Utah ski patroller dies after falling tree ejects him from lift

A 29-year-old Utah ski resort worker was killed after he was ejected from a chairlift into a ravine, police said.

Christian Helger, a ski patroller at Park City Mountain, was on duty Monday when a pine tree fell onto the Short Cut chairlift cable just behind where he was seated, the Summit County Sheriff’s Office said.

The impact caused the chairs to “vertically move up and down significantly” enough to eject Helger into a “ravine of deep snow,” said police.

Helger plummeted between 25- to 50-feet, investigators told KSL.com.

“This wasn’t over a run,” Summit County Sheriff’s Capt. Andrew Wright said. “There was a ravine where he had fallen. It took at least 20 minutes, from what we’ve been told, for ski patrollers to get down there, dig him out of the snow, and start performing life-saving measures.”

Helger’s own coworkers dug his unconscious body from the ravine’s “chest-deep snow” and worked to revive him, but to no avail, Wright said.

Helger’s death was the second in as many days at the Park City resort, located 30 miles east of Salt Lake City.

A 75-year-old man died after suffering a medical episode while skiing Sunday, Summitt sheriffs said.

The senior was with a group of friends when he reported not feeling well. He died shortly after medical crews arrived to offer first aid.