Utah resort avalanche kills skier

SALT LAKE CITY, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- A woman was killed and another person was trapped during weekend avalanches in the Utah mountains, authorities said.

Salt Lake County Sheriff's officials said Heather Gross, 27, died Sunday from injuries sustained after being buried under 2 feet of snow by an early-afternoon snowslide at Snowbird Ski Resort in Little Cottonwood Canyon, Utah, CNN reported.

Resort officials told the Salt Lake Tribune that Gross was skiing with a group of friends on Mount Baldy when the avalanche hurtled down the Eye of the Needle area. She was found alive but unconscious by rescuers with a probe, and was transported to University Hospital where she died, officials said.

A second avalanche in the canyon at the Lake Desolation area left at least one person trapped in the rugged backcountry, Randy Doyle, a spokesman for the nearby Big Cottonwood Canyon resorts, told the broadcaster.