See also: Suzann Pennington Dies After Copper Mountain Fall, But Did Ski Injury Take Her Life?
Photos of Olide on Facebook show a young man with what appears to be an impish sense of humor. Examples include this family shot....
...and a pic co-starring a very large hamburger: A memorial web page at YouCaring.com describes Luis and the accident that took his life like so:January 23, 2015 was a tragic day for our small community. We lost an exceptional young man while he was skiing on a school sponsored ski trip with friends and teachers. Luis Olide was taken from this Earth too soon. He was intelligent, creative, athletic and lived his life by "The Book," truly an inspiration for all who knew him. Luis was only in 8th grade. Please help us raise money for the family of Luis during their time of loss.At this writing, donors have contributed just over $2,000 toward a $5,000 goal. A funeral mass is being held at 10 a.m. today at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church in Olathe.
If you'd like to help, or want more information, click here. Below, see a report from KJCT in Grand Junction about the impact Olide's death has had on his school and community.
Continue for our previous coverage.
Original post, 9:50 a.m. January 26: After last week's tragic death of Suzann Pennington following falls at Copper Mountain ski area, at least one of Pennington's relatives raised the possibility that factors beyond the skiing mishaps were responsible for what happened. There appears to be less doubt, however, in regard to a new fatality -- an eighth-grader who died on the slopes of Crested Butte during a school outing. Videos and details below.According to a Crested Butte Mountain Resort statement shared on the Montrose Mirror Facebook page, the incident took place on Lower Treasury, an intermediate run.
Here's a video that takes viewers from Upper Treasury to the free ski course at the area....
...and this clip focuses on Lower Treasury:
At about 2 p.m. on Friday, January 23, the resort notes that the skier was "involved in an incident" on the trail. No further details about what took place have been released, other than confirmation that the skier was wearing a helmet at the time.
Crested Butte Ski Patrol responded immediately, transporting the skier to the Gunnison Valley Hospital Mountain Clinic at the base of the ski area, where he was pronounced dead.
The skier has yet to be identified by name, but the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel subsequently revealed that he was an eighth-grader at Olathe Middle/High School in Montrose County. He'd been skiing as part of the school's ski club, whose members "use the occasional Friday to take ski lessons and ski as a group at various nearby ski resorts, including Crested Butte and Powderhorn," the Sentinel reports.
All athletic events at the school were canceled on Saturday due to the tragedy, and a page on the Montrose County School District Re-iJ website offers grief-support resources "the wake of our recent loss at Olathe Middle/High School."
In the meantime, resort spokesman Scott Clarkson released a statement that says in part: "This is a tragic accident and our thoughts are with the family and friends of the individual who passed away."
We add our condolences as well to the student's friends, family and loved ones.
Send your story tips to the author, Michael Roberts.
