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UPDATE: Denver man found dead at Breckenridge Ski Resort Friday, Jan. 13

Kevin Fixler
kfixler@summitdaily.com

A Denver man reported missing at Breckenridge Ski Resort Thursday, Jan. 12, at about 5 p.m. was found unresponsive by ski patrol the next day and pronounced dead later that morning.

Sean Haberthier, 47, died of a severe skull fracture after skiing into a tree. Summit County Coroner Regan Wood reported he was not wearing a helmet at the time. Friends on Facebook saying goodbye to their friend identified the site of the incident as the expert Lower Boneyard run off the Peak 8 6-Chair, but that has yet to be officially confirmed by resort or county personnel.

The Summit County Sheriff’s Office assisted Breckenridge Ski Patrol with what the resort called an extensive search early Friday, eventually locating Haberthier at approximately 8:30 a.m. The coroner’s office responded to a call to the ski resort at 9:45 a.m., where it declared him 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 Breckenridge’s ski area, offered in a written statement.

Haberthier’s death marks the second in the county this ski season — both at Breckenridge — after Longmont resident Kevin Pitts, 48, collided with a tree on Dec. 19. It’s also the state’s third fatality on a ski hill for 2016-17 after 40-year-old San Antonian Kelly Huber plunged to her death from a chairlift at Ski Granby Ranch due to what was later determined a mechanical malfunction. Huber’s two daughters, 12 and 9, also fell 25 feet off the Quick Draw Express lift, but both survived.

Nine people died while skiing or snowboarding in Colorado last season, six of which occurred in Summit County. According to the National Ski Areas Association, a Lakewood, Colorado-based trade group representing the country’s resort owners and operators, there were 39 total fatalities nationwide during the 2015-16 ski year.

Four of those six Summit fatalities last year took place at Breckenridge, including the final three of the season — all in the month of April. The six in the county matched the same total during the 2013-14 season, and topped the four from 2014-15.