Woodstock Early Birds, the lost skiier who was in and out of consciousness listed in our headline is now “okay” according to the Vermont State Police report sent late last night. Details of the incident below.
While Woodstock Early Bird has had no success in getting responses to call or emails to Killington Resort officials concerning the seemingly large number of out-of-bounds lost skier reports, what is significant is that now — as of last night — Vermont State Police have essentially said “enough.” Here is a statement from Capt. Ray Keefe, VSP Troop “D” Commander, on the number of lost skiier rescue mobilizations:
This year has seen an unacceptable amount of skiers, primarily at Killington Mountain, intentionally leaving the marked trails and eventually having to call for assistance to get out of the woods. This places a large drain on State Police uniform and dispatch resources and the State Police will be looking to work with Killington Mountain in an effort to curtail these reckless and poorly thought out acts by skiers who are not physically/mentally prepared to deal with the harsh Vermont winter conditions they face upon getting lost.
Here is the rest of the release:
Vermont State Police Press Release
On 01/08/13 at approximately 4:30 pm the VT State Police received two 911 calls from two skiers who had intentionally skied off the main trails at Killington Mountain and were now lost.
They were identified as:
-Trevor Smith, age 21 from New Jersey
-Christopher Feehan, age 21 from New Jersey
The skiers upon becoming lost had separated from each other and Smith was advising that he was not doing well as he had gotten wet during the decent. VT State Police began tracking the two skiers via GPS and eventually the two located each other and were being talked down when Smith began experiencing serious fatigue, became incoherent, and would not respond to State Police and ski patrol requests to keep moving. Smith eventually stopped moving, was reportedly unconscious and Killington ski patrol rapidly sent four members in via a hiking trail in Mendon. Both Smith and Feehan were eventually assisted out at approximately 10pm, five and a half hours after the first call to 911 and were both checked out medically and released.
Julia Carlisle
Woodstock Early Bird 