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Sheriff’s office removes Bridal Veil Falls avalanche deposit after area resident’s stunt

By Sarah Hunt - | Jun 8, 2023

Courtesy Utah County Sheriff's Office

In this screenshot via video taken on Wednesday, June 7, 2023, explosives detonate and destroy an avalanche deposit in the Provo River near Bridal Veil Falls.

Early one January morning, a large avalanche fell near Bridal Veil Falls, depositing 30 to 40 feet of snow onto the frozen Provo River. A significant amount has melted away already, but what remained posed a major threat to the public. Caverns and cracks inside the deposit have formed, making some areas of the snow as thin as 2 inches, as opposed to 10 feet at its thickest, making it easy to accidentally fall through.

The Provo River Parkway Trail has been closed near the area, with multiple signs warning of trespassing. But that didn’t stop a few local adrenaline junkies from entering.

Last Friday, a Utah County resident named Zachary Blocker had a friend film him while he dove through a hole in the avalanche deposit, plunging into the icy current. The water was just 30 degrees. A video of the stunt was posted to his Instagram account with the hashtag “death” in the description.

“That’s just incredibly risky. It’s dangerous. It’s potentially deadly. You jump into the river that may be 10 or 12 feet deep, but you don’t know what’s under the surface, maybe some large boulders or old dead trees that got brought down with the avalanche. You hit one of those and suddenly you become either a rescue or a recovery operation. And that puts other people at risk to try to do that,” said Spencer Cannon, public information officer for the Utah County Sheriff’s Office.

Cannon explained that if Blocker had not been able to get out of the river when he did, hypothermia would have set in and Blocker likely would have drowned.

Courtesy Utah County Sheriff's Office

In this screenshot via video taken on Wednesday, June 7, 2023, explosives detonate and destroy an avalanche deposit in the Provo River near Bridal Veil Falls.

Early Wednesday morning, the Utah County Sheriff’s Office put explosives into the avalanche deposit, and with one blast, were able to clear the snow blockage over the river. Explosives have only been used twice in this area since 1996 to manage the large snowpack.

The area will stay closed until the remaining snow and debris is cleared, and repairs have been made to the Provo River Parkway Trail.

“We didn’t make the area safe. We made it less dangerous. It’s trespassing if people come in here and we will take action on that if we need to. It’s fascinating to see, we understand that, and that’s one of the things that attracts people to it. But it’s too risky to come down here to the area itself and especially to climb on the avalanche deposit. The main reason we did this today is to prevent somebody from getting seriously injured or killed by doing what this guy did last week,” Cannon said.

Cannon advised onlookers to stay away from the area and view it from a distance instead using the Bridal Veil Falls overlook on Highway 189.

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