A 68-year-old man who died Wednesday at Winter Park Resort was identified today as Richard Gefford.
Gefford was a retired Air Force major from Arvada, said Brenda Bock, Grand County’s coroner.
Though the autopsy was not complete, Bock was confident Gefford died of natural causes “and I think it was immediate,” she said.
Gefford was found face down in the snow about 2 p.m. Wednesday on the Cranmer ski trail.
Gefford was the third person to die at a Colorado ski resort in a little more than a week.
Also Wednesday, 33-year-old Brian J. Irvin from Mesa, Ariz., was skiing with friends at Telluride Ski Resort when he lost balance and hit a stand of trees off the Marmot ski run,
On Feb. 6, retired ABC correspondent John McWethy died at Keystone Resort when he missed a turn and hit a tree.
According to the National Ski Areas Association, an average of about 37 people a year have died on the slopes out of 55.1 million ski trips a year in the United States. There were 22 fatalities nationwide in the 2006-2007 ski season.
However, that figure does not include people who die of natural causes, said a spokeswoman for the Lakewood-based national association, which does keep statistics by state.
In addition, 43.7 people sustain serious skiing or snowboarding injuries each year since 1997, according to the association, including 40 last year.
