Breckenridge death

Just got back from a week in Summit County (Breckenridge) and wanted to
relate this story since it really shook me up. . .

It was last Friday (12/31/2004) at 9AM in the morning. We had just
gotten on the Quicksilver 6 chair for our first run of the day when I
saw a sled being pulled down the last pitch of the mountain by a
snowmobile. This was at the very bottom where the runs are all flat.
It looked like they were in a hurry. I could see that there were about
5 patrollers skiing around the sled and snowmobile.

As they approached, I could see a patrol guy riding on the sled with
the injured man. He was doing CPR. Chest compressions, but no rescue
breathing. Our chair passed over the whole group and I looked straight
down to see a guy with a black helmet on, face completely covered with
blood. It appeared to me that there was an endotracheal tube in place,
also covered with blood. I saw no ambu bag being used. The patrol guy
was still riding the sled and doing chest compressions.

Then they were past us and I could see no more. I'm thinking to myself
- how long must it have taken for the patrols to get to this guy? If
he was bad-off enough to need CPR, then his chances of survival seemed
scant. The time it would take to find this guy, get him down the
mountain to the medical center, then fly him to the nearest trauma
center is enormous. Might as well be a year for this guy since he is
already in cardiopulmonary arrest.

The lady next to me on the chair said "oooo no. That guy might die."
I replied that it unfortunately appeared he had already expired.

http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,...629150,00.html
Not good.

William wrote:

Just got back from a week in Summit County (Breckenridge) and wanted to
relate this story since it really shook me up. . .

The referenced news article mentioned that the deceased in three of the
latest four skiing deaths were snowboarders.

Probably just a statistical anomaly.

William wrote:
Just got back from a week in Summit County (Breckenridge) and wanted to
relate this story since it really shook me up. . .

http://www.rutlandherald.com/apps/pb...501040405/1002

KILLINGTON — A 27-year-old Massachusetts man tumbled to his death Sunday
after losing control on one of Killington Ski Resort's most challenging
trails.

Vermont State Police said Andrew Begley of Cambridge, Mass. apparently
lost control while skiing on the Double Dipper trail, which is rated a
"double black diamond" run.

"Our initial interviews indicate that the victim was a fairly
experienced skier," said Lt. David Covell of the State Police. "From
witness accounts, he was skiing on one of the more advanced trails and
simply lost control."

Covell said Begley slid "a significant distance," going off the Double
Dipper trail through a roped-off area where Killington snow guns were
stored and into the Big Dipper trail before a tree stopped his slide.

"It looks possible that he may have collided with some equipment in that
initial closed area he entered," Covell said.

Brian Connolly of Scituate, Mass., a frequent Killington skier, said he
and several friends saw the end of Begley's slide, watching him rolling
down the Big Dipper trail, apparently unconscious.

"We saw him tumbling out of control down the trail," Connolly said. "We
saw him on the last several hundred yards. He was going at a very fast
pace and obviously couldn't stop."

Connolly said that while several from his group summoned the ski patrol,
he and a companion hiked up the mountain. They found Begley unconscious
and seriously injured, with bruises visible on his head and on one leg
where his ski pants had been ripped off.

Connolly said his friends later found Begley's skis lodged, facing
downhill, in the hoses for Killington's snow guns.

"We had skied that trail several times that morning and as the day went
on it started to get polished," he said. "When we found his pass, a
Mount Snow pass, we speculated that maybe he didn't know the
(Killington) trail. There was a section there that was extremely icy so
we could see how easily someone could get into trouble."He said it
seemed likely Begley had fallen near the top of the mountain and slid,
tumbling almost all the way to the bottom of that section of trails.

Covell said that because the accident happened prior to 10:30 a.m.
Sunday, the icy weather that blanketed the mountain that evening did not
play a role.

"The conditions on that trail that day were frozen granular and hard
packed," Covell said. "But there's no way to determine at this point if
that was a factor."

Begley, who was pronounced dead on arrival at the Rutland Regional
Medical Center, likely died due to blunt trauma, Covell said. He would
not speculate about specific injuries, pending an autopsy.

"It appeared like he suffered a series of injuries resulting from the
fall and the acts that followed," he said. "We're waiting for the
autopsy results to determine the exact cause of death."

Covell said Begley seemed to have traveled to Vermont alone and that his
next of kin had been contacted.

Tom Horrocks, a spokesman for the resort, said Begley's death was a
"very unfortunate accident."

He said the Double Dipper trail had been machine-groomed the previous
night and was rated a black diamond based on its steepness.

"It's mostly because of the pitch of it," he said. "We groom the trail
to provide a smooth, even skiing surface."

Horrocks said the resort hasn't seen any more accidents on the Double
Dipper than on any other trail.

"It was an open ski trail like every trail on the mountain. We don't see
more accidents on any one of them," he said. "Skiing is an inherently
dangerous sport and we ask everyone who comes to Killington and Pico to
know the responsibility code for safe skiing."

Horrocks added that the resort incorporates safety messages in all of
its trail maps and many of its signs and joins with resorts around the
country to promote safe skiing in Ski Safe Week, the third week of January.

