A 51-year-old backcountry skier from Marion, Utah, Michael Janulaitis, passed on March 7, 2025, after getting caught in an avalanche while skiing alone near Hoyt Peak in the Uinta Mountains.
The avalanche, reportedly, occurred on a steep, northeast-facing slope in Hoyt Bowl, carrying and burying him under nearly four feet of snow.
Michael Janulaitis‘s death marked the fifth avalanche-related fatality in Utah during the 2024-2025 season.
He set out alone on March 7, using a snowbike to access the remote terrain northeast of Kamas.
Janulaitis was very familiar with the background and in fact, was a regular contributor of snow observations to the Utah Avalanche Center.
Henceforth, nobody ever thought that something tragic would happen, even in their wildest dreams.
However, that afternoon, Janulaitis failed to return home. His wife said he usually would return home by 2:30 or 3 o’clock, which prompted her to report it.
By 5 p.m., the Summit County Sheriff’s Office received a report of the overdue skier, and Search and Rescue (SAR) teams immediately responded. However, initial search efforts were hampered by unfavourable weather and darkness.
Summit County Sheriff’s Lt. Alan Siddoway said,
DPS was able to fly, but they were limited as the ceiling was basically at 9,000 feet, so they weren’t able to search all areas. And when the weather came in, they had to return to base.
Nonetheless, eventually, SAR teams, including snowmobile units and a Department of Public Safety helicopter, located a snow bike track leading to an area where a recent avalanche had occurred.
They found a huge pile of debris on the scene, which had resulted from the avalanche.
The authorities feared that Janulaitis might have been caught in the slide; however, they couldn’t proceed with the search due to worsening weather conditions.
The weather forced the search to be suspended until the following morning.
On Saturday, March 8, 2025, the search operations resumed their work at first light under improved weather.
Eventually, exactly the same thing happened that they had feared. Janulaitis’s location was pinpointed with the help of Park City Mountain Ski Patrol, RECCO technology, avalanche dogs, and the Utah Avalanche Center.
Just before 11 a.m., the search team discovered his body buried under nearly four feet of snow in Hoyt Bowl.
The avalanche, which occurred on a 43-degree slope at an elevation of approximately 10,200 feet, was estimated to be three feet deep, 150 feet wide, and ran 1,000 vertical feet.
Skiier Michael Janulaitis Was a Self-Employed IT Expert!
Michael Janulaitis was more than just a skier; he was a respected figure in Utah’s backcountry community.
Professionally, Janulaitis was a self-employed IT expert with a background as a Senior Andriod Engineer and founder of Corner Bowl Software Corporation.
Before founding Corner Bowl Software Corporation, he had founded Upper Setting and run it for over three years from February 2015 until July 2018.
Janulaitis worked as a software architect at SpectorSoft from 2012 until February 2016 before entering his entrepreneurial era.
Likewise, he was also a systems analyst at Nutraceutical Corporation, a Senior Software Engineer at emWare, and a Software Engineer at Intel Corporation.
Speaking about his academic attributes, Janulaitis graduated from the University of Colorado Boulder in Small Business Management and Entrepreneurship. He is also a graduate of the University of Utah.
The skiier Janulaitis also got his Avalanche Course and Snow Safety Level I from the University of Utah American Avalanche Institute and Avalanche Course and Snow Safety Level II and III from American Avalanche Institute.
He had received an openwater diving Level I and II course from the Federal Bureau of Investigation Recreation Association.
