Police Identify Utah Teen Killed In Avalanche
Jan 19, 2020, 5:11 PM | Updated: 8:01 pm
FARMINGTON, Utah – Deputies with the Davis County Sheriff’s Office have identified the victim from a fatal avalanche near Farmington Peak.
Police said 18-year-old Chase Adams was snowmobiling with his father in Farmington Canyon Saturday afternoon when the slide was triggered.
Adams and his snowmobile were immediately buried under 12 feet of snow, according to search and rescue teams.
“It will go up your nose, in your mouth, in your ears – there is not a place that it won’t find a way but again, he was under a lot of snow,” said Doug Shipley with the Davis County Sheriff’s Office. “But just the nature of an avalanche, even if it’s powdery snow, by the time it reaches the bottom and it stops, it sets up similar to concrete and metal shovels are they only way to dig it.”
Bystanders located Adams’s beacon and began digging him out; officials said Adams was also wearing an inflatable backpack that did deploy but was punctured during digging to recover him.
“They are designed to float a victim to a top of an avalanche but he was in a place where the hill transitions to a flat spot and in situations like that, sometimes it doesn’t float them up, sometimes they get pushed down,” said Steve Petty, member of the Davis County Sheriff’s Office search and rescue team.
Adams was immediately airlifted to the University of Utah Hospital, where he later died. No other injuries were reported in the avalanche.
Ben Adams, Chase’s father, released the following statement on Sunday:
“We spent the day at a location that is dear to me and my boys. We had a wonderful day doing what we love to do. When the snow slid, I was shocked, but I had a feeling everything was going to be okay. I prayed, I called his mom, I called 911, and she called 911.
“Thank you to everyone who rides in Farmington Canyon — it is a beautiful community and family. I am an extremely strong man and in the moment of physical need to save my son my strength availed nothing. I was useless and shifted my strength to God. I relied on him, knowing my nothingness and trusting his great power to give me strength to know that, someday, we will see each other again, by virtue of Jesus Christ.
“Special thanks to the Larkins and other bystanders, Davis County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue, University of Utah AirMed, Utah Department of Public Safety Air Lift and the University of Utah Trauma Team. Be safe.”
RELATED: 18-Year-Old Dies After Being Buried By Farmington Peak Avalanche
