The body of snowboarder Eli Shelby, 29, was found yesterday (Tuesday, December 28, 2010) at California’s China Peak, according to a story on KMJNow.com.
Eli Shelby, 29, was found by China Peak skiers “who saw the tip of his snowboard,” said Tim Cohee, the resort’s owner. . . “He either impacted the tree or slid backyards into the tree well,” Cohee told KMJ News, “and perhaps was suffocated by the snow.” . . Shelby was found off the Lake View run.
Shelby was reported missing at California’s China Peak Monday afternoon (December 27, 2010). He was last seen by a friend at 3:30 PM. Shelby becomes the seventh snowboard death in North America December 20, 2010. Our thoughts are with his family.
Snowboarder Shawnte Marie Willis, 25, was reported missing by her boyfriend yesterday (December 28, 2010) around 4 PM at California’s Alpine Meadows Ski Resort, according to a story in the San Francisco Chronicle.
Sheriff’s officials say they dispatched search and rescue teams to Alpine Meadows Ski Resort around 4 p.m. Tuesday to look for 25-year-old Shawnte Marie Willis after Willis’ boyfriend said she went missing. Willis apparently became separated from her friends while snowboarding earlier in the afternoon.
The search reportedly continues this morning, but making progress has been difficult due to “blizzard conditions.” We can only hope for the best and that Willis does not become another Holiday 2010 statistic.
Maine’s Sugarloaf Resort experienced a lift failure this morning (December 28, 2010) at approximately 10:30 AM when a cable fell from a lift tower injuring six people, according to the Boston Globe. The injured reportedly fell from their chairs when the cable dropped. One hundred others were left stalled on the lift, according to CNN.com.
CNN Newsource employee Rob Atkinson was among about 100 skiers stranded on the chairlift 30 to 40 feet off the ground after the accident. At least three people were injured, he said. . . “We heard screams from skiers down below that skiers were off the lift, and we’ve been trapped ever since,” he told CNN’s Tony Harris.
Another person on one of the chairs that fell was the mother of Bomberonline.com’sJack Michaud. He was on the lift next to the one that fell and had the following to say about the incident:
I was on the other side of this unique “double-runner” style chairlift when this happened. I saw the other side stop with a strange jerk that I had never seen before. Then we came up to the scene where the rope was on the ground, and it was a very scary and bizzare thing to behold. And then I saw my mother – she was on the side that crashed, on one of the chairs that hit the ground. She is ok. Very shaken-up and some bruises, but basically fine. . . According to my mom, the crash appeared to be caused by a mechanic who was up on the tower. He was banging on the shieve-train with a hammer or something, which they are known to do from time to time for god knows what reason, but he was doing that around the time the rope came off the wheels somehow. The worst looking injury was a guy pinned under a chair and he couldn’t get himself out, I believe due to his injuries, but he was conscious.
This may go down as the worst Christmas holiday ever.
According to a story from the Associated Press a 24-year-old snowboarder from San Bernardino, California died Monday, December 27, 2010 at approximately 6:06 PM after he “collided with trees.”
The San Bernardino Coroner’s Office says the accident was reported at 6:06 p.m. Monday. The 24-year-old man, who had collided with trees, was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead shortly after.
This makes six North American snowboard deaths since December 20, 2010. This really needs to stop. Our thoughts are with this snowboarder’s family and friends.
A missing 20-year-old snowboarder was found dead Christmas Day in a “fast flowing creek” in-bounds on Blackcomb Mountain, according to the Vancouver Sun.
It appears that the unidentified male went down a gladed run, fell into the creek and was unable to extricate himself, Whistler Pemberton RCMP Sgt. Steve LeClair said Saturday. . . The snowboarder, who was on a family vacation with his parents and other relatives, went missing late Friday afternoon. He was last seen by a cousin at about 3 p.m. near a treed section of the mountain. . . About 45 cm of snow fell overnight, further delaying the search as ski patrollers conducted avalanche control procedures before searchers could enter the area where the snowboarder was last seen, said LeClair. The man’s body was found by a dog-handler team in the creek.
The cause of death was not yet reported. This is the fifth snowboarding death at a North American resort in the past five days. Our deepest sympathies are with the snowboarder’s family.
