Ketchum, ID – A Sun Valley Co. employee found unresponsive on the side of a Bald Mountain ski run on March 16 died of chest trauma, the Ada County Coroner has determined.

Melanie Kendall, 38, of nearby Hailey was found around 4 p.m. by other skiers beside the Roundhouse Lane ski run, a novice cat track, after apparently hitting a tree, authorities indicated.  Blaine County Coroner Russ Mikel’s preliminary findings are that Kendall, who was wearing a helmet, died of chest trauma that tore her ascending aorta, the body’s largest blood vessel.

Kendall worked as a mountain employee at the ski resort’s River Run Lodge.