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SNOWBIRD RESORT — On Feb. 18, more than 200 people will gather in Salt Lake City to honor Bryce Astle, a Utah skier who died in 2015 while training for Olympic competition.
On Jan. 5, 2015, Astle, a 19-year-old from Sandy, was skiing with teammates in Sölden, Austria, when he and a teammate, New Hampshire skier Ronnie Berlack, 20, were caught in an avalanche and were killed.
The accident received national attention, including national news coverage and a statement from the White House, according to Suzanne Luce, media and event planner for the Bryce Astle Foundation, a nonprofit established in Astle’s memory.
“My heart goes out to the families of Bryce Astle and Ronnie Berlack,” Utah Gov. Gary Herbert said of the incident, as noted on the Bryce Astle Foundation website. “We lost two outstanding skiers today.”
Astle grew up racing with the Snowbird Ski Team, according to a news release from U.S. Ski and Snowboard officials. He finished as the top junior at the 2014 U.S. Alpine Championships, KSL.com reported in 2015.
To honor Astle’s life, Snowbird Ski Resort announced it will be building the Bryce Astle Training Center, a new quad chairlift for training skiers and a renovated race shack for Snowbird athletes.
Snowbird will be working with the Bryce Astle Foundation, Snowbird Sports Education Foundation and the United States Ski and Snowboard Association to build and establish the training facility, Luce said, adding that the new resources are intended to help young athletes prepare for competitive skiing and snowboarding.
“It would be utilized primarily for the race team that is developed out there,” Luce said, noting that Snowbird typically works with young athletes from age 8 up to 17. “The Snowbird Foundation is really the instrument that grooms the racers to become athletes, and hopefully make it all the way to the Olympic caliber.”
In addition to the Bryce Astle chairlift and training center, Snowbird will be creating an avalanche resource center to promote avalanche safety awareness and education, according to an emailed statement.
People who knew Astle describe him as a humble, talented person whose life was filled with promise and potential. His motto was “good vibes only,” said Luce.
“In our close group of friends, we all knew out of any one of us, Bryce was going to be the one to make it,” said teammate Andy Siddoway, as stated on the foundation’s website.
“He had a love to help people,” Luce said. “Bryce was the type of guy who would be at the top of the hill, and he was so humble that he would be helping the slowest skier on the hill. He’d be up there cheering them on because he was a very humble skier. That’s the kind of guy he was.”
The Feb. 18 event will be held at 6 p.m. at Kimi’s Chop and Oyster House in Salt Lake City, Luce said. It will include speeches from Snowbird general manager Dave Fields, Snowbird Sports Education Foundation executive director Steve Bounous and U.S. Ski Team member Winter Vinecki, who is not competing in Pyeongchang due to an anterior cruciate ligament injury.
Luce said U.S. Ski & Snowboard chief executive officer Tiger Shaw will be calling in from Pyeongchang to give remarks.
As of Wednesday afternoon, Luce said about 200 people, including U.S. Ski Team members who are not participating in the 2018 Winter Olympics due to injuries, have signed up and paid to attend the event. Tickets are $80 and can be purchased from bryceastlefoundation.com.
“I think what he would be remembered for, his legacy, his greatest legacy, would be his love for skiing,” Luce said.
