Steamboat Springs — A Pennsylvania man died Tuesday in Morningside Park at the Steamboat Ski Area. The man fell into a tree well but the exact cause of death is pending an autopsy, Routt County Coroner Rob Ryg said.
Mark Joseph Stout, 45, of Ottsville, Pa., was skiing with his 15-year-old daughter and friends when he fell behind the group at about 11:30 a.m. on the intermediate Cowboy Coffee run, Ryg said. Stout’s family and friends waited for him at the bottom of the run and then reported him missing to Steamboat Ski Patrol. Patrollers conducted a search and found Stout at about 1 p.m. Patrollers administered CPR at the scene but were unable to revive Stout. He was pronounced dead at 1:25 p.m., Steamboat Ski and Resort Corp. spokesman Mike Lane said.
“He didn’t hit the tree, he just went in headfirst into a tree well,” Ryg said. “He suffered no apparent trauma to his body.”
Ryg said that while suffocation or a heart attack could have caused the death, an autopsy is still pending.
“We don’t know exactly why he died,” Ryg said. “We’ll find out in the next couple of days.”
A tree well is the hole or depression that forms around the base of a tree when low branches prevent snow from filling in and creating snowpack around the trunk.
Lane said there were no witnesses to the accident. He was not sure if Stout was wearing a helmet.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with the family as they deal with this difficult time," Lane said. "We are attempting to do everything we can to support them."
Tuesday's accident is the first fatality at Steamboat Ski Area since February 2005.
Colorado, where about 10 people die on ski slopes each year, has seen several recreation-related fatalities in recent weeks.
A Vail skier was killed in a Saturday avalanche in the East Chutes area outside the boundaries of the Vail ski resort. Jesse Brigham, 27, was killed Jan. 4 during an avalanche in the same area.
University of Northern Colorado student Lygon Stevens, 20, is presumed dead after a Jan. 10 avalanche on Little Bear Peak in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, where she was hiking with her brother.
Logan Jameson, 19, of Durango died near Purgatory ski area after falling off a cliff outside the ski area's boundaries Jan. 6.
Benjamin Trichler, 11, of Oxfordshire, England, died after a Jan. 3 accident on an intermediate run at Breckenridge Ski Resort.
Mitchell Maltsberger, 15, of Oologah, Okla., died Dec. 28, 2007, after he hit a tree on an intermediate run at Wolf Creek Ski Area.
Mark Joseph Stout, 45, of Ottsville, Pa., was skiing with his 15-year-old daughter and friends when he fell behind the group at about 11:30 a.m. on the intermediate Cowboy Coffee run, Ryg said. Stout’s family and friends waited for him at the bottom of the run and then reported him missing to Steamboat Ski Patrol. Patrollers conducted a search and found Stout at about 1 p.m. Patrollers administered CPR at the scene but were unable to revive Stout. He was pronounced dead at 1:25 p.m., Steamboat Ski and Resort Corp. spokesman Mike Lane said.
“He didn’t hit the tree, he just went in headfirst into a tree well,” Ryg said. “He suffered no apparent trauma to his body.”
Ryg said that while suffocation or a heart attack could have caused the death, an autopsy is still pending.
“We don’t know exactly why he died,” Ryg said. “We’ll find out in the next couple of days.”
A tree well is the hole or depression that forms around the base of a tree when low branches prevent snow from filling in and creating snowpack around the trunk.
Lane said there were no witnesses to the accident. He was not sure if Stout was wearing a helmet.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with the family as they deal with this difficult time," Lane said. "We are attempting to do everything we can to support them."
Tuesday's accident is the first fatality at Steamboat Ski Area since February 2005.
Colorado, where about 10 people die on ski slopes each year, has seen several recreation-related fatalities in recent weeks.
A Vail skier was killed in a Saturday avalanche in the East Chutes area outside the boundaries of the Vail ski resort. Jesse Brigham, 27, was killed Jan. 4 during an avalanche in the same area.
University of Northern Colorado student Lygon Stevens, 20, is presumed dead after a Jan. 10 avalanche on Little Bear Peak in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, where she was hiking with her brother.
Logan Jameson, 19, of Durango died near Purgatory ski area after falling off a cliff outside the ski area's boundaries Jan. 6.
Benjamin Trichler, 11, of Oxfordshire, England, died after a Jan. 3 accident on an intermediate run at Breckenridge Ski Resort.
Mitchell Maltsberger, 15, of Oologah, Okla., died Dec. 28, 2007, after he hit a tree on an intermediate run at Wolf Creek Ski Area.
