Posted on 01/04/2005 5:44:00 PM PST by paltz
KILLINGTON — A 27-year-old Massachusetts man tumbled to his death Sunday after losing control on one of Killington Ski Resort's most challenging trails.
Vermont State Police said Andrew Begley of Cambridge, Mass. apparently lost control while skiing on the Double Dipper trail, which is rated a "double black diamond" run.
"Our initial interviews indicate that the victim was a fairly experienced skier," said Lt. David Covell of the State Police. "From witness accounts, he was skiing on one of the more advanced trails and simply lost control."
Covell said Begley slid "a significant distance," going off the Double Dipper trail through a roped-off area where Killington snow guns were stored and into the Big Dipper trail before a tree stopped his slide.
"It looks possible that he may have collided with some equipment in that initial closed area he entered," Covell said.
Brian Connolly of Scituate, Mass., a frequent Killington skier, said he and several friends saw the end of Begley's slide, watching him rolling down the Big Dipper trail, apparently unconscious.
"We saw him tumbling out of control down the trail," Connolly said. "We saw him on the last several hundred yards. He was going at a very fast pace and obviously couldn't stop."
Connolly said that while several from his group summoned the ski patrol, he and a companion hiked up the mountain. They found Begley unconscious and seriously injured, with bruises visible on his head and on one leg where his ski pants had been ripped off.
Connolly said his friends later found Begley's skis lodged, facing downhill, in the hoses for Killington's snow guns.
"We had skied that trail several times that morning and as the day went on it started to get polished," he said. "When we found his pass, a Mount Snow pass, we speculated that maybe he didn't know the (Killington) trail.
There was a section there that was extremely icy so we could see how easily someone could get into trouble."He said it seemed likely Begley had fallen near the top of the mountain and slid, tumbling almost all the way to the bottom of that section of trails.
Covell said that because the accident happened prior to 10:30 a.m. Sunday, the icy weather that blanketed the mountain that evening did not play a role.
"The conditions on that trail that day were frozen granular and hard packed," Covell said. "But there's no way to determine at this point if that was a factor."
Begley, who was pronounced dead on arrival at the Rutland Regional Medical Center, likely died due to blunt trauma, Covell said. He would not speculate about specific injuries, pending an autopsy.
"It appeared like he suffered a series of injuries resulting from the fall and the acts that followed," he said. "We're waiting for the autopsy results to determine the exact cause of death."
Covell said Begley seemed to have traveled to Vermont alone and that his next of kin had been contacted.
Tom Horrocks, a spokesman for the resort, said Begley's death was a "very unfortunate accident."
He said the Double Dipper trail had been machine-groomed the previous night and was rated a black diamond based on its steepness.
"It's mostly because of the pitch of it," he said. "We groom the trail to provide a smooth, even skiing surface."
Horrocks said the resort hasn't seen any more accidents on the Double Dipper than on any other trail.
"It was an open ski trail like every trail on the mountain. We don't see more accidents on any one of them," he said. "Skiing is an inherently dangerous sport and we ask everyone who comes to Killington and Pico to know the responsibility code for safe skiing."
Horrocks added that the resort incorporates safety messages in all of its trail maps and many of its signs and joins with resorts around the country to promote safe skiing in Ski Safe Week, the third week of January.
Neither Covell nor Horrocks could say for certain when the mountain last saw a fatal accident, but Covell said such accidents are "not very common."
A Middletown Springs, Vt., skier was killed in February 2003 after he skied into a rope stretched across a trail on Bear Mountain at Killington. Police said at the time that the man tried to duck under the 3-foot-high rope, but instead it caught him by his neck.
Covell said the investigation into Begley's death was "nearly complete." He added that a few more follow-up interviews might be needed after police receive the autopsy.
LOL! Never thought of it that way...
Couches are the safest
A child has no business being up on a double diamond run.
As long as there aren't any USSS agents around.
Okay, what if he plowed into your wife?
Excuse me, husband.
My kids can do a double diamond, what a dumb statement.
Skiing is an imperfect and dangerous sport, people crash. This guy crashed hard. Gravity and momentum are powerful forces.
