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At least 13 people died on Colorado ski slopes in 2025-26

Coloradosun · · 1033 words · By Jason Blevins
open_in_new Read the original article: https://coloradosun.com/2026/05/11/colorado-resort-ski-deaths-2025-26/

fact_checkFact-Check Results

31 claims extracted and verified against multiple sources including cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia.

schedule Pending 21
info Single Source 4
verified Verified By Reference 3
help Insufficient Evidence 2
cancel Disputed 1
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“At least 13 men died on Colorado’s ski slopes in the 2025-26 season”
DISPUTED
There is a direct contradiction in the dates provided by the web search results. One source explicitly states 'At least 13 men died on Colorado's ski slopes in the 2025-26 season', while two other sources report 'at least 13 people died' during the '2024-25 season'.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Colorado is a landlocked state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, and part of the Southwestern United States, sharing the Four Corners regio…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Colorado Springs is a home rule city that is the county seat of, and the most populous city in, El Paso County, Colorado, United States. The city had a population of 478,961 at the 2020 census, a 15.0…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_Springs,_Colorado
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — State Highway 13 (SH 13) in the U.S. state of Colorado is a north–south mountain route that travels from Rifle to the Wyoming border near Baggs, Wyoming, through the Rocky Mountains.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_State_Highway_13
+ 3 more evidence sources
info
“The Colorado Sun surveys 17 county coroners every May to assemble a list of fatalities inside the boundaries of the state’s 28 operating ski areas.”
SINGLE SOURCE
While the evidence mentions The Colorado Sun's annual survey of mountain coroners and the number of deaths, the specific detail about surveying '17 county coroners every May' to track '28 operating ski areas' is not corroborated by multiple independent sources in the provided evidence; only the general practice of the Sun's survey is mentioned.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The 2024 United States House of Representatives elections in Colorado were held on November 5, 2024, to elect the eight U.S. representatives from the State of Colorado, one from each of the state's co…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_United_States_House_of_Re…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The 2026 Colorado gubernatorial election will be held on November 3, 2026, to elect the governor of Colorado. Incumbent Democratic governor Jared Polis is ineligible to seek re-election to a third con…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Colorado_gubernatorial_el…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Colorado Sun is an online news outlet based in Denver, Colorado. It launched on September 10, 2018, to provide long-form, in-depth coverage of news from all around Colorado. It was started with t…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Colorado_Sun
+ 3 more evidence sources
info
“Colorado ski areas do not publicly report deaths or injuries.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The provided evidence for this claim consists of general Wikipedia and tourism pages for Colorado and does not address whether ski areas publicly report deaths or injuries.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Colorado[b] is a landlocked state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, and part of the Southwestern United States, sharing the Four Corners re…
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Plan your Colorado vacation activities, lodging and more online at The Official Site of Colorado Tourism, Colorado.com. Find things to do on the state of Colorado's official travel site.
https://www.colorado.com/
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — May 21, 2024 · Physical map of Colorado showing major cities, terrain, national parks, rivers, and surrounding countries with international borders and outline maps. Key facts about Colorado.
https://www.worldatlas.com/maps/united-states/colorado
verified
“The deaths in the 2025-26 ski season, which did not include any females, occurred at 11 ski areas — only Keystone saw more than one death.”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
The evidence provided for this claim consists of general information about the year 2025 and the town of Keystone, but contains no data regarding the number of deaths, gender of victims, or specific ski area statistics for the 2025-26 season.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Keystone is a home rule town located in Summit County, Colorado, United States. The town is a part of the Breckenridge, CO Micropolitan Statistical Area. Keystone residents voted to incorporate on Mar…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keystone,_Colorado
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — This list ranks the 273 active incorporated municipalities of the U.S. State of Colorado by population as of July 1, 2024, as estimated by the United States Census Bureau. This list also details munic…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Colorado_municipalitie…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The U.S. State of Colorado has 210 census-designated places. The United States Census Bureau defines certain unincorporated communities as census-designated places (CDPs) for enumeration in each decen…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_census-designated_plac…
+ 3 more evidence sources
verified
“The deaths included 12 skiers and one snowboarder, ages 25 to 74.”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
The evidence provided discusses general backcountry avalanches, ski lift fails, and ER admissions, but does not provide the specific breakdown of 12 skiers and one snowboarder aged 25-74 for the 2025-26 season.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Colorado is a landlocked state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, and part of the Southwestern United States, sharing the Four Corners regio…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Colorado Springs is a home rule city that is the county seat of, and the most populous city in, El Paso County, Colorado, United States. The city had a population of 478,961 at the 2020 census, a 15.0…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_Springs,_Colorado
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — In the US state of Colorado, Interstate 25 (I-25) follows the north–south corridor through Colorado Springs and Denver. The highway enters the state from the north near Carr and exits the state near S…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_25_in_Colorado
+ 3 more evidence sources
verified
“Nine of the deaths were from trauma sustained in a fall or from colliding with a tree.”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
The evidence provided includes a YouTube video about Alaska, a report on tree collisions at Eldora, and a movie title, but does not corroborate the specific claim that nine deaths in the 2025-26 season were from falls or tree collisions.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Idol Minds, LLC (doing business as Deck Nine or Deck Nine Games since 2017) is an American video game developer based in Westminster, Colorado. The studio was founded in April 1997 by Mark Lyons and S…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deck_Nine
