Trailblazing US skier Katherine Rigby dies in Kosovo avalanche
US competitive skier and telemark skiing pioneer Katherine “Kasha” Rigby died Tuesday in an avalanche in Albania. She was 54.
Rigby was at the Ski Center in Brezovica, Kosovo, with her fiancé, Magnus Wolfe Murray, when a small avalanche around 2:30 p.m. local time swept her into trees off the trail, according to Ski Magazine.
The outlet reported that Wolfe reached his fiancée 20 seconds after impact and immediately attempted CPR to save her.
The collision caused Rigby to suffer internal bleeding in her chest and damage to her lungs, and she died only moments after being swept away.
Rigby had dropped in from the top of the run and triggered the fatal avalanche, local officials reported.
Officials said the avalanche was about 82 feet wide and 32 feet high.
The Kosovo Mountain Search and Rescue Service said they received a call for help in the “Eagle’s Nest” area, a high-risk area for avalanches, EuroNews.Albania reported.
“The first information was about the loss of two skiers in the fog, but after collecting the information, the problem was identified, and we started searching the suspicious area,” this service wrote on social media Tuesday.
Before her death, Rigby posted a photo from the ski resort, warning of the high winds.
“Sideways rain, a big melt, and winds too high to run lifts, doesn’t keep these skiers and sledders off the t-bar and slope,” the veteran skier revealed in her last post to her Instagram on the day of her death, with a photo of the fierce conditions.
“While seeking winter our Tour De Piste continues, running the fringes of resorts. We have had a few chances to poke around up high, but today we were back in the lower country. Still just happy to be in the snow.”
The Vermont-born skier was in Kosovo with the Tour de Piste — a project made up of expert skiers to navigate uncharted ski runs at popular locations.
Rigby changed the face of telemark skiing and was said to have redefined the sport “with her high-speed, hard-driving style,” according to Ski Magazine.
In Telemark skiing, a skier maintains balance using the rear foot while pushing on the front foot to execute carving turns on downhill skis with toe-only bindings.
She was named Outside magazine‘s “best telemark skier in the known universe” in 1996.
Rigby became the first telemark skier to climb and descent down Cho You — the sixth-highest mountain in the world in the Himalayas.
She was also a cast member on National Geographic’s “Ultimate Survival Alaska” show during Season 3 in 2015.
Tributes poured in across social media after the news broke of her death.
“Kasha, your light shinned (sic) so bright and many of us were fortunate to share some of your wild and unbridled energy. Thank you for being the one true you like no one else,” fellow skier Jim Morrison wrote.
“I will forever be able to hear your voice and see your smile. Dancing and living to a different beautiful drum beat we all wish we could hear,” National Geographic photographer Jimmy Chin commented on Rigby’s final Instagram post.
“Thank you for sharing so much joy and wisdom (with) all of us.”