Neither Covell nor Horrocks could say for certain when the mountain last
saw a fatal accident, but Covell said such accidents are "not very common."

My recollection of the days were that Fri & Sat
were warm and that Sunday was colder. Trail could
have been icy.

Note that he slid off DD through a closed off area
under the lift onto Big Dipper. Big Dipper is Killington's
only true glade trail. Trees spaced wide apart.

It would have been at quite an angle to the fall line
for the trajectory described to have been accomplished.

DD, while steep, has a pretty good fall line, straight
down the hill, unlike, say, Cascade, which, if you fall
you will go into the woods if the fence doesn't stop you.

A Middletown Springs, Vt., skier was killed in February 2003 after he
skied into a rope stretched across a trail on Bear Mountain at
Killington. Police said at the time that the man tried to duck under the
3-foot-high rope, but instead it caught him by his neck.

I was at this one. My skiing buddy who is an attorney
took witness statements.

Covell said the investigation into Begley's death was "nearly complete."
He added that a few more follow-up interviews might be needed after
police receive the autopsy.

posted by VtSkier

This will probably get me yelled at for being overly critical, but...I
think I would have left some of those details out of your post, on the
off-chance that someone who knew the guy might find and read it (like,
maybe, his mom). Something to think about for next time...

--
Mary Malmros
Some days you're the windshield, other days you're the bug.

Mary Malmros wrote:
This will probably get me yelled at for being overly critical, but...I
think I would have left some of those details out of your post, on the
off-chance that someone who knew the guy might find and read it (like,
maybe, his mom). Something to think about for next time...

Yeah, you're a little over critical, BUT you're right. The details
written were the kind of thing that goes into an eye-witness report for
the area's risk management file.

VtSkier

"William" wrote in message
oups.com...
Just got back from a week in Summit County (Breckenridge) and wanted to
relate this story since it really shook me up. . .

It was last Friday (12/31/2004) at 9AM in the morning. We had just
gotten on the Quicksilver 6 chair for our first run of the day when I



Seriously I was at Breck a few days after thanksgiving this year when a
snowboarder from above me hit me from behind and knocked me down. I told him
to slow down "D*CK" (which I probally shouldn't have said). He then proceded
to try to fight me which I let him just stay below me as I figured he wasn't
going to take off his board and walk up to me.. (Like fighting this jerk is
going to do anything, and he was bigger than me).

I can't believe people act like this.Do we need ski police now?

Jim Strohm wrote:
William wrote:

The referenced news article mentioned that the deceased in three of the
latest four skiing deaths were snowboarders.

Probably just a statistical anomaly.

Well, probability can seem pretty anomalous at times. In this case,
assuming that there are equal numbers of skiers and boarders, if you
just pick four people at random off the slopes, 50% of the time it'll be
3 of one kind and one of the other. You are actually more likely to get
3 and 1 than to get 2 and 2 (37.5%)

So, I wouldn't draw too many conclusions from a 3-1 split.

--
//-Walt
//
// There is no Volkl Conspiracy

On Tue, 04 Jan 2005 15:51:37 GMT, "root"
wrote:



"William" wrote in message
roups.com...
Just got back from a week in Summit County (Breckenridge) and wanted to
relate this story since it really shook me up. . .

It was last Friday (12/31/2004) at 9AM in the morning. We had just
gotten on the Quicksilver 6 chair for our first run of the day when I



Seriously I was at Breck a few days after thanksgiving this year when a
snowboarder from above me hit me from behind and knocked me down. I told him
to slow down "D*CK" (which I probally shouldn't have said). He then proceded
to try to fight me which I let him just stay below me as I figured he wasn't
going to take off his board and walk up to me.. (Like fighting this jerk is
going to do anything, and he was bigger than me).

I can't believe people act like this.Do we need ski police now?

Report him. Behavior like that is unacceptable. How would
you have felt if an hour later he nailed a child and killed
them?




"I think that gay marriage should be between a man and a woman." -Arnold Schwarzenegger, during the California recall campaign

VtSkier wrote:
Mary Malmros wrote:

This will probably get me yelled at for being overly critical, but...I
think I would have left some of those details out of your post, on the
off-chance that someone who knew the guy might find and read it (like,
maybe, his mom). Something to think about for next time...

Yeah, you're a little over critical, BUT you're right. The details
written were the kind of thing that goes into an eye-witness report for
the area's risk management file.

Where it disappears into a black hole never to be seen again. I
strongly disagree with this approach.

Our sport is dangerous. Ski areas try to hide or minimize the danger
because it may adversely affect their bottom line. Better to have it
out in the open.


--
//-Walt
//
// There is no Volkl Conspiracy

William wrote:
...I'm thinking to myself
- how long must it have taken for the patrols to get to this guy? ...

I bet it was within just minutes (10?) of the accident. The paper said
the patrol got the call at 8:40; which is only about 10 minutes after
the lifts opened so that call had to be very soon after it happened.
And, if the caller expressed severity, I bet they flew down and were
there within 3-5 minutes.

I am just guessing based on knowing how fast they could get down that
run with the toboggans they have lined up outside their shack.

Mike...

--
See my ski photography at: http://PowderDay.us
Carpe powder-diem