NSW: Locals shocked by tragedies in Snowy Mountains

AAP General News (Australia)
08-18-2008
NSW: Locals shocked by tragedies in Snowy Mountains

By Carrie Berdon

SYDNEY, Aug 18 AAP - Residents of the NSW Snowy Mountains are shocked and devastated
by three fatal accidents in the area, a spokesman for Perisher Blue Resort says.

Neil Thew said the community was especially saddened by the death of local man from
Jindabyne, who was a capable skier and had a young family.

The three men died within several hours of each other in separate skiing accidents
in the Perisher Valley area yesterday.

The first was a 59-year-old man from the Sydney suburb of St Ives who died when he
skied into a tree on a run at Blue Cow called Outer Limits about 12.15pm (AEST), police
said.

About an hour later, a 22-year-old skier from the Blue Mountains town of Wentworth
Falls was crushed by tonnes of snow and ice after an avalanche about five kilometres from
Charlotte Pass in Kosciuszko National Park.

He was one of five people skiing at Blue Lake, where it's believed a collapsed segment
of hardened snow known as an ice cornice gave way.

Just a couple of hours later, a 48-year-old man from Jindabyne died when he hit a tree
while skiing.

"Obviously, we're very sad by the deaths," Mr Thew said.

"It's definitely a shock.

"Deaths don't happen that much down here and three in one day is very devastating."

It was such a beautiful, clear day, he said.

The Perisher community was particularly shocked by the death of the Jindabyne man,
who was a capable skier and well-known among locals.

The man, who has not been named, had successfully completed a steep Olympic run but
lost control soon afterwards.

"I didn't know the fellow personally but members of staff here did," Mr Thew told AAP.

"He has a young family and it's devastating for the local community.

"Apparently he was a very capable skier. It's believed he may have clipped another
person's ski, which caused him to go off course. It was just an accident. It's one of
those very unfortunate things."

AAP cjb/wjf/ht/cdh

KEYWORD: AVALANCHE DAYLEAD

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