An Estrien man lost his life in the Salt Lake County region of Utah, United States. David Éthier, 38, had been missing for several days. He was found lifeless on Tuesday by a member of the public.
The outdoorsman was last seen with his dog at the Porter Fork Trail in Millcreek Canyon. It was when his dog was found alone that the authorities were alerted to the disappearance of the thirty-year-old. The victim’s car was also found at the Porter Fork Trail.
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Estrien David Éthier had been missing for several days. It was the fact of finding his dog alone that alerted the authorities.
Photo: - / Courtesy
The Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office has been searching for David Éthier for the past three days. The authorities notably used a helicopter in their search, due to a high risk of avalanches. The weather complicated the search, explains Salt Lake Department Sheriff Arlan Bennett. Additionally, on Monday the conditions were very snowy, so it was difficult to get the helicopter up. The area he was in is very remote, it was off the trails.
According to the victim’s brother, a signal emanating from his cell phone was picked up by the authorities, who then sent a drone to try to locate the man, in vain. On Facebook, he adds that the searches had to stop due to bad weather
but were expected to continue towards the end of the week. Sheriff Arlan Bennett confirms that drones were used in the search.
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David Éthier was found missing in the Salk Lake County area of Utah, United States.
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It was a skier who found the victim dead and who was able to give the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office information that allowed them to locate the body.
This is a heartbreaking tragedy. Our thoughts are with the family who is grieving the loss of a loved one.
indicates in a press release the sheriff of the Salk Lake department, Rosie Rivera
High risk of avalanches
According to the website of Utah Avalanche Centerthe risk of avalanches had been high for several days in the Salt Lake region and the organization had issued a warning.
We knew that natural and human-caused avalanches were possible starting Friday and throughout the weekend and that allowed us to issue a high danger warning.
underlines the meteorologist Utah Avalanche CenterNikki Champion.
Through this warning, citizens are notified not only by the Utah Avalanche Centerbut also on weather sites and mapping applications, such as Google Maps.
People can still go off-piste, but we recommend avoiding going on or under avalanche terrain, which are trails steeper than 30 degrees, or those attached to them.
explains Ms. Champion.
Since December 27, 41 avalanches have been reported in Salt Lake, for a total of 58 in the mountainous regions of Salt Lake, Provo and Ogden.
We have a lot of avalanches reported, but also a lot of users to do so, so a lot of people in the off-piste areas who pass on the information to us.
says Nikki Champion.
She concludes by assuring that the authorities and the team of Utah Avalanche Center are doing everything to avoid missing person situations during these dangerous times.
