The text below appeared in the Tuesday, June 10, 1980, edition of the Salt Lake Tribune.
4 Killed During Weekend of Recreation in Utah
Four persons were reported killed over the weekend in Utah, two from drowning and two in hiking accidents and the body of a Salt Lake man was recovered and identified as the drowning victim missing since May 25 from the Friendship Cruise on the Colorado River.
Utah County Sheriff Lieutenant Owen Quarnberg said the bodies of two climbers were recovered Monday afternoon from the same area on Mt. Timpanogos but from two unrelated climbing accidents.
Deputies responded at 12:30 PM when a Portland, OR, man was reported missing. Twenty minutes later another caller reported a hiking accident in the Aspen Grove area.
The body of Rick Lambert, 26, Portland, was recovered from a hole “about four by 6 feet and 50 feet deep,” said sheriff’s deputies.
The man had apparently fallen in the hole some time Sunday.
The second hiker, Richard Weaver, 25, Orem, had fallen into the same hole Monday and his body was recovered by deputies.
Deputies termed the chances that both would fall into the same hole on different days as “astronomical.” Lieutenant Quarnberg said members of this county special tactics team affected the recoveries. He described the hole as being covered with ice and snow. Deputies donned wet suits and used a helicopter to airlift the recovery equipment to the site. Both men apparently died soon after they fell.
[Article continues about unrelated incidents]