SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — The skier who survived the avalanche earlier this month near Lone Peak in Utah found his buried companions and tried to resuscitate them before calling 911, according to the completed accident report published by the Utah Avalanche Center.

The 23-year-old surviving skier, who was not named in the report, was with Austin Mallet, 32, of Bozeman, Montana, and Andrew Cameron, 22, of Salt Lake City, on May 9 when an avalanche broke beneath their feet as they climbed near the top of a mountain ridge on the Wasatch Range.

Mallet and Cameron died in the 800-foot, human-triggered snowslide on the route known as Big Willow Aprons. The slope is near Lone Peak, a mountain that towers over the Salt Lake Valley. The surviving skier was also swept down the mountain, but only partially buried and able to save himself.

The completed report captures a sense of panic and despair as it describes how the friend probed the snow to find Mallet and Cameron and tried to resuscitate them.

“He called 911 at 10:18 AM, and continued to unbury his partners while waiting for help to arrive, but stopped, as he believed they were dead,” the report said.

The three experienced backcountry skiers began that Thursday morning early, parking near the Y Couloir in Little Cottonwood Canyon before sunrise. Their trip came days after a significant spring snowstorm dropped up to two feet of new snow in the high country.

The surviving friend had skied the previous two days in Little Cottonwood Canyon, and, according to the report, his assessment was that the snowpack “seemed to be stabilizing.”

The trio started hiking up the Sawmill Trail around 5 a.m. to access the Big Willow Drainage. When they encountered snow, they switched to skis. At around 8:30 a.m., they reached the bottom of Big Willow Cirque. They went up the slope as far as they could on skis before starting to hike in their boots about 150 feet below the ridge.

At this point, the friend was in the lead and was “wallowing” in the deep, fresh snow at around 10,600 feet in elevation. The group was moving diagonally up the slope when at 9:44 a.m., as the friend had just crossed a fin of rock and snow, the avalanche broke above and around him.

“The friend was knocked off his feet and tumbled head over heels, cartwheeling down the slope, for approximately 300 vertical feet,” the report said.

He landed upright, thinking that he was the only one caught in the slide. He thought Mallet and Cameron were still on the other side of the fin. But when he skied down to the base of the feature, he noticed the avalanche had been bigger.

The friend yelled for Mallet and Cameron, but there was no response. He then used his beacon, or avalanche transceiver, to find his companions. About 13 minutes after the avalanche, he found Cameron.

“He partially dug Austin out, gave a few rescue breaths, but got no response,” the report said “He cleared more snow away from Austin’s chest, hoping he would spontaneously start to breathe. He then turned his focus to finding Andrew, who was still buried.”

When the friend found Mallet, he also uncovered his head and tried to resuscitate him. But when Mallet didn’t start breathing, he called 911.

A rescue helicopter hoisted the friend off the mountain roughly an hour after he called dispatch, but poor weather conditions and avalanche risk delayed crews from recovering Mallet’s and Cameron’s bodies until the next morning.

The authors of the report thanked the friend for sharing his experience on the mountain, saying his input has been “invaluable” to helping them understand the events that led to the deadly avalanche.

“Our deepest condolences go out to the friends, family, rescuers, and everyone affected by the accident,” the authors wrote.

In the section of the report offering reminders to other backcountry riders, the authors noted that exposing one person at a time to avalanche risk is a “fundamental” rule.

“However, many skiers ascend avalanche terrain at the same time when they believe conditions are stable, more commonly in the spring,” the authors wrote. “At times, this may be appropriate given many factors, but it means a higher level of risk and requires a higher level of confidence in stability.”

This section also highlighted that the three skiers were all strong and experienced mountain athletes.

“Despite their skillsets, sometimes accidents happen with tragic outcomes,” the report said. “Mountain travel is inherently dangerous and even the best of us can find ourselves in trouble.”

The deaths of Mallet and Cameron were the only avalanche deaths in Utah this ski season. The national avalanche death toll is 16, with the most recent fatality happening on May 10 in Idaho’s Lost River Range.