A 32-year-old snowboarder who fell from a chairlift at Keystone ski area in December has died of his injuries.
Donovan Romero, of Littleton, died May 2, according to the Summit County coroner. Romero fell from the Ruby Express chairlift Dec. 11 near the third tower. He momentarily hung from the armrest of the chairlift before falling an estimated 47 feet, according to a statement from the Colorado Passenger Tramway Safety Board.
A witness told tramway board investigators that it appeared Romero was trying to adjust his snowboard bindings when he fell. The safety bar was not lowered, according to a tramway board statement. Romero, who was wearing a helmet, was airlifted to St. Anthony Hospital in Lakewood.
Tonette Romero, Romero’s mother, said a friend of her son’s on the chair with him said the snowboarder was not leaning over and fiddling with his bindings when he fell.
“He would not have been leaning over and adjusting his bindings,” said Tonette, who is “shocked” that Colorado ski resorts do not require lift riders to lower the restraining bar. “Who is the witness? Were they on the chairlift or down below? I have repeatedly asked Keystone for a copy of the resort investigation and they have repeatedly told me they would send it and they have not followed through. It just doesn’t make sense. I’m still really grieving but I’m also really mad.”
Donovan Romero, a 32-year-old father of two girls, died in early March from injuries he sustained falling from a Keystone chairlift on Dec. 11, 2024. A state report suggested he was leaning over to adjust his snowboard bindings but a friend on the chairlift with him said he was not leaning over. (Courtesy photo)On Wednesday, the Summit County coroner reported that Romero had died from injuries sustained in the fall. The nature of his injuries was not disclosed. A GoFundMe campaign for Romero— a single father of two girls, ages 8 and 10 — said he suffered a head injury and other injuries.
The tramway safety board investigates deaths and injuries that could be connected to a malfunctioning chairlift.
“Based on the initial investigation and witness statement, the incident does not appear to have been caused by any lift malfunction and further investigation is not warranted at this time,” the safety board said in a Dec. 12 statement.
Romero’s death marks the 14th ski area fatality of the 2024-25 ski season.
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At least 17 people died at Colorado ski areas during the 2022-23 winter season
3:50 AM MDT on May 30, 20236:22 AM MDT on May 30, 2023At least 15 people died on Colorado slopes this ski season
4:10 AM MDT on May 20, 20246:34 PM MDT on Jun 7, 2024At least 13 people died on Colorado ski slopes during the 2024-25 season, marking a slight decline from recent winters
4:05 AM MDT on May 2, 20259:35 AM MDT on May 5, 2025The last chairlift fatality in Colorado involved a 60-year-old man from Illinois who fell from the Zendo Chair at Breckenridge in March 2023. The family of John Perucco sued Breckenridge and resort owner Vail Resorts in Summit County District Court in March, arguing that ice accumulation on the seat forced him to skip off the chair and the resort was negligent in not clearing the snow.
In February 2020 a New Jersey man was killed after he became entangled in the Skyline Express lift at Vail ski area. Jason Varnish, a 46-year-old father of three, died of positional asphyxiation after he slipped through a chairlift with a seat that the wind had blown upright. He was snagged in his jacket as he dangled about 10 feet off the ground.
Varnish’s family sued Vail ski area and its owner, Vail Resorts, and settled the wrongful death lawsuit in March 2023. All chairlifts at Vail Resorts ski areas now have a strap holding the seat down, preventing it from blowing up.
Before that, Texas mother Kelly Huber was killed and her two daughters injured when they were thrown from the Quickdraw Express chairlift at Ski Granby Ranch in Grand County on Dec. 29, 2016. An investigation by the tramway safety board found problems with the drive systems that powered the chairlift, which resulted in rapid speed changes that slammed the Huber family’s chair into a lift tower, throwing them 30 feet onto hard-packed snow.
The state’s investigation found that modifications to the lift’s power system by the resort and its electrical contractor caused the problems. The Huber girls — who were 9 and 12 and seriously injured in the fall from the malfunctioning chairlift — sued the resort in U.S. District Court in 2017. The wrongful death lawsuit was settled in 2022.
Chairlift fatalities are very rare. Before the Huber death, the last chairlift fatality was in November 2002 when longtime Winter Park ski area manager Jack Mason suffered a medical event and fell from a lift. Before that the last chairlift fatality in Colorado was when a bullwheel fell off Keystone’s Teller lift in 1985, killing two skiers and injuring 49.
A 2024 report by the National Ski Areas Association detailed 35 chairlift fatalities at U.S. ski areas since 1956. Sixteen of those involved a mechanical malfunction of the lift and of those, nine were from 1973 through the end of January 2024. The NSAA report showed that since 1973, 14 skiers have died in falls from chairlifts, including six people who fell due to medical emergencies. The remaining deaths involved employees in circumstances not common for visitors, according to the NSAA report.
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