Skier dies in fall at Mt. Baker <br>First death of season<br><br><br><br>MARY LANE GALLAGHER<br>THE BELLINGHAM HERALD<br><br><br>A Canadian man fell to his death when he apparently skied over a cliff in an out-of-bounds area of the Mt. Baker Ski Area Sunday morning.<br><br>The 20-year-old Vancouver man apparently fell at least 120 feet from a rock wall on the face of Pan Dome, said Whatcom County Sheriff's Deputy Mark Jilk.<br>The man, whose identity was being withheld until his relatives were notified, was skiing with a brother and two friends near the Chute, a double-diamond ski run off Chair 1, said Duncan Howat, general manager of the Ski Area.<br><br>"They were looking for powder," Howat said.<br>The man who died split off from the other three and his companions called after him, telling him to come down the Chute with them, Howat said.<br><br>Jilk said skiers on the chair lift saw the three in the out-of-bounds area and yelled directions on how to get down to safety, but the three never saw the fourth skier again.<br>"He went past two rope lines that warn you of the cliffs," Howat said. "For whatever reason, he ignored those warnings and kept going and going to the point where he went all the way and fell off the cliff."<br><br>The man fell about 11:10 a.m. Sunday, Howat said. Ski area employees found his body soon after.<br>This was the first death this season at the ski area, which opened earlier this month.<br><br>Accidents in that area are rare, Howat said. The cliff is easily visible from the chairlift, he said, and many warnings are posted "so that you know what's coming up."<br><br>The group are skilled skiers, Jilk said, and "weren't trying to jump off things."<br><br>But they were not familiar with the Mount Baker Ski Area, he said.<br><br>"I don't think they knew exactly where they were," he said.<br><br>Reach Mary Lane Gallagher at 715-2285 or mary.gallagher@bellinghamherald.com.
