MORGAN COUNTY, Utah — A man died in an accident while skiing at an exclusive members-only resort in northern Utah over the weekend.
According to the Morgan County Sheriff's Office, the man was skiing at Wasatch Peaks Ranch on Sunday when the accident occurred. He reportedly hit a snowbank and was launched into the air, then crashed back down onto the ground and suffered fatal injuries.
No further details were available on the type of injuries or whether he received medical assistance, but his body has been taken to the state medical examiner's office for an autopsy to determine the cause of his death.
The victim was eventually identified via a GoFundMe campaign as 38-year-old Jason Pablo Lawner. He was a realtor, a yoga instructor and a musician in Salt Lake City, according to the GoFundMe page. Lawner played the trumpet in "The Hardy Brothers" band. He previously lived in South Florida.
"Jason was an infectious spirit, whose positive energy left a mark on everyone he encountered. We will miss him dearly," the page read.
Wasatch Peaks Ranch is a new, private resort that opened in 2021, according to Lift Blog. It is located on the Wasatch Back, a few miles west of the town of Peterson (Morgan County). Lift Blog also says it's "reserved exclusively for investors and homeowners," with 3,000 acres of skiable terrain accessed by three chairlifts. An article published in 2019 by local news radio station KPCW also compared it to the exclusive "Yellowstone Club."
This marks the sixth reported death to occur at a Utah ski resort in the 2022-2023 winter season. Less than a week prior, a Park City Mountain Resort employee fell to his death after a tree collapsed onto the cable of the chairlift he was riding.
