During the hot summer months of July and August, those hiking the back slopes of the Wasatch Mountains can still find the remnants of a cold and treacherous winter.
Many slopes on the cooler and higher peaks are covered with the remains of heavy snowfall and old avalanche runs. Those who just hiked up from the sultry valley below find the huge snow and ice patches enticing.Some hike to the higher elevations specifically to climb and slide on the glacier-like fields. Many slide down the snow patches with a garbage bag or some other type of plastic device. The new trend is to use a cut-off pair of old skis that can easily be carried up a long steep trail.
However, those who test the peaceful-looking snow fields often discover the dangers they contain. Several times each summer the Utah County Search and Rescue Team is called up to rescue someone injured from sliding down a snow and ice patch. A few have been brought off the mountain in body bags.
"Some people find that stuff fun and exciting, but for us it's a long way to carry a person off the mountain," said Sgt. Dave Bennett, Utah County Emergency Services director.
A little more than a week ago, a Utah State University student died from head injuries suffered when he fell on an ice slope on the back of Mount Timpanogos and slid into a deep crevice. Fred Small, 26, San Jose, Calif., hiked up the Timpanooke Trail with friends and was skiing down the glacier on a short pair of skis when he fell and couldn't stop sliding until he plunged about 20 feet into a crevice.
Last week a 14-year-old Santaquin boy suffered a broken arm, broken cheek and several lacerations and bruises when he fell on a snow patch on the back side of Maple Mountain. The boy was hiking with Scouts and cutting across the icy slope when he lost his footing. He slid about 100 yards on the steep snow and then tumbled another 200 feet through boulders and fallen trees.
A rescue team hiked up the mountain and loaded the injured hiker onto a medical helicopter.
"Considering how far he fell, he was very lucky that his injuries were not more serious," Bennett said.
Warm mid-day temperatures make the snow patches appear soft and mushy, but a few inches below the soft surface is rock-hard ice. Combine that with a steep grade, and once a person starts sliding, nothing stops them until they reach the end - as was the case with the teen injured on Maple Moun-tain.
"When they get to the end there's nothing waiting for them but rocks and boulders," Bennett said.
Also, many of the patches are leftover avalanche runs filled with fallen trees and rocks, which makes sliding down them extremely dangerous.
Perhaps the most dangerous characteristic of the glaciers is that many contain deep crevices or conceal deep holes created by runoff water - like the one that Small fell into. The glacier actually becomes a weak bridge over a large gap. Hikers or skiers can fall through the weakened snow or off a weakened edge, with no warning, dozens of feet off into the crevice.
Rescuers say the most dangerous glacier around is located on the back of Mount Timpanogos above Aspen Grove Campground. Adjacent waterfalls erode the underside of the glacier and create huge pockets where hikers can fall as much as 50 feet into icy water pools. Over the past few decades, several hikers have fallen off the edge of the glacier to their deaths.
In 1982, a 14-year-old Orem boy searching for a missing hiker slid off the glacier and fell to his death in the water pool below. Rescuers retrieved a body from the pocket and carried it down the mountain for relatives to identify. However, the body turned out to be that of the missing hiker. Rescuers had to go back up the mountain where they also found the Orem boy's body in the crevice.
Some years rescue crews have actually hiked up to the glacier and blasted it with dynamite to remove the dangerous pockets. This year the glacier has crime-scene tape around it warning hikers to stay away.
"We've got a lot of snow left over this summer, and it's really compact and hard this time of year. People would be wise to stay off it," Bennett said.