Skilled snowboarder died avoiding skier

An accountant who loved the “adrenaline rush” of snowboarding was fatally injured in a holiday accident on the slopes, after he swerved to avoid a skier and hit a lamppost, sustaining serious injuries.

Christopher Perring, 34, and his wife Stephanie from Sandhurst in Berkshire were on a driving holiday from Las Vegas to Lake Tahoe in California when the accident happened on the slopes of the Heavenly Ski Resort Lake Tahoe on January 17 this year.

Mr Perring was an experienced snowboarder – he had taken up the sport in 2000 and went on two snowboarding holidays a year with his wife.

Mrs Perring had left her husband on the slopes to retire to their lodge and last saw him in the chairlift going back up the mountain.

When he failed to return to the lodge, she asked the mountain ski patrol if anything had happened and was told it was “pretty serious”.

A witness statement read at the inquest at Windsor Guildhall said that Mr Perring was wearing a safety helmet at the time of the accident, but that as he swerved to avoid the skier, he lost control and hit a metal pole before being flung to the ground.

He was found unconscious and apparently not breathing by other holidaymakers on the slopes and the ski patrol performed CPR at the scene of the accident.

Mr Perring was taken to the landing zone where his heart stopped beating. He was pronounced dead at the scene and died from chest injuries and broken bones. No traces of alcohol or medication were found in his body.

Berkshire coroner Peter Bedford said Mr Perring sustained a classic deceleration injury, of the type suffered by motorcyclists travelling at speed when they impact with another vehicle or stationery object.

A verdict of accidental death was recorded.