It was the last day of ski season, and in an informal tradition, four young Keystone Resort employees were partying.
But it went too far. Now one of them is dead and another faces criminal charges.
At 8:55 p.m. Sunday, with more than the legal limit of alcohol in his system, 21-year-old Michael Armstrong climbed halfway out the window of a moving car, lost his grip and fell and hit his head on U.S. 6 near Saints Johns Road. He was pronounced dead Monday.
The driver of the car, Kendra Martinez, 20, has been charged with drunken driving and illegal possession of alcohol by an underage person. Two other passengers in the car also had been drinking.
A Summit County coroner’s report released Wednesday said Armstrong died of a head injury caused by his fall.
Armstrong was described as a popular, fun-loving young person who was a star quarterback, second baseman and guard on a small Kansas high school’s football, baseball and basketball teams. He was a ski-lift operator at Keystone.
“He was the life of virtually every situation he came into,” said his former coach David Svoboda of Basehor-Linwood High School in Basehor, Kan. “I’m sure he would hope that those around him would learn from his mistakes.”
Martinez, who is from Broomfield, could not be reached for comment.
Keystone officials say whatever activity the four employees were involved in after the closing of the ski resort had nothing to do with the resort. Keystone had a free ski day for employees on Monday and no alcohol was provided, said Kate Lessman, resort spokeswoman.
“The Keystone Resort extends our deepest sympathies to Michael’s family,” Lessman said. “We are helping his family in any way that we can.”
Ski-resort workers often do have gatherings on the last day of the season, but it hasn’t been a big problem, said Paulette Horr, spokeswoman of the Summit County Sheriff’s Office.
But Sunday’s accident wasn’t the first fatal incident involving a resort’s employees drinking on the last day of the season.
A Vail ski-lift operator, Nathan Hall, slammed into Denver woodworker Alan Cobb near the bottom of the Riva Ridge run at the end of the last day of the ski season in 1997. Sheriff’s deputies said Hall smelled of alcohol at the time.
Witnesses said the former high school ski racer had been leaning backward as he bombed down the run, out of control. Hall was tried and convicted of criminally negligent homicide in 2000 and was sentenced to 90 days in jail.
Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com
