All-American Dartmouth skier dies in tragic Lake Tahoe resort accident
A former NCAA All-American skier died in a skiing accident at Palisades Tahoe resort in Olympic Valley on Saturday, authorities told the LA Times.
Ellery “Ellie” Curtis, 26, a former alpine skier at Dartmouth College, suffered a head injury and was pronounced dead at the ski resort, located in the Greater Lake Tahoe area, the Placer County Sheriff’s Department said.
Curtis was already dead by the time deputies responded to a distress call at 3:45 p.m. on Saturday, according to sheriff’s spokesperson Elise Soviar.
The Palisades Tahoe ski resort said in a statement to the LA Times that they were “deeply saddened” by the accident and referred to Curtis as a “beloved skier.”
According to the digital site Powder, Curtis suffered severe injuries on Ahhh Chute, which was described as “a challenging trail” on Palisades’ famous KT-22 lift.
As a senior at Dartmouth College, Curtis earned second team All-American honors in the giant slalom by placing eighth at the 2022 NCAA championships in Park City, Utah.
She was All-East Second Team as the seventh-ranked women’s alpine skier in the East.
A former captain of the Dartmouth College Alpine ski team, Curtis was remembered by her coaches as a passionate individual beyond the sport.
“Ellie Curtis was a hardworking, passionate and driven student athlete whose passions went beyond the snow,” her Dartmouth coaches, John C. Dwyer and Anny Jenny, via email, to the LA Times. “Ellie was kind, caring and loved to be involved in many organizations and environmental projects.”
Dartmouth said Curtis was “an exceptional member of the Dartmouth family whose spirit, compassion, and drive left a lasting impression on everyone she encountered.”
Curtis, who is a Waitsfield, Vermont, native, worked as an analyst for the California Public Utilities Commission, according to her LinkedIn profile, and was living in San Francisco.
Curtis enjoyed camping, biking and hiking, according to Dartmouth.
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