SALT LAKE CITY — A snowboarder killed over the weekend in an avalanche in Park City has been identified as a Salt Lake resident.
Matt Tauszik, 45, was buried Sunday in a large slide while backcountry snowboarding in the Dutch Draw area near Park City Mountain Resort’s Canyons Village, according to the Summit County Sheriff’s Office. Tauszik is believed to have triggered the avalanche in the Conehead, according to the Utah Avalanche Center.
The Conehead area is “steep, rocky and avalanche prone,” according to the center. The avalanche that buried Tauszik was approximately 3-feet deep and 100-feet wide, according to the Avalanche Center.
The Dutch Draw area, located near the top of the Ninety-Nine 90 lift, has been the scene for a couple of deadly avalanches in recent years.
Timothy Robert Baker, 24, of Salt Lake City, was killed in February of 2012 after being caught in a slide in the same area while skiing.
A massive avalanche in the same area killed snowboarder Shane Maxiner, 27, of Sandpoint, Idaho, in 2005. That avalanche was estimated at 16 acres and 30 feet deep in some spots.
Several other skiers have been killed in out-of-bounds avalanches close to Dutch Draw in past years. The ski resort has large signs placed on its border with the backcountry areas warning skiers and snowboarders of the potential danger. One sign off the Ninety-Nine 90 lift has a skull and crossbones and states, “You can die.”