Report provides details on Keystone ski crash that sent man to hospital

Robert Tann/Summit Daily News
The same day as a fatal skier crash at Copper Mountain Resort last month, a crash at Keystone Resort led to one man being sent to a Front Range hospital for higher-level care.
An incident report from the Summit County Sheriff’s Office provides the accounts of two deputies who responded to the Keystone crash Jan. 23. According to the report, Taras Romaniuk was skiing with his brother and cousin on Frenchman when he crashed. The cousin and brother checked on him, found him unresponsive, started CPR and called ski patrol. Romaniuk was taken to St. Anthony Summit Hospital before being transferred to St. Anthony Hospital in Lakewood.
According to a GoFundMe raising money for Romaniuk’s medical costs, he was in serious condition as of Jan. 24, with fractures in his spine and ribs and a brain hemorrhage. The page has raised over $44,000 of a $100,000 goal as of Friday, Feb. 6.
The Sheriff’s Office report stated that the brother and cousin told law enforcement that all three were originally from Serbia but live in the United States and have skied at Keystone on several occasions. They had skied Frenchman several times that day before Romaniuk crashed.
One of them was skiing with a GoPro camera and caught the crash on film. One deputy reviewed the footage and described it in their report, writing that the three skiers were skiing fast down Upper Frenchman when one went over a roller, caught some air and fell. Romaniuk had been following that skier closely and tried to avoid them as they slid down the hill, the report stated. He ended up hitting the fallen skier and crashing into the trees headfirst, according to the deputy’s account of the video.
The report stated the skiers told law enforcement that none of them were wearing helmets when Romaniuk crashed.

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