Eighteen-year-old skier dies on Blackcomb Mountain

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WHISTLER (NEWS1130) – A tragic weekend on the slopes at Whistler Blackcomb.

An 18-year-old is dead after being found unconscious in the Crystal Zone yesterday afternoon.

“He went through a set of cliff discs and was skiing on the other side. He got to a point where he couldn’t stop himself before the cliff edge and ended up falling off of it,” says Doug McFarlane with the ski hill.

McFarlane adds emergency crews worked to revive him for roughly 40 minutes.

“One of the party with him was a paramedic, I believe. We were also on scene with our first patroller within three minutes. Ultimately, we had two doctors and an advanced life support there at the same time. We had about eight or nine personnel on scene with him.”

He adds the teen was wearing a helmet and that he wasn’t from the area.

The man’s grandmother, Sheila Dickson, has identified him as Cole Robert Anderson from Campbell River.

She says he was an avid skier since the age of three. “He was a member of the Mount Washington ski team, he also had his level one in coaching.”

He had just turned 18 on March 13th and was going to graduate from high school this year. “He was going to buy himself an old truck with a canopy and he was just going to ski around the province, teach a little bit here and there. Skiing was going to be his life,” explains Dickson.

RCMP are investigating the death and Whistler Blackcomb’s Critical Incident Team is providing support for those who need it.

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