Mother grieves son who died after 50-foot fall from ski resort chairlift: ‘Absolute hell’
LITTLETON, Colo. (KUSA) - A grieving mother is calling for change following her 32-year-old son’s death months after he fell nearly 50 feet from a chairlift at a Colorado ski resort.
Tonette Romero says the last few months have been “absolute hell” after her son, 32-year-old Donovan Romero, fell 47 feet from a chairlift and suffered a traumatic brain injury. He died months later.
“I want to see that this doesn’t happen to any other family,” Tonette Romero said.
The incident happened in December at Keystone Ski Resort, where Donovan Romero had been snowboarding. He did not have the chairlift restraint bar down at the time he fell, but he was wearing a helmet.
The 32-year-old father of two, who was known for his adventurous spirit, suffered a traumatic brain injury and never regained consciousness. He spent the last three months at home getting hospice care.
“They didn’t expect him to make it through the night, but he did. He did, and he pushed through for the next five months,” Tonette Romero said.
She was by her son’s side Friday when he died.
“As a mom, you don’t ever want your child to feel lonely. I wanted to make sure he would know it’s OK to go,” Tonette Romero said.
In the wake of her son’s death, Tonette Romero is channeling her grief into action, advocating for stricter safety protocols at Colorado ski resorts. She was surprised to learn that passengers are responsible for lowering the safety bar on chairlifts and believes that responsibility should fall to ski resort staff.
“It’s one small step,” Tonette Romero said. “If you’re not going to enforce the use of a safety bar, why do you have the safety bar?”
She believes a policy change could save other families from having to go through what she has.
“It’s a simple, easy fix,” she said. “In the long run, if it saves one person, why couldn’t you do that?”
Chairlift safety in Colorado is regulated by the state’s Ski Safety Act. It makes no mention of safety bars, and it doesn’t appear the state requires all lifts to have them. National standards have required all newly installed or relocated lifts to have restraint bars since 2017.
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