Victim, 14, Identified In Skiing Accident -- Bremerton Boy, 3 Others Fell Down Icy, Rocky Chute

A 14-year-old boy who died Saturday in a skiing accident near the Stevens Pass Ski Area has been identified as Eric White of Bremerton.

Chelan County Sheriff Dan Breda said the boy, a ninth-grader at Ridgetop Junior High in Silverdale, Kitsap County, apparently died of head injuries.

The accident apparently took place after White and five other boys left the regular ski area at Stevens Pass and fell down a steep, narrow, icy chute.

Also injured in the incident, according to Breda, were David Dionne, 14, of Bremerton; Patrick Stevenson, 16, of Everett; and Peter Stewart, 16, of Snohomish.

White and Dionne were participants in the Central Kitsap Ski School, according to its director, Greg Cox. Stevenson and Stewart were enrolled in Lyons Ski School, based in Lake Stevens, according to Snohomish School District spokeswoman Marian Berge.

Stewart, who suffered severe head injuries and a broken leg, was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center, where he underwent surgery. He was listed in serious condition last night.

Dionne and Stevenson, who sustained concussions, were treated at Everett General Hospital.

Cox, Central Kitsap's ski-school director, said White was polite and well-liked. He and Dionne had attended school together for a number of years, Cox said.

According to statements taken by deputy sheriffs from the boys and other witnesses, the accident occurred roughly one-quarter mile

east of Stevens Pass Ski Area on U.S. Forest Service property.

White, Frederick and Story apparently rode a chairlift to the top of the Double Diamond run at Stevens, then skied east along the ridge, crossing ski-area boundaries. Along the way, the boys met up with Stewart and Stevenson.

The six boys then decided to ski down Avalanche Chute No. 9., a steep, rocky slope on Forest Service land, according to Breda.

According to the statement of one of the boys, the juveniles did not know they were outside the ski area.

However, Stevens Pass Ski Area general manager Merle Brooks said the boys had to pass boundary markers and that ``there could be no doubt they were outside the boundaries . . . and in a very dangerous area.''

According to the sheriff, White, Dionne, Stevenson and Stewart skied off a ridge, falling 300 to 400 feet.

Frederick, however, managed to avoid the fall and got help.

Heath Dawson, 14, of Seattle, said the area where the injured skiers landed was a ``thick forest, in the middle of this narrow pathway. It looked like an