Experienced Skier Died After Freak Tree Strike Accident at Jay Peak, VT

68-year-old skier Bruce Charron took a turn on the edge of a run he’d skied a hundred times, lost a ski and hit a tree Sunday afternoon at Jay Peak Resort in Vermont. Ski patrollers performed CPR on Charron and loaded him in a rescue toboggan. But by the time they reached the infirmary at the bottom of the hill, a doctor was ready to examine him. But it was too late.

“He was gone,” said Pierre Brideau, a longtime friend of Charron’s and a patroller at Jay Peak. “He got the best care he could but it was just a terrible, traumatic accident.”

Charron, whom Brideau described as “larger than life,” was a Montreal West resident known for his charitable works, reports the Montreal Gazette. He co-founded the Andy Collins for Kids Foundation, which has raised more than $3 million for the Montreal Children’s Hospital Foundation over the past 22 years.

According to Vermont State Police, the incident occurred around 12:45 pm on the mountain’s “Montrealer” trail. The weather was clear and cold at the time of the incident.

“The conditions weren’t great but (Charron) was an excellent skier,” said Brideau. “It was a freak accident. He just lost a ski.”

The ski resort’s trail map depicts the Montrealer as an intermediate level trail. State police are asking anyone who may have been a witness to the incident to call their investigators at 802-334-8881.