UPDATE Nov. 30. Ryan Donald Moore, the 19-year-old Stateline man who died Wednesday after falling from a chairlift at Heavenly Mountain Resort, was remembered by friends and family Thursday as a well-liked, avid snowboarder.
"Ryan was very outgoing, very personable," Moore's father, Daniel Moore, said by phone from his Santa Ynez, Calif., home Thursday afternoon. His son was a "joy to be around," Daniel Moore added.
Ryan Moore attended high school at Santa Ynez Valley Union High School and moved to Stateline two years ago. On his MySpace page, he wrote that he "lived in beautiful Lake Tahoe because he loves to snowboard."
"He was moving away and growing up," Daniel Moore said, explaining his son's recent move. His son was "well-loved," he added.
"Right now, all of his friends are over. They are making a memorial and signing his bedroom door," he said. Daniel Moore and his wife, Denise, were at home Thursday.
Daniel Moore said his son bought his season pass for snowboarding a few days ago and was excited about hitting the slopes. He also loved other sports.
"He loved snowboarding," Daniel Moore said. "He wakeboarded in the summer. He loved to Frisbee golf."
Ryan Moore worked as a busboy at Lakeside Inn and Casino. He was popular, said Lakeside President Lon Rusk.
"He was a terrifically well-liked kid," Rusk said Thursday. "It's a tragic situation. He had a great attitude about life. He was a good guy, and he's going to be missed."
UPDATE by Jennie
Tezak and Elaine Goodman, jtezak@tahoedailytribune.com
A 19-year-old Stateline man died after falling 30 feet from the Dipper Express
chairlift at Heavenly Mountain Resort on Wednesday morning, according to the El
Dorado County Sheriff's Office.
Ryan Donald Moore fell from the chairlift at about 11:30 a.m. after leaning
forward to care for a leg cramp, according to a news release from Heavenly. The
restraining bar on the chairlift was not engaged, the resort said.
Moore was accompanied on the chairlift by another rider, according to the
sheriff's office.
"By all appearances, this was an accident," said El Dorado County
Sheriff's Lt. Les Lovell.
One engine company and a medical unit from the Tahoe Douglas Fire Department
responded to the scene. Moore suffered major trauma from the fall and was
airlifted by CALSTAR to Barton Memorial Hospital, the sheriff's office said.
Additional lifesaving measures were unsuccessful.
Moore was pronounced dead around 12:46 p.m.
Moore was not wearing a helmet at the time of the fall and landed on terrain
that was not covered with snow, said Heavenly Mountain Resort spokesman Russ
Pecoraro.
Heavenly encourages riders to use the restraining bar on its lifts, although
it's not practical to require every rider to do so, Pecoraro said. Using the
restraint is part of the skier code of responsibility, which is posted on lift
towers.
"We always encourage people to put the bar down," Pecoraro said.
"That's one of those things that's hard to police."
Pecoraro said the resort would evaluate possible changes to its safety policies
after the investigation into the incident is complete. He said Heavenly would
remain open for skiing today.
Moore was originally from Santa Ynez and was living in Stateline with roommates,
Lovell said.
He graduated in 2006 from Santa Ynez Valley Union High School, according to the
school's principal, Norm Clevenger.
"I remembered him after I saw a picture. He was a pretty nice kid; lived in
Santa Ynez and was a member of the golf team. This is a small community, and
there will be a lot of kids affected by this," Clevenger said in a phone
interview Wednesday night.
South Lake Tahoe resident Sara DeFrancesco was on the Dipper Express lift when
she looked down and saw someone surrounded by rescue personnel.
The man was in a rocky area that he couldn't possibly have skied into,
DeFrancesco said, and she quickly realized that he must have fallen from the
lift.
"It was absolutely terrifying to see him helpless there," DeFrancesco
said. "There was no question he was in serious trouble."
DeFrancesco, a 26-year-old snowboarder, said she hasn't always used the
restraining bar while on the chairlifts, but she will now.
"We don't need to be cool," she said. "We need to be safe."
- Tribune editor Paul Dunn contributed to this report.
