PARK CITY — Deputies identified Millcreek resident Christian Helger as the Park City Mountain Resort ski patrol worker who died in a chair lift accident Monday.

The 29-year-old man died Monday after he fell off a chair on the Short Cut chairlift.

"There was a very large pine tree that tipped over and hit the cable line," said Summit County Sheriff's Capt. Andrew Wright.

Helger was sitting in a lift chair right in front of where that tree hit. The impact caused the chairs to move up and down, throwing him out of the chair. Investigators say he fell 25 to 50 feet into terrain that was difficult to access.

"This wasn't over a run," Wright said. "There was a ravine where he had fallen. It took at least 20 minutes, from what we've been told, for ski patrollers to get down there, dig him out of the snow, and start performing life-saving measures."

Ski patrol members worked on the man for nearly 40 minutes. Investigators and other emergency medical workers arrived soon after.

"One of our deputies, he described it as chest-deep snow to get down to this individual," Wright said.

The sheriff's office is looking into what caused the tree to fall.

"Certainly, there are a lot of questions that will come into play as far as what caused that to happen. Yes, there was a lot of snow. There could be other factors — the health of the tree, the proximity of the tree, all of those types of things," Wright said.

The medical examiner's office will determine the exact cause of death.

Related:

Employee killed in chairlift accident at Park City Mountain resort

A tree fell on a Park City Mountain resort ski lift line Monday, killing a resort employee.

In the meantime, Park City Mountain Resort is keeping the Short Cut chairlift closed and working with its employees to help them with anything they need.

"Especially those ski patrollers, they are really tight knit," Wright said.

Contributing: Bridger Beal-Cvetko

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