A-Basin's Snow Safety Chief Dies Hiking Ridge
ASPEN, Colo. (AP) - The snow safety director at the Arapahoe Basin ski area has died while hiking a ridge at the Aspen Highlands ski area.
The Pitkin County sheriff's office tells The Denver Post that 50-year-old Leif Borgeson collapsed Tuesday while hiking to the top of the Aspen Highlands Bowl to ski down. The cause of death is being investigated.
The Summit Daily News reports that Borgeson worked at Arapahoe Basin since 1990. He was a medical coordinator, paramedic, snow safety supervisor and snow safety director at the Summit County ski area. He was the training director for the National Ski Patrol from 2001 to 2004.
Arapahoe Basin says Borgeson was instrumental in creating the ski area's avalanche procedures and protocols and was nationally recognized for his work on the study of avalanches.
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