Student's fatal ski accident headed to trial
A lawsuit involving a tree well death at Whitefish Mountain Resort in 2010 is scheduled to be heard by a jury this November, nearly five years after the accident occurred.
The family of Niclas Waschle, the 16-year-old foreign exchange student from Germany who died after falling headfirst into a tree well, sued the ski area in December 2013, along with his host family from Columbia Falls and the company that coordinated his student exchange program.
An eight-member jury trial is scheduled for Nov. 30 in the U.S. District Court in Missoula.
Waschle’s parents, Patricia Birkhold-Waschle and Raimund Waschle, are plaintiffs in the lawsuit. They are represented by Great Falls attorney Steven Johnson.
Defendants are Whitefish Mountain Resort, World Experience Teenage Student Exchange and Columbia Falls residents Fred and Lynne Vanhorn.
The ski resort is represented by Kalispell attorney Mikel Moore. Missoula attorneys Mark Williams and Susan Miltko are representing the Vanhorns.
Waschle, a student at Columbia Falls High School at the time, was skiing near T-Bar 2 at Whitefish Mountain Resort on Dec. 29, 2010 when he fell headfirst into a tree well — a hollow that forms around tree branches in deep snow.
He was found and extricated by two other skiers who noticed his skis sticking out of the snow. A nurse nearby performed CPR until ski patrol arrived.
Waschle died three days later at Kalispell Regional Medical Center after he was removed from life support. Doctors declared Waschle brain dead as the result of asphyxiation and suffocation.
The lawsuit alleges the area where Waschle was skiing wasn’t restricted or blocked off in any way, nor were any warning notices posted regarding the dangers of tree wells.
The complaint argues Whitefish Mountain Resort had the duty to mitigate or eliminate the danger of tree wells near T-bar 2, and that the resort knew of the risks posed by tree wells.
The resort contends the lawsuit is groundless.
The complaint also alleges negligence on the part Waschle’s host parents by exposing him to “unnecessary and unreasonably risky behavior” and argues World Experiences should be held liable for their alleged negligence.