A thus-far-unidentified male skier died at Breckenridge ski area yesterday, March 8. He is the first fatality at Breckenridge during the 2017-2018 season but the tenth since 2015-2016. In addition, the skier is the third person to lose his life on or near Breckenridge's Peak 8 during that span.
As we've reported, the overall number of in-bounds skiing casualties in Colorado is down this season in comparison with the last one. The death at Breckenridge is the fourth in Colorado circa 2017-2018, as compared to fourteen fatalities of this type in 2016-2017.
The first person to die skiing in Colorado this season was Collin Zak, a 23-year-old Ohioan and member of the U.S. Armed Forces, who died snowboarding at Monarch on December 2. Nathan Enright, a 21-year-old who'd recently moved to Larimer County from Libertyville, Illinois, to attend college, was severely injured at Keystone that same day and removed from life support on December 5, three days before the incident was made public. And college ski champ Leon Christopher also died at Keystone after an accident on February 25.
For its part, the Breckenridge resort was the setting for five deaths during the 2016-2017 season, where another four people died skiing in 2015-2016. Eight of the fatalities happened in roughly one calendar year. The updated total of ten is by far the highest for deaths at a Colorado ski area in the past three seasons.
The 2016-2017 Breck victims were Kevin Pitts, who died on December 19, 2016; Sean Haberthier, who died on January 13; Ricardo Cohen, who died on February 10; Tess Smith, who died on March 6; and Logan Goodwin, a twelve-year-old who died from injuries sustained on April 8.
Pitts and Haberthier lost their lives in close proximity to Peak 8. The former hit a tree on the Alpine Alley run, not far from Peak 8's Imperial Express SuperChair, while the latter was found on Lower Boneyard, another trail close to the lift.
Thus far, few details have been released about the latest incident.
At approximately 9:50 a.m. on the 8th, according to the Summit County Sheriff's Office, authorities received a report about a skier who'd collided with a tree on Peak 8.
The skier was transported to the Peak 8 First Aid room, where he was later pronounced dead, the SCSO account continues. His identity will be released following next-of-kin notification.