Above: A chair lift at Hunter Mountain in December 2014. Photo by Schezar, via Flickr.
A Brooklyn woman died after falling 25 feet from a chair lift at the Hunter Mountain ski resort in Greene County on Sunday afternoon, Dec. 28, according to the New York State Police and media reports.
Olga Filkin, who was 44 years old, was riding Hunter Mountain's D-lift chair lift by herself around 2:15 p.m. on Sunday when she fell, according to a State Police press release. She was treated at the scene by Ski Patrol, but she soon died from her injuries. An autopsy performed on Monday, Dec. 29 confirmed that "the cause of death was determined to have been accidental and consistent with a fall," the press release states.
TheTimes-Union spoke with State Police Investigator David Mitchell, who said that Filkin fell after her ski became caught on a lift support pole:
"She was a pretty good skier," Mitchell said. "It was just a freak accident."
An investigation found that about 2:15 p.m., Filkin was on D Lift by herself when the triple seat began to rock, he said ... Filkin's ski got caught on one of the lift support poles, pulling her off the chair and causing her to fall to the ground, Mitchell said.
Mitchell also told the Times Union that Filkin was at Hunter Mountain with her husband and her 20-year-old daughter.
A Hunter Mountain spokesman told the New York Post that Filkin was 200 feet away from the start of the chair lift when she fell. The Post also got a statement from Hunter Mountain's president:
“This is a terrible tragedy,” said Russ Coloton, president at the resort. “We can only imagine what the family is going through, and we stand ready to assist them in any way that we can,” he added.
On Monday afternoon, Hunter Mountain posted a statement on its Facebook page about the incident:
We tell you with deep sadness: yesterday afternoon, a 44-year old guest at Hunter Mountain died after falling out of a chairlift. Ski Patrol was there within moments, to no avail. For reasons of patient confidentiality, out of respect for the family and due to the fact that the investigation is ongoing, we can’t answer any questions about the incident here. We also request that folks don’t speculate. Doing so won’t help, and will just make people feel bad. All of us are devastated by this. We send our deepest sympathy to her family and friends.
