Breckenridge Skiing Death - Daniel Giger

[skix]

A 21-year-old skier passed away at St. Anthony Summit Medical Center on Sunday (Dec 16, 2018), succumbing to injuries suffered while at Breckenridge Ski Resort earlier that day.

https://www.summitdaily.com/news/skier-dies-after-crash-at-breckenridge-ski-resort/

According to a release from Summit County Sheriff's Office, Giger collided with a tree sometime before 4 p.m. He was transported to St. Anthony Summit Medical Center in Frisco after Breckenridge Ski Patrol responded to the incident on an intermediate trail on Peak 7. After further emergency care and evaluation, Giger was pronounced deceased while at the hospital.​

https://www.thedenverchannel.com/ne...crashing-into-tree-at-breckenridge-ski-resort

Daniel Giger, a University of Colorado-Boulder student and native of Newport Beach, California, hit the tree while skiing an intermediate run on Peak 7 on Sunday afternoon.
​

 

[dbostedo]

Sad, as always... things like this creep into my thoughts sometimes when I'm skiing near the edge of runs. Everyone wants to be careful (mostly), but it's very easy to find the trees sometimes in a crash.

I think that's also the most common way people die skiing in CO, per some older statistics/articles - intermediate runs combined with, generally, high speeds and trees. According to one of the articles above, of the three deaths in CO this year, 2 were from trees.

 

[skix]

I think that's also the most common way people die skiing in CO, per some older statistics/articles - intermediate runs combined with, generally, high speeds and trees

That was my recollection as well. Dug up an article on it:

https://www.denverpost.com/2013/03/18/colorado-skiers-die-on-groomed-blue-runs-after-hitting-trees/

Experienced male skier. Thirty-seven years old. Wearing a helmet. Loses control on an intermediate, groomed run and hits a tree.

That’s the average person who died on Colorado ski slopes in the past five seasons, according to a Denver Post analysis of ski and snowboarding deaths.

The majority of deaths — 54 percent — occurred on blue, groomed runs, while 31 percent were on expert trails. Keystone saw 11 deaths, followed by Breckenridge with seven and Copper Mountain with six. Vail had five deaths.

Those who died on Colorado slopes ranged from a local doctor to a snowboard instructor to a paraplegic using a sit ski. More than 80 percent were men. The youngest two were 11; the oldest, 73. Just more than 60 percent were out-of-state visitors.

If those who died had anything in common, it was catching an edge or losing control just long enough to crash into a tree on the side of a trail.

“People don’t want to hear it, but it’s really the luck of the draw. It’s an experienced skier and a perfect storm of events or one bad moment of judgment,” said Joanne Richardson, the former coroner for Summit County, where four ski areas account for close to 4 million skier visits a season. “In my experience, deaths are rare, but serious injuries are not. The mountains don’t want to tell you how many people are injured. I was listening to the scanner last year and just said, ‘Wow.’
​

 

[Eagle93]

Interesting that Keystone has the highest number of deaths. I wonder if that is related to its geography of 3 mountains back to back and its effect on response and/or transportation times... Someone hitting a tree on North Peak or the Outback has that much longer before they get to an ambulance and the hospital for advanced trauma care.

No offense at all intended or implied to Keystone's Patrol staff.

 

[Carl]

About ten years ago I watched an intermediate skier go down a steep groomed run at Solitude. It was early in the morning, very cold, and the runs were groomed hard pack. He appeared to be going down in control and not too fast. He was definitely a bit over his head on the run but seemed to be doing OK. Unfortunately he was skiing close to the side of the trail and must have caught an edge. He went into the woods and hit his head on a tree. He had no helmet. He was out cold and bleeding badly. My buddy stayed with him and I rushed to get ski patrol. They helicoptered him to the hospital. He didn't make it. I'm not sure a helmet would have saved him but I feel that it might have because he was going fairly slow. But you never know what awaits you when you wake up in the morning.

 

[Coach13]

It can happen quick and has happened to most of us minus the tree part thankfully. I used to aways ski the slope edge at the local resorts I did this to hit the better snow and avoid the crowd of skiers on the slope. I was at Massanutten and saw a very good skier doing the same who ended up in the trees with significant head injuries. It can happen to any of us imo.

 

[SBrown]

This one hits close to home, too -- he was friends with a bunch of my daughter's buddies at CU.

 

[François Pugh]

. Protect your head at all times. A simple outward block with the forearm could be the enough to deflect your path form head on into a tree.

 

[Coach13]

This one hits close to home, too -- he was friends with a bunch of my daughter's buddies at CU.

Prayers to everyone associated with this person!

 

[skix]

Summit Daily article on Daniel Giger's life:

Family remembers Boulder student who died in Breckenridge skiing accident as adventurous, daring

https://www.summitdaily.com/news/fa...nridge-skiing-accident-as-adventurous-daring/

Giger was especially fond of skiing. Family members say that he took a spontaneous trip to Switzerland last year which stoked his love for skiing, and that he had already spent 15-20 days at Breckenridge Ski Resort this season.

