{"id":2454956,"date":"2020-02-24T16:20:14","date_gmt":"2020-02-24T23:20:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=321456"},"modified":"2020-02-24T16:20:14","modified_gmt":"2020-02-24T23:20:14","slug":"coroner-vail-skier-who-died-of-positional-asphyxia-didnt-fall-through-chair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/coroner-vail-skier-who-died-of-positional-asphyxia-didnt-fall-through-chair\/","title":{"rendered":"Coroner: Vail skier who died of positional asphyxia didn\u2019t fall through chair"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image p402_hide\">\n<div class=\"caption-container\"> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"701\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/02\/VailOpeningDay-VDN-111619-4-2-1024x701-1.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/02\/VailOpeningDay-VDN-111619-4-2-1024x701-1.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/02\/VailOpeningDay-VDN-111619-4-2-1024x701-1-300x205.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/02\/VailOpeningDay-VDN-111619-4-2-1024x701-1-768x526.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"><figcaption><strong>Skiers and riders head up the mountain on Opening Day at Vail.<\/strong><br \/><em>Chris Dillmann | cdillmann@vaildaily.com<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Eagle County Coroner Kara Bettis continues to investigate the death of Jason Varnish, 46, on Feb. 13 at Vail while riding Chair 37 in Blue Sky Basin. In an Eagle County news release on Monday, Bettis stated that Varnish did not fall through the chair,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vaildaily.com\/news\/vail-chairlift-death-similar-to-2000-case-attorney-says\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">which contradicts earlier reporting<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Rather, Varnish died of positional asphyxia, as originally reported, when he became entangled by his clothing that appears to have been caught on a portion of the chairlift. He was unable to breathe due to his coat and tight clothing around his chest and abdominal region. The death has been ruled accidental. &nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>According to at least one witness, the chairlift seat was up when Varnish and a companion attempted to load Chair 37 in Vail\u2019s Blue Sky Basin, according to the release. Positional asphyxia remains the cause of Varnish\u2019s death, Bettis said.<\/p>\n<p>Varnish,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/jacobhollefuneralhome.com\/tribute\/details\/9858\/Jason-Varnish\/obituary.html?fbclid=IwAR2yhWGMI0kIOH1uE07WZFXwYLiFmvKdON-fHaaDm9Uk4Du24Jxo3yDi3cg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">according to his obituary<\/a>, is survived by his sons Cameron and Luko, his daughter Grace, and their mother Jo.<\/p>\n<p>The ongoing investigation includes Vail Ski Patrol, Vail Resorts, Colorado Passenger Tramway Safety Board, Eagle County Paramedic Services, Eagle County Sheriff\u2019s Office, Eagle County Coroner\u2019s Office, Vail Public Safety Communications.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/coroner-vail-skier-who-died-of-positional-asphyxia-didnt-fall-through-chair\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Skiers and riders head up the mountain on Opening Day at Vail.Chris Dillmann | cdillmann@vaildaily.com Eagle County Coroner Kara Bettis continues to investigate the death of Jason Varnish, 46, on Feb. 13 at Vail while riding Chair 37 in Blue Sky Basin. In an Eagle County news release on Monday, Bettis stated that Varnish did [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2454956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-18 13:51:54","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley&#039;s Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2454956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2454956"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2454956\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2454956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2454956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2454956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}