A skier died after a Feb. 5 accident on Mammoth Mountain’s expert run “Dropout 2,” marking the resort’s fourth death of the winter season, according to a Mammoth Resorts spokesperson.
Ski patrol reached the skier at about 1:04 p.m., roughly four minutes after the incident, administered life-saving care, and transferred the individual to paramedics.
The skier was taken to Mammoth Hospital, where they later died. The person’s identity has not been released pending notification of next of kin.
Dropout 2, among the mountain’s steepest marked trails, descends from the summit ridge at around 11,000 feet, according to the Mammoth Times.
Witnesses posting on Reddit reported the skier came out of their bindings during a fall, slid headfirst for hundreds of feet, and may have struck a rock. They said ski patrol performed CPR, and parts of the area were subsequently closed.
The death is the fourth at Mammoth Mountain this season.
Raymond “Every Day Ray” Albert, 71, died on Dec. 25; ski patroller Cole Murphy, 30, was killed in an avalanche on Dec. 26; and an unnamed snowboarder died on Jan. 16, according to local reports. Separately, a 12-year-old girl fell from a chairlift on Jan. 31 and was not seriously injured, her family said.
Further details were not immediately available.
The snowboarder: A GoFundMe fundraiser created Jan. 24 identifies the snowboarder as Sebastian Celaya Salcido, 25.
RIP and heartfelt condolences to all who grieve the untimely passing of these persons.
So sad. RIP. Some of those runs are no joke. In those rocky chutes, I just hope they were wearing a helmet! Even the experts can have equipement fail or just have an accident.
With all the new snow coming in the next weeks, watch out for tree wells! I heard that’s what caused the death of “Every Day Ray.”
Sacjon: 100%! There was no mention of the skier wearing a helmet (or not wearing one), but even with a helmet, hitting rocks can cause quite a bit of damage. What a terrible thing to witness. I don’t agree that the commenter who thinks averaging 3-4 deaths a year at a ski resort is some sort of “nothingburger.” Only partially through the season, Mammoth is on track to include another 2 or more fatalities. To me, this is unacceptable and they should consider closing some of the more dangerous runs.
More nonsense
Accidents do happen, but it looks like an unusual number of casualties at Mammoth this year so far. Hey, helmets are good but don’t help your C-spine whatsoever if you lose control and hit rocks with your head careening downhill out of control. It’ll be interesting to see if they start closing some runs off.
Basic, Mammoth Ski Resort has averaged 3-4 deaths a year for the past 5 years. Did they close trails then???? Stop pretending you have some type of secret knowledge, or know anything about the resort. It is just pathetic posing at this point.
Sure, and guess what we’re only halfway through the season. Always angry…
There were 3 deaths by Jan 2023…. Stop pretending you have insider knowledge or are an avid boarder nimble knots.
Who in the world said the amount of deaths per year is a nothing burger? Look how many deaths there are annually skiing. The number of deaths annually seems average for Mammoth. Skiing is a dangerous sport and Mammoth is much more treacherous than say a resort like Big Bear. Please show us your sources of how you know Mammoth is on track for 2 more deaths. It didn’t happen like that in 2023. Being a former teacher one could expect a foot note from you. But Im guessing, as usual, you offer unsolicited nonsense based off of fear. You have nothing to offer on this subject. Do you have any idea how.many people are paralyzed from skiing every year? I bet you don’t. I bet you have never been skiing or snow boarding.