Coroner identifies skier who died Friday at Breckenridge Ski Resort

Colorado experienced its fourth skier fatality of the 2016-17 season when 26-year-old Ricardo Cohen died at Breckenridge Ski Resort on Friday, Feb. 10.

Cohen, of Mexico City, Mexico, died while skiing on an advanced trail Friday morning after slamming hard into snow, according to the Summit County Coroner’s Office. He was wearing a helmet at the time of the accident, but the level of head trauma from the crash ultimately proved too grave. Breckenridge Ski Patrol responded to the incident, but after on-scene medical care and evaluation Cohen was pronounced deceased.

“Breckenridge Ski Resort, Breckenridge Ski Patrol and the entire Vail Resorts family extend our deepest sympathy and support to our guest’s family and friends,” John Buhler, vice president and COO of the ski area, said in a statement released by the resort Friday evening.

Colorado Ski Country USA, the trade association that represents 22 of the state’s ski areas, though none of Colorado’s Vail Resorts, Inc.’s four properties, confirmed Cohen’s death marks the fourth of the current ski year. The two other skier collision fatalities this season have also happened on advanced terrain at Breckenridge Ski Resort — 48-year-old Kevin Pitts, of Longmont, on Dec. 19 on the Alpine Alley run and 47-year-old Sean Haberthier, of Denver, on Jan. 12 on the Lower Boneyard run.

The other death this year occurred on Dec. 29 at Ski Granby Ranch in Grand County when 40-year-old Kelly Huber, of San Antonio, Texas, fell from the Quick Draw Express lift with her two young children when the chairlift bucked the three 25 feet to the ground due to a faulty part. Huber and her two daughters were raced to succumbed to Middle Park Medical Center in Granby, before the youngest of her daughters, 9, was medevaced by Flight For Life to Children’s Hospital in Aurora. The two girls survived, while their mother died due to the severity of her traumatic injuries