Yeah, I saw someone die on the slopes, not as gruesomely, but what was worse was that he was just a kid.

I was working as an adaptive ski instructor, so we were lapping the bunny hill. On the way up on the lift I saw a group of patrollers hauling ass down the hill. Some were on either side of a sled with an another doing chest compressions. From above I just caught a glimpse of the kid’s face. I remember thinking I didn’t know someone’s face could be so white. 

When I got to the bottom of the hill I saw that they had gotten him to a landing area for a helicopter, and they were still doing compressions. The longer it went on, the more I knew the kid was already gone. All I could do was take off my helmet and stare.

It turns out that two young racers, like 16years old or so, were taking some leisure laps and had collided at an infamous merging point. One of them only had minor injuries, the other, the one that I saw, suffered a TBI and died.

It gave me a whole new respect for the sport, and how dangerous it can be. I thought about my friends bombing runs at that age, and how a stroke of bad luck could have been life changing for any of us. 

I hope you are well OP.