Those close to Giger noted that he was rarely alone, in large part because he had a wide network of friends and family, and a distinct ability to get along with anyone. They characterized him as outgoing and as someone who could fit into any group or situation.

"The cool thing we've been learning over the last five days is that every group of friends knew a different Danny Giger," said Molnar. "He had a different relationship with everyone, but they were all deep. He didn't have any superficial surface relationships. … He wasn't afraid to strike up a conversation and he liked to push and test people."

The breadth of Giger's popularity has become apparent over the days since his death. Almost 200 individuals attended a vigil in Giger's memory at Chataqua Park in Boulder earlier this week, and Giger's family said they have received countless words of support through social media and in person.

Giger's family will be holding a celebration of his life at the Newport Church in California on Saturday at 12 p.m. Mountain time. The event will be live streamed on the church's Facebook page to reach his many friends in Colorado, Europe, Australia and beyond.​

 

[Tricia]

Sad to see this thread.
Even one skier death is too many and this is the second one in a week.

This one hits close to home, too -- he was friends with a bunch of my daughter's buddies at CU.

Its been a rough year for college kids

 

[Tricia]

Experienced male skier. Thirty-seven years old. Wearing a helmet. Loses control on an intermediate, groomed run and hits a tree.

That’s the average person who died on Colorado ski slopes in the past five seasons, according to a Denver Post analysis of ski and snowboarding deaths.

Interesting that Keystone has the highest number of deaths.

Often times, especially at a place like Keystone, the experienced skier is skiing difficult terrain "outback" and finds him/herself going a little too fast on intermediate trails on the way back at the end of the day. The bigger issue is that there are many less experienced skiers going slower and skiing erratically, combining that with the speed of more advanced skiers and you have a recipe for trouble.

 

[Coach13]

Summit Daily article on Daniel Giger's life:

Family remembers Boulder student who died in Breckenridge skiing accident as adventurous, daring

https://www.summitdaily.com/news/fa...nridge-skiing-accident-as-adventurous-daring/

Giger was especially fond of skiing. Family members say that he took a spontaneous trip to Switzerland last year which stoked his love for skiing, and that he had already spent 15-20 days at Breckenridge Ski Resort this season.

Those close to Giger noted that he was rarely alone, in large part because he had a wide network of friends and family, and a distinct ability to get along with anyone. They characterized him as outgoing and as someone who could fit into any group or situation.

"The cool thing we've been learning over the last five days is that every group of friends knew a different Danny Giger," said Molnar. "He had a different relationship with everyone, but they were all deep. He didn't have any superficial surface relationships. … He wasn't afraid to strike up a conversation and he liked to push and test people."

The breadth of Giger's popularity has become apparent over the days since his death. Almost 200 individuals attended a vigil in Giger's memory at Chataqua Park in Boulder earlier this week, and Giger's family said they have received countless words of support through social media and in person.

Giger's family will be holding a celebration of his life at the Newport Church in California on Saturday at 12 p.m. Mountain time. The event will be live streamed on the church's Facebook page to reach his many friends in Colorado, Europe, Australia and beyond.​

God bless this young man and his family. It sounds like the world lost a great person and we can never have too many of them. Very sad to say the least.

 

[Jim Kenney]

Always sad to hear esp. at Christmastime. Prayers to the family.

Side note: just a few years ago I read a remark that in the 70 year history of Mad River Glen there had never been a skier fatality; i.e, a death from a ski crash on the mountain. Hopefully, that fact is still true. The low body count at MRG supports statements by many in this thread that high speed groomed runs are often the locations of the worst accidents. MRG is known for having some of the most challenging ski terrain in the East, including lots of tree skiing of the steep and tight variety. Skiing burly mogul runs or ungroomed terrain with trees, bushes, cliff drops, and other wild features tends to slow down even strong and aggressive skiers thereby reducing the likelihood of high speed collisions. I suppose you could also argue that certain places known for “difficult” skiing like MRG might benefit from a self-selection process that eliminates a percentage of casual vacationers and less skilled riders who are more likely to suffer high speed out-of-control accidents?

 

[Coach13]

^^^
That’s an interesting perspective that I assume is a pretty reasonable one at that. There are certainly other mountains similar to MRG so it would be interesting to see how their stats compare.

 

[Big J]

Interesting that Keystone has the highest number of deaths. I wonder if that is related to its geography of 3 mountains back to back and its effect on response and/or transportation times... Someone hitting a tree on North Peak or the Outback has that much longer before they get to an ambulance and the hospital for advanced trauma care.

No offense at all intended or implied to Keystone's Patrol staff.

I was volunteer patrol at Keystone in 1981. It was then the number one destination ski area in the United States. Lots of fairly inexperienced skiers from all over the country. Perhaps this contributes to the injury/death rate.

 

[scott43]

Skiing burly mogul runs or ungroomed terrain with trees, bushes, cliff drops, and other wild features tends to slow down even strong and aggressive skiers thereby reducing the likelihood of high speed collisions.

The old saying..it's not the speed that kills you, it's the sudden stop. Keep your speed in control, right?