A Heavenly Mountain ski resort employee was involved in a serious skiing accident Saturday (Jan. 18), resulting in his death.
This was the second death at a Lake Tahoe ski resort over the Martin Luther King holiday weekend. On Friday morning, one man was killed and another seriously injured following an avalanche at the Alpine Meadows ski resort in North Lake Tahoe.
The Heavenly ski patrol responded to an incident on an expert trail in Mott Canyon where they found the 36-year-old male employee, who was believed to be a ski patrol member. The individual was transported to Carson Tahoe Regional Medical Center in Carson City for further emergency care, but he didn’t survive his injuries.
“Heavenly Mountain Resort, Heavenly Ski Patrol and the entire Vail Resorts family extend our deepest sympathy and support to our employee’s family and friends,” said Tom Fortune, Vice President and General Manager of Heavenly Mountain Resort.
Heavenly Mountain is not releasing the name of the employee or any details as of Sunday morning (Jan. 19). Friends of the man said he was a ski patroller.
ALPINE AVALANCHE VICTIM: Placer County Sheriff’s deputies identified the victim as Cole Comstock, 34, of Blairsden, a Northern California mountain community of fewer than 100 people that’s about 60 miles from Alpine Meadows.
Another man was skiing had surgery at Tahoe Forest Hospital in Truckee and has serious injuries. The second skier’s name has not been released and there are no details regarding his current condition two days after the incident.
According to the Placer County Sheriff’s Office, the avalanche happened at 10:16 a.m. near the Subway ski run. The avalanche swept up the two men on the Subway Cirque run, located off the Scott chairlift.
Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows officials say the cause of the avalanche is under investigation. Alpine Meadows had received 25 inches of snow by Friday morning, setting up a monumental powder day, but also one that can cause avalanche concerns.
The sheriff’s office and search and rescue crews responded to the Alpine Meadows incident after reports of an avalanche. Helped by people who were on the lift and witnessed the avalanche, authorities were able to find Comstock fairly quickly.
The other man, whose name has not been released, had lower-body injuries, according to a news release from Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows.
Prior to his fatal visit to the Subway Cirque run, Comstock had been skiing with his wife, Caitlin. The couple split up as Caitlin skied another run with friends while Cole headed down a run that is steep, in rugged terrain, and is definitely an advanced run that only expert skiers and riders should attempt. The run was open and not an out-of-bounds area. expert skier.
“I want him here next to me forever, but I know that he was doing the thing that he loved,” Caitlin told ABC-10 TV in Sacramento. “And I know that he didn’t suffer from what they told me.”
