woman killed in fall from ski lift 12-28-2014

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HUNTER, N.Y. — An autopsy has determined the death of a New York City woman at a ski area in the Catskill Mountains was accidental and consistent with a fall.

State Police say Olga Filkin of Brooklyn was riding alone Sunday afternoon on a chair lift at Hunter Mountain in Greene County with the safety bar engaged in the downward position when she fell about 25 feet.

Filkin was severely injured when she landed at the base of a lift tower. She was treated at the scene by ski patrol and medical personnel but succumbed from her injuries.

Hunter Mountain is located in the town of Hunter, in the northern Catskills 40 miles southwest of Albany.

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An investigation found that about 2:15 p.m., Filkin was on D Lift by herself when the triple seat began to rock, he said.
The restraint bar was down at the time, said Gerry Tschinkel, Hunter Mountain vice president of sales, marketing and sponsorships.
Filkin's ski got caught on one of the lift support poles, pulling her off the chair and causing her to fall to the ground, Mitchell said.
Emergency medical personnel at the mountain worked on her, but she was pronounced dead at the scene.

Dave Byrd, a spokesman for the National Ski Areas Association in Lakewood, Colo., said that “random falls” from ski lifts were not unusual, especially near loading and unloading areas, but that fatalities in falls from lifts were “extraordinarily rare.”