Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

Snowboarder dies on Mount Washington

The B.C. Coroners Service is investigating the death of a man in his 20s found on a slope at Mount Washington Alpine Resort.
Mount Washington

The B.C. Coroners Service is investigating the death of a man in his 20s found on a slope at Mount Washington Alpine Resort.

A service spokesman said in a statement Tuesday that skiers found the snowboarder unresponsive Monday afternoon in a treed area within the resort’s slope boundaries. No cause of death has been determined. The man has been identified as Campbell River logger Stewart Elhorn, 27.

Also withheld is whether he was wearing a full complement of safety gear, including a helmet.

This is the second fatality on Mount Washington slopes in slightly over two years. On Dec. 22, 2015, Reid Kyfiuk, 15, a Grade 10 student at Claremont Secondary School in Saanich, was found dead at the resort. He was wearing a helmet but fell into a three-metre tree well.

Resort spokeswoman Sheila Rivers said helmets became mandatory for resort employees about five years ago. But for resort guests, it is an individual choice. Helmets are offered for sale or rent at the resort.

Rivers said the man found Monday was never reported missing. It isn’t known if the skiers who found him were friends.

The death occurred the same day the resort reopened after a winter storm dumped about 125 centimetres of snow over the weekend.

Rivers said the slope where the victim was found is rated suitable for intermediate to advanced skiers. A small area around where he was found remained roped off Tuesday. But the general area and slope were open to skiers and snowboarders.

Rivers said the treed area where the snowboarder was found is an area known as “off-piste,” meaning the snow is not actively groomed.

But skiing within treed areas is legal and many skiers seek the area out, both for the quality of the snow and the experience of skiing through trees.

In a statement, resort manager Peter Gibson called the man’s death “a very sad tragedy. Everyone here at the resort sends our sincerest condolences to the family and friends.”