PROVO – More details were made available Monday about a small avalanche that killed a Provo woman over the weekend.

Friends of the 21-year-old BYU student who died after an avalanche on Saturday were initially able to revive her heart, said a family spokesman on Monday.

Ashleigh Nicole Cox died after being swept up in a relatively small avalanche in American Fork Canyon on Saturday. She was just 50 yards from the parking lot of the popular Tibble Fork Reservoir, snowshoeing with five other friends when the racing snow swept her into the nearby creek, said Bob Rasmussen, the bishop of the Provo YSA 26th Ward that Ashleigh attended. Rasmussen is the spokesperson for the grieving family.

Three other students were caught in the avalanche and buried up to their waists. Ashleigh Cox was the only one swept away. Two others snowshoeing with the group escaped the avalanche entirely.

After freeing those stuck, eventually all five friends helped dig out Ashleigh. But the avalanche had pinned her underwater, and digging her out took 20 minutes. After removing her from the water, the friends performed CPR for 20 minutes and were able to restart her heart by the time emergency crews arrived at the scene.

“Three were caught in it were up to their thighs, but it happened to catch Ashleigh just right,” pinning her body underwater in the creek, Bishop Rasmussen said. “She was under the water for 20 minutes.”

The five remaining friends did everything they could to save her life.

“Their efforts were heroic,” he said, noting many of them were also members of the same LDS ward. “They managed to pull her out and perform CPR for 20 minutes and were able to get the heartbeat back and were able to maintain the pulse, but it wasn’t enough.”

Rasmussen said he had only known Cox about eight months, and said he was not sure whether she was an experienced snowshoer or not. Rasmussen himself is a snowshoer with more than 20 years experience, and said he had never seen an avalanche in the same area. The trail the friends were on was an easy and popular trail that did not require experience.

“There is no indication they triggered the avalanche,” he said.

Sgt. Spencer Cannon, spokesman for the Utah County Sheriff’s Office, told the Daily Herald that he also did not know of previous avalanches in that exact area, but that there are frequently avalanches nearby. Cannon also noted that several other avalanches were spontaneously triggered in the canyon on the same day, but said there is no way to know for sure what caused the avalanche that killed Cox.

Cannon confirmed that Cox’s friends had been able to restart her heart, but said it was unclear whether she had also started breathing. Being able to restart the heart of someone who has drowned in freezing water is not uncommon because “when deprived of oxygen and blood flow, the brain does not function completely,” he said.

Cox was found under “two to three feet of water,” Cannon said. “They started CPR before they actually got her freed from the snow.”

Bystanders who were tubing nearby also helped with the rescue effort, he said.

There are two streams that feed into Tibble Fork, one flowing from the east and one flowing from the north. It was the north stream where Cox came to rest.

The avalanche that killed Cox was small, and happened in a fairly public and modernized area, but none of that made it possible to save her life.

“When the snow in the avalanche stops flowing, it immediately hardens up almost like rock,” Cannon said. “It is almost like concrete, and it is virtually impossible to rescue yourself.”

The snow is immediately also very difficult to dig, he said, which hampers rescue efforts, especially if there is no shovel or rescue equipment, which the friends did not have.

Cannon encouraged anyone heading to the canyons in winter to first check the avalanche safety report at utahavalanchecenter.org, and to carry avalanche rescue equipment. Or better yet, forget it and find another way to play.

“If the forecast says it’s dangerous, don’t go,” he said.

Bishop Rasmussen said the friends who were with Cox “are obviously shaken but they have a great deal of faith.” None of them suffered injuries. “If it were not for the stream, they would have been able to dig her out.”

Rasmussen said he has met with the Cox family.

“You can imagine they are struggling,” he said. “They are processing everything, but they have great faith.”

The family released a written statement to the media.

“We appreciate the love and concern expressed by family, friends, acquaintances and the community at BYU and in Colorado Springs for the loss of our daughter Ashleigh Cox.

Ashleigh planned to graduate from BYU this spring and wanted to further her education in social work. She loved to work with those struggling with life’s challenges and dedicated her short life to serving others. It has been difficult for us to handle the sudden loss of our daughter. Our faith in God has and will continue to help us through this difficult time. She will be missed.”

On an online site set up for donations to the family, friends also released a statement.

“The loss of our sweet Ashleigh has brought with it much pain and sorrow, but at the same time we’ve felt so blessed to be recipients of an amazing outpouring of love and support. An unexpected accident snowshoeing took our Ashleigh from us. It came as such a sudden shock and many who have grieved with us have requested an opportunity to make a financial contribution. As a result, we thought it might be appropriate to start a memorial fund to help lighten the burden on her family.”

A funeral will take place in Colorado Springs on Saturday. A memorial service will take place on Feb. 18 in Provo. Details have not yet been announced.

A fund has been established to help the Cox family pay for medical and funeral expenses. For information, visit pledgie.com/campaigns/24098.