[Update December 28, 2010: According to a story in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, the snowboarder found was Cooper Plaxco. He was from Windsor, California and was a sophomore at Humboldt State University. Here’s what probably happened:
“He was down about 15 feet from the surface of the snow,” said Doug Forseth, Whistler Blackcomb resort’s senior vice president of operations. . . Forseth said the creek had been covered in a “snow bridge,” and it “probably just looked like a snow field to him — I think that’s exactly what happened.” . . Plaxco, an avid skateboarder and snowboarder, was wearing a helmet and his board was still attached to his feet when searchers found his body. He was face down with his head underwater.]
A 22-year-old snowboarder from Casper, Wyoming and a 5-year-old girl are dead after a collision at 2:30 PM Friday afternoon December 24, 2010 at Hogadon Ski Area. The girl and her mother had stopped on a run and the snowboarder apparently hit them, according to a story on Trib.com.
The snowboarder crashed into a five-year-old girl and her mother as the two were stopped on a ski run, Sheriff’s Lt. Mark Sellers said Saturday. . . All three were taken to Wyoming Medical Center. The man and the girl were pronounced dead at the hospital. The mother, who lives in the Casper area, was injured and remained hospitalized a day after the crash. An update on her condition was not available.
The collision occurred on a “black-diamond” run called Dreadnaught and the Sheriff’s office is investigating.
Knowing nothing at all about this particular case we are reminded of one thing: if anyone riding at a resort can’t avoid hitting someone who is stopped on a run they are riding well outside their abilities. Period.
We can’t even begin to imagine the pain these two families are going through this Christmas. Our thoughts are with everyone involved.
A 15-year-old Portland snowboarder became the fourth snowboarder to die at Mt. Hood Meadows this year, according to a story on OregonLive.com.
A Portland boy, who was not identified, was discovered lying face down in the snow at Mt. Hood Meadows Ski Resort at 9:24 p.m. on Wednesday (December 22, 2010). The lifts closed at 9 p.m. and members of the ski patrol were clearing the slopes when they discovered his body near the North Canyon trail.
The cause of his death is still unknown and reportedly being investigated by the local sheriff’s office.
[Update December 28, 2010: According to a story on KPTV.com the Medical Examiner has stated that the snowboarder who died, Illya Petrovich Sirosh, as “not killed in a snowboarding accident,” however, they are still working on finding the cause of death.]
Snowboarder Christian Rea, 35, of Tuscon, Arizona died on Saturday, December 18, 2010 at Colorado’s Wolf Creek Ski Area after dropping a 40 foot cliff in the resort’s Water Fall area and landing on his head, according to a story in the Valley Courier.
Mineral County Coroner Charles Downing said the injuries from the landing resulted in his death. . . “He ruptured an artery in his neck. He hyper extended his neck backwards and ruptured the artery that goes to the brain stem, and that cut off the blood supply to the brain stem and it killed him quickly.”
Apparently, one of Rea’s friends had made the drop but told Rea and another snowboarder to go around.
“He was hollering to his other friends ‘don’t do it, go around,’ and it was too late for the young man and he skied down off of that at a pretty good speed and ended up landing on his head.”
Wolf Creek is having a rough early season. After Rea’s death on Saturday the resort was closed on Wednesday afternoon December 22, 2010 when the resort experienced another avalanche. No one was reported injured in that slide. Our thoughts are with Rea’s friends and family.
Wondering what 17 feet of new snow looks like? This photo from the top of Mammoth Mountain’s Chair 23 gives a little idea.
This photo was taken yesterday (December 21, 2010) during a break in the storm as Ski Patrol was throwing hand charges off the top of the Chair 23 for avalanche control. Ski Patrol is working really hard to get the terrain open so props to them for all their hard work during this storm!
When they finally get the top open snowboarders will be exiting the chair into a snow tube at 11,000 feet the right into the Wipe Outs. . . amazing.
Bad Santa brings sends it with a little “Christmas Cheer” from Onboard Magazine.
Try as we might to hold on to this until Chrismas Eve, the fact that the Onboard crew will be in transit to their various familial bosoms means we’ve decided you’ll get your Christmas present early this year. So, on behalf of all at Onboard, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Kind of glad that guy is staying on the other side of the pond, if you know what we mean.
The body of snowboarder Eli Shelby, 29, was found yesterday (Tuesday, December 28, 2010) at California’s China Peak, according to a story on KMJNow.com.
