Missing skier found dead at Solitude in Utah

SOLITUDE SKI RESORT (KSL.com) — The body of a skier who went missing at Solitude Mountain Resort on Monday was found Tuesday by search crews.

Unified police confirmed the body of Devon O’Connell, 37, of Cottonwood Heights, was found about 8:15 a.m. in a thick wooded area near the bottom of the Sensation ski run. An autopsy will determine his cause of death. Unified Police Sgt. Melody Cutler said investigators are looking at the possibility that O’Connell hit a tree.

O’Connell went skiing at Solitude on Monday with a friend. The friend left at 10:30 a.m. and O’Connell was going to take one more run before going home, Cutler said. He is recorded getting on the Sunrise ski lift just after noon. O’Connell was supposed to be home by 2 p.m. His wife called Solitude Ski Patrol at 6:30 p.m. to report him overdue.

Cutler said O’Connell is as an “advanced” skier and was wearing a helmet on Monday.

Search and rescue crews from the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office, along with members of Wasatch County Backcountry rescue, searched the area until 1:30 a.m. Tuesday before suspending the operation until daylight. Unified police say the search resumed at 7 a.m. Tuesday.

The man’s car was found in the resort parking lot prior to his body being found. Drones were used to assist in the search, but Cutler said O’Connell was found at the base of a tree and in an area that was hard to see from the ski lift.