What if he had plowed into a child?
Maybe it would have slowed him down and saved his life. sarcasm of course, but good grief. It ain't put-put golf.
The more I think about it, it is not really the climate changes, with exceptions. It is the usage over a given area. You run it one time with no problem and the 3/4th time it fools you and all of a sudden you are spead eagle (not natural for a man) all over the place.
I agree. People get hurt. But this guy, 27 years old, was probably overdoing it. I don't mind people going balls out on the ski slope, hell I'm in my fifties and I try to get the ski patrol to whistle at me. But I respect the risks and expect everyone else out there to respect my safety.
Obviously this guy wrecked bad. But he didn't hit anybody's wandering toddler there on the mountain, so I see no reason to throw stones at the dead.
Or as we say back East, "downhill skating"...
What's so dumb about it?
In your mind what is a "child?"
How old are your "kids?" Teenagers who've been skiing awhile, or "a child" which might not have developed the strength or coordination maturity to handle a steep pitched slope, especially if the surface is compromised?
What I find is "dumb" is your ignorance as to how these types of runs are not for amateurs. Serious injuries occur. And I'm not talking broken bones. I'm talking broken skulls.
I've treated "kids" and "children" doing something on their skis or snowboards they shouldn't have been doing, or skiing where they shouldn't be.
You tell me how "dumb" it is when I'm trying to teach these "kids" to stand and walk again, let along ever see their skis again.
I'm happy you push safety with your "kids," and they can ski on these runs without compromizing the safety of others. But like HOTD says, why do you insist on throwing stones at a dead guy who can't defend himself?
Sad story. Can really happen to just about anybody, experienced or not. Doesn't sound like he was wearing a helmet either.
I've skied some (icy) double diamonds where I'd accelerate if I fell. This guy might have knocked-out on initial contact . . . big trouble.
7/11 warterpipes froze last nite.
Looks like Killington is out 10 million bucks. They should have known not to stack equipment near a double black diamond trail when the snow is icy, even if it was roped off. Or so will say the scumbag lawyer that sues them.
OK, here are the facts - I was at Killington that day and saw the aftermath. It was the worst I've seen in my 50+ years.
I was going up the Canyon quad lift which goes alongside Double Dipper. The skier was in a gully at the bottom of Big Dipper, against a tree, with a patrolman tending to him. It was a very ugly scene, and I hope never to see anything like it again.
Double Dipper was very hard and firm on Sunday, and mowed flat (no bumps at all). When the trail is like this and you fall and you're inexperienced, you can end up sliding all the way down the trail. The trail was perfectly fine to ski on, but you had better known what you were doing. I've seen people slide all the way down, which has got to be 3-400 yds. It's a fairly steep, continuous pitch - the key word being "continuous".
Whether the skier was out of control or not is irrelevant, and I didn't see his fall. I met someone who saw him, and they merely said he was skiing along the edge of DD (skier's left along the chair), fell right near the top of the steep pitch, and slid all the way. It was fairly obvious how far up he was because there was a ski stuck in some snowmaking hoses (off the trail, under the lift), and occasional large bloodstains on the snow. It was at this point that my prayers were with the skier.
From what I saw and heard, he fell, slid down off the trail into the snowmaking equipment, crossed under the chair (skier's left), and kept crossing left into Big Dipper (trees start here), into the gully.
Now, you can get all judgemental about the accident, saying he didn't belong there, he was out of control, etc., but I really don't care about that. It was an accident. There's no way one can blame Killington - you simply can't remove all hazards from skiing, nor do I want one to. There will always be trees, lift towers, snowmaking equipment, etc. What some scumbag lawyer will do is another thing.
The end result is that someone went out on a nice winter day for some fun, had an accident, and died. It could happen to any of us - I hit a tree 12 years ago and was extremely lucky to come out of it with a simple broken leg.
My heart goes out to the skier's family.
The thrill of victory... And the agony of defeat...
One of these days I may get out west and see what powder looks like... until then I'm stuck on the icy appalachians.
Although the very idea of skiing in shorts, like they sometimes do out on the Rockies seems gay to me... so maybe I'll just stay here.
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