up to the mountain today, but it depends on the weather, according to the Rivera.

'The conditions are really bad up there'

It is unclear how much snow fell, but Benjamin Porter, spokesperson for Unified Fire Authority, told the New York Times that the avalanche had been reported in the backcountry.

Areas near the avalanche recorded up to 2 feet of new snowfall over the past week, with most of it falling over the weekend, Christine Kruse, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Salt Lake City, told the outlet.

"The conditions are really bad up there," Rivera said.

The three skiers drove to the mountain area, hiked up and then started to ski, according to the sheriff.

"One thing we want to stress to folks out there that want to continue to ski this time of year is just understand the change in temperatures and the crazy wind we've had, and the rain and snow," Rivera said. "Everything is unpredictable so be prepared."

This is a developing story.