Teton Village, WY – An 18-year-old Cummington, Mass. man died Tuesday after striking a tree while skiing in Wyoming at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort.nZephyr Rapinchuk, a freshman at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Ore., was reported missing around 10 p.m. on Tuesday after he was last seen by friends exiting the Aerial Tram atop Rendezvous Mountain at approximately 3 p.m. Officials first treated his disappearance as a missing persons case, but shortly after 10 p.m. 20 members of Jackson Hole Ski Patrol and Teton County Search and Rescue boarded the resort’s Aerial Tram to begin a search.
Rapinchuk was found unresponsive at the bottom of a tree island below Hanging Rock Traverse near Rendezvous Bowl around 1:30 p.m. Wednesday afternoon. He was transported by ski patrol staffers to Teton Village Clinic, where he was pronounced dead.
It was not immediately clear whether or not Rapinchuk was wearing a helmet at the time of the accident.