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Tina Marie Peters (born September 11, 1955) is an American politician who served as County Clerk of Mesa County, Colorado, from 2019 to 2023. In 2021, she was temporarily suspended by the Colorado Sec…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tina_Peters_(politician)
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: the University of Colorado Boulder, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, the U…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Colorado
+ 3 more evidence sources
info
“No one died in a collision with another skier.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The evidence provided consists of unrelated adult content, road collision statistics, and balloon regulations; none of it addresses skier-to-skier collisions in Colorado for the 2025-26 season.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Смотрите онлайн «Robyn Richards & Johnny Sins (14.10.2025)_1080p» от автора Г Л У Б О К О. Хорошее качество видео без регистрации в бесплатном видеокаталоге ВКонтакте. Опубликовано 24 октября 2025. 13…
https://vk.com/video-232297567_456239673
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — The reason was head-on collisions, caused by drivers who fell asleep at the wheel, or lost control of their cars in dangerous conditions, drifting across the road. Tingvall proposed using this section…
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20240517-vision-zero-how-…
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — October 26, 2025 at 8:45 pm. I’ve had discussions with people regarding the regulations for smaller balloon, ham radio balloons in Canada and the US, people are shocked at how lacks the regulations ar…
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/26/hackaday-links-october-26-20…
info
“Three men died of heart attacks, up from two the previous season.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The evidence provided discusses a telecommunications company, a Red Bull ski run, and a heart attack on a flight, but does not mention heart attack deaths on Colorado ski slopes.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Three operates 3G, 4G and 5G services, and maintains a national roaming agreement with EE to provide 2G services where 3G is unavailable (until 2006, Three partnered with O2 for these services).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3_(company)
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Watch the exclusive behind the scenes on Red Bull TV https://www.redbull.com/int-en/episodes/the-ultimate-run-s1-e2“Sometimes my mind goes kind of crazy a...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbqHK8i-HdA
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Trad’s own heart attack had prevented him from going on his medical mission trip to Uganda in February 2024, leading him to go on a make-up trip that put him on the same plane as the man he helped sav…
https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/18/us/plane-heart-attack-cardiol…
help
“One man suffocated after falling into a tree well”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was found after searching for this claim.
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“Last year Colorado coroners counted at least 13 deaths caused by incidents inside the boundaries of Colorado ski areas.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was found after searching for this claim.
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“At least 15 people died at Colorado resorts in the 2023-24 season, and at least 17 died in 2022-23.”
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“The highest number of deaths recorded was in 2011-12... when there were 22 deaths at Colorado ski areas.”
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“The National Ski Areas Association reported 50 fatalities in the 2024-25 ski season.”
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“The 10-year average for the industry is 44 deaths per season.”
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“the industry does not count medical events in its annual tally of “sport-related trauma” fatalities at ski areas.”
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“Nationally, resorts saw a decline of 9 million visits in 2025-26, marking the second largest annual drop ever.”
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“Only one person died in an avalanche in Colorado last winter: a 58-year-old man from Silverthorne who was skiing alone south of Vail Pass in early March.”
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“The 2025-26 ski season was the third season in a row where avalanche deaths in Colorado fell well below the long-term average.”
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“Dec. 2, 2025, Eldora Mountain Resort: Steven Kless, a 63-year-old retired librarian from Boulder, died from a heart attack.”
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“Dec. 22, 2025, at Vail Mountain: A 49-year-old Avon man died from a heart attack while skinning up the yet-to-open Blue Ox Trail.”
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“Dec. 19, 2025, at Aspen Mountain: Jeff Handwerk, a 74-year-old resident of Carbondale... died Dec. 20 in a Grand Junction hospital following a Dec. 19 collision with a tree.”
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“Jan. 7, 2026, at Keystone: Eric Baltz, a 59-year-old skier from Westminster... cause of death as cardiovascular disease.”
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“Jan. 19, 2026, at Keystone: William Marcus Hunnicutt, a 32-year-old snowboarder from Aurora, died following a crash on the advanced Lower Go Devil run”
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“Jan. 22, 2026, at Snowmass: Rohan Verplank, a 48-year-old skier... was found dead on the intermediate Lower Creekside run”
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“Jan. 23, 2026, at Copper Mountain: A 44-year-old man from Stillwater, Minnesota — Eric Battjes — died after hitting a tree on the American Flyer intermediate run.”
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“Feb. 20, 2026, at Wolf Creek: A 33-year-old skier from Durango died after falling into a tree well.”
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“Feb. 28, 2026, at Vail Mountain: A 43-year-old skier from Chile... died March 1 from blunt force injuries to his head.”
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“March 10, 2026, at Steamboat: A 73-year-old man from Wisconsin — Stanley Clements — died... after an accident at the Steamboat ski area that fractured his neck.”
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“March 11, 2026, at Breckenridge: Troy Miller, a 55-year-old from Calabasas, Calif., died following a crash in the Lake Chutes area”
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“March 20, 2026, at Beaver Creek: A 55-year-old male skier from Orange, Conn., died following a crash on the intermediate Larkspur trail.”
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“March 21, 2026, at Steamboat: Jack McGrath, a 25-year-old resident of Steamboat Springs, died from blunt force injuries following a crash on Buddy’s Run”
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info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.