Officials with Whitefish Mountain Resort near Kalispell, Montana have confirmed a prominent Calgarian died on the hill on Sunday afternoon.
48-year-old Tom Podivinsky, an oil executive with Athabasca Oil Corporation, was skiing with a group when he elected to separate from the pack to ski a treed area at approximately 12:30 p.m.. The rest of the group became worried when Podivinsky failed to arrive at the base of the lift and the skier was reported missing to the patrol cabin at 1:00 p.m..
Two teams scoured the area where Podivinsky was last seen but were unsuccessful in their search.
At approximately 2:15 p.m., a third patrol unit located Podivinsky in a tree well between the Hollywood and Silvertip runs. The rescue team attempted to resuscitate the unresponsive man for nearly 30 minutes before the effort was halted.
Whitefish officials say this is the second fatality to occur on the hill this ski season.
An autopsy is scheduled for Tuesday.
Tom Podivinsky is the brother of Edi Podivinsky who won a bronze medal in alpine skiing at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer.
