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Officials: Teen who died in avalanche did not 'duck rope' |
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Tuesday, January 24, 2012 09:55 |
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Taft Conlin Courtesy of the Conlin family and the Vail Daily News
By Randy Wyrick, Vail Daily News
VAIL — A local teen died Sunday of chest injuries he suffered in an avalanche.
Taft Conlin, 13, was skiing Vail Mountain after a storm dropped 9 inches of snow.
Taft and some friends made their way to Prima Cornice, where he and at least two others were caught in an avalanche. The other two escaped and skied to Chair 11, where they told a lift operator about the avalanche and that could not find their friend.
The teen died of chest injuries due to blunt force trauma due to the ski accident, said Kara Bettis, Eagle County coroner.
Peter Ferraro was skiing with Taft. He and another friend were caught first in the slide, tumbling in and out of the cascading snow, but they were able to climb out, Peter said.
Vail ski patrol performed CPR on Taft all the way down the mountain and to the Vail Valley Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, Bettis said.
Officials from the U.S. Forest Service, the Colorado Avalanche Information Center, the Eagle County Sheriff's Office and the Vail Ski Patrol spent Monday investigating the scene. The boys did not duck a rope, officials said, but went through a lower open gate and hiked to closed terrain.
Read more about the accident and the investigation in the Vaily Daily News.
A celebration of Taft Mackenzie Conlin's life is scheduled for 4 p.m. Friday at the Edwards Interfaith Chapel. A reception will follow. See details and read more about Taft.
Read more about Colorado's avalanche danger.
Sunday's avalanche that left Taft Conlin dead occurred on Prima Cornice on Vail Mountain. Courtesy of Colorado Ski Authority
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