Two young men, aged 17 and 18, are dead following a halfpipe sledding accident on Sunday night. The teenagers were visiting central Colorado’s Copper Mountain Ski Resort on spring break when the incident occurred. They were sledding in the halfpipe and went airborne off a snowbank, according to the news release below from The Summit County Sheriff’s Office.
“The two individuals came down hard on the hard ice below, causing blunt force trauma,” and were pronounced dead at the scene, officials said. As of this writing, the coroner’s office was investigating a cause of death, and authorities had not released names.
Resort officials told CNN that trails close at 4 p.m. and that the halfpipe was closed and roped off when the accident occurred.
The individuals were students at Prairie Central High School in Fairbury, Illinois. Superintendent Paula Crane spoke to the loss in a statement to The Colorado Sun.
“The loss will affect everyone in our school family and our communities,” Crane said. “Students may have a difficult time dealing with the loss, and we encourage you to talk to your child.”
Copper Mountain Ski Resort’s president and general manager, Dustin Lyman, expressed condolences for the men’s families.
