Chelone “Chilly” Miller, 29, was found dead in the van where he lived in Mammoth Lakes, California on Sunday afternoon, April 7, 2013, according to a story in the San Francisco Chronicle. Miller, the brother of Olympic skier Bode Miller, was working toward making the 2014 US Olympic Team in snowboard cross.
According to the statement, the sheriff’s office dispatch received a call around 12:45 p.m. Sunday regarding an unresponsive male in his van. Paramedics, the fire department and deputies were dispatched to the scene, whereupon arrival “it was determined that Mr. Miller was deceased,” the statement said.
According to a story on ESPN.com/Action, Miller was found by a close friend.
Miller — affectionately known as “Chilly” — played golf Friday and spent Saturday lapping the resort’s terrain park. He had planned to fly to Alaska to compete in the Arctic Man race on Friday, an event that pairs snowmobilers with skiers and snowboarders who reach speeds in excess of 80 mph. “He was a very talented snowboarder and a great friend,” said John Teller, a Mammoth-based skicross racer who won X Games gold in 2011.
No foul play is suspected in Miller’s death. According to ESPN he had a “history of seizures” following a 2005 motorcycle crash that left him in a coma for 11 days. Our thoughts are with Miller’s friends and family.
The massive snowfall that had so many snowboarders charging for the mountains this weekend (March 16-18, 2012) claimed the life of a 30-year-old man at central California’s China Peak Ski Resort according to a story in the Fresno Bee.
The man was snowboarding alone on one of the slopes when he fell head-first into deep snow and suffocated, China Peak owner and general manager Tim Cohee said. Another visitor to the resort saw the base of the man’s snowboard sticking out of the snow and pulled him out a few minutes after he fell in.
This is the first death at China Peak this year, but the second deep snow snowboard death in as many seasons. Our thoughts are with the man’s family and friends.
Nick Dodov, a 26-year-old snowboarder from Truckee, California is the second person to die in an avalanche that occurred near Haines, Alaska on Tuesday, March 13, 2012, according to a story on Reuters.
Dodov had been snowboarding in an area north of Haines that is popular with helicopter skiers, according to the troopers. Another member of his party, helicopter-skiing guide Robert Liberman, 35, of Telluride, Colorado, died at the scene Tuesday. . . Both men were buried in six to eight feet of snow, trooper spokeswoman Megan Peters said. They would probably not have been found had they not been wearing avalanche beacons, she added.
Dodov was flown to Seattle in critical condition, but did not make it. Our thoughts are with Dodov’s family and friends.
Utah snowboarder Alecsander Barton, 24, died Saturday, Janaury 28, 2012 after being buried in a self-triggered 700-foot-wide avalanche after dropping in from the top of Kessler Peak, according to a story in the Deseret News.
Barton’s death came on the heels of a slew of avalanche warnings prompted by heavy snowfall and weak snowpack. . . “The backcountry conditions are extremely dangerous,” Hoyal said. “This is a sad reminder for people to know that conditions are so extreme right now that people need to stay out of the backcountry.”
Barton was riding with two friends at the time of his death, and though they were not buried and had proper avalanche equipment it was not enough to save Barton’s life. Our thoughts are with Barton’s family and friends.
A 20-year-old snowboarder died Sunday, March 27, 2011 in an avalanche out of bounds near Stevens Pass in Washington, according to a story in the Seattle PI.
“The victim and three friends were snowboarding when the man went down the hill in a slightly different direction than the others and was hit from behind by an avalanche and carried into a tree,” King County Sgt. John Urquhart said in a statement. “The three other men were not injured and managed to dig the victim out. He suffered injuries from hitting the tree and was not breathing.”
The name of the snowboarder has not been released. He is the 18th snowboard death in North America since December 20, 2010. Our thought are with the snowboarders family and friends. We’ve been saying this too much this year, but it’s still true.
[Update March 28, 2011: Authorities have released the name of the snowboarder who died in the avalanche. Riley McCarthy, 20, of Tukwila, Washington. He was a sophomore at the University of Washington, according to the Seattle PI]
Each storm seems to bring more bad news. The body of missing snowboarder Phillip Walker, 22, of San Jose, California was found in a tree well and “covered in several inches of snow” just before noon Sunday, March 27, 2011 at Sierra-at-Tahoe, according to a story in the El Dorado Hills Telegraph.
According to El Dorado County Sheriff officials, Walker may have struck a tree, but it has not been determined if severe winter weather was a contributing factor in the young man’s death.
Walker was reportedly snowboarding with his brother on Saturday, March 26, 2011, on the “Upper Powderhorn Trail” when he was reported missing. Walker is at least the 17th snowboard death in North America since December 20, 2010. Our thoughts are with Walker’s family and friends.
. . . ski patrollers and officials with the Northstar Fire Department were alerted of an unconscious snowboarder at 10:38 a.m. Sunday; they found the man lying by a cluster of trees near the Challenger ski trail on the backside of the resort. . . The man was later pronounced dead after being transported via CareFlight to Tahoe Forest Hospital. His name is being withheld by the Placer County Sheriff’s Office until next-of-kin is notified.
The man was reportedly not wearing a helmet. This is the 16th snowboard death in North America since December 20, 2010. Our thoughts are with the man’s family and friends.
[Update March 1, 2011: the San Francisco Chronicle is reporting that the snowboarder was Jeffrey Halperin, 30, of San Francisco. “According to Paul Schmidt, chief deputy coroner for Nevada County, preliminary indications are that the death resulted either from the impact of hitting a tree or suffocation from landing head-first in the snow bank. Halperin was not wearing a helmet.” Halperin was reportedly a “statistical programmer for a media research firm.
The body of Alexander Gautreaux, the 23-year-old Mt. Shasta, California snowboarder who went missing at Northern California’s Mt. Shasta Ski Park on Thursday February 17, 2011 was found Sunday morning (February 20, 2011), according to a story in the Record Searchlight.
Gautreaux was found around 9 a.m. near the southeast side of Coyote Butte, about 100 feet from park boundaries, said Siskiyou County sheriff’s Capt. Jim Betts. . . Betts said it’s also not yet known what killed Gautreaux, who was found almost completely buried in snow, but he suspects asphyxiation at this point.
Gautreaux had gone missing Thursday after calling his family to let them know he was making “one more run” according to the San Jose Mercury News.
While search and rescue workers were looking for Gautreaux they rescued another “lone snowboarder who had fallen and landed upside down in a tree well.” This is the 15th snowboard death in North America in the past two months. Be careful out there. Seriously.
Our thoughts are with Gautreaux’s family and friends.
Two more snowboarders died in the last week in unrelated accidents resulting in head injuries. Rahsheka Keith (right), a 22-year old UC Santa Cruz theatre student from Oakland, California died after riding her snowboard (like a sled) into a lift tower at Lake Tahoe, California’s Granlibakken Resort, according to a story in the Sierra Sun.
The accident occurred when Keith used her snowboard as a sled, sitting upon the board with her feet unattached to the bindings, Ausnow said. At some point, Keith became turned around, facing uphill, with her back turned toward the bottom of the hill. She then crashed into a lift tower pole.
In Arizona, 22-year-old Branson Holm died from injuries sustained after landing on his head while “attempting to do a backflip on his snowboard,” on January 9, 2011 while riding near Flagstaff, Arizona, according to a story in the Mail Tribune.
Keith and Holm become the 12th and 13th snowboard deaths in North America since December 20, 2010. Our thoughts are with their families and friends.
Maison T. Ortiz, a 15-year-old snowboarder, slid to his death on the Slide Mountain side of Lake Tahoe’s Mt. Rose Resort on Wednesday, January 19, 2011, according to a story on KTVN.com.
The boy’s uncle, Chris Hicks, says the 1:55 p.m. accident occurred after Ortiz and a friend decided to make a final run of the day on the Slide Mountain side of the resort. . . He says conditions were incredibly icy, and the boys thought it would be safer to walk down the mountain. . . Hicks says the boys removed their boards and helmets, and Ortiz crashed into a tree after losing his footing on the ice. He was flown with serious head injuries to a Reno hospital where he later died.
It continues to be a rough year for snowboarders at North America’s resorts. Our thoughts are with the boy’s family and friends.
