Volunteers from multiple counties embarked on a dangerous rescue mission Saturday afternoon after snowmobilers dug up a 28-year-old man from under an avalanche in the Beaver Creek area, near St. Charles Canyon.

Helicopters were unable to reach the victim due to poor weather conditions, so Search and Rescue volunteers had to come up with a plan to access the patient and get him safely to a hospital in very unstable conditions.

Search and Rescue teams managed to reach the patient late in the afternoon, but they had to take great care not to cause another avalanche in their rescue efforts. Avalanche forecaster Toby Weed was on site to advise rescue teams throughout the process.

Volunteers used 1,100 feet of rope to hoist the man to the ridge above the avalanche site. At about at 8:30 p.m. he was loaded onto a Snowcat and transported through the backcountry to a waiting ambulance near Beaver Mountain Ski Area.

The Cache County Sheriff’s Office has confirmed the man has a broken arm and a broken leg. He was cold, in pain and going into shock.

The avalanche occurred at about 1 p.m. One of three snowmobilers was buried in the slide. The victim was dug out from under 1 or 2 feet of snow.

LifeFlight in Franklin County was initially dispatched because the slide occurred in Idaho, but weather conditions there were not suitable for helicopter flight. Instead, an AirMed helicopter from Ogden attempted to reach the snowmobile party, but was unable to get beyond Franklin Basin.

With no possibility of air assistance, search and rescue volunteers from Cache County entered into the canyon on snowmobiles, while the Forest Service worked to groom the trails and make them safer and easier to travel.

According to Cache County Sheriff Lt. Doyle Peck, it would still be late into the evening before he would have additional details about the outcome of the slide.

This, along with a storm passing through the area, complicated rescue efforts.

One individual waiting at the command post set up near Beaver Mountain Ski resort said they were just anxiously waiting in near-whiteout conditions, with the snow blowing sideways.

Weed, who was actually in the area teaching an avalanche class when Saturday’s avalanche occurred, said the snow was highly unstable throughout the area.

According to the Utah Avalanche Center, avalanche conditions are expected to be dangerous throughout the weekend.

“Very dangerous avalanche conditions exist in the backcountry, with drifted and inverted heavy new snow, difficult trailbreaking, and safe riding limited to lower angled meadows and packed trails. The heavy new snow is being drifted onto slopes with widespread very weak preexisting sugary or faceted snow,” their advisory reads.

The full advisory can be found at http://utahavalanchecenter.org/advisory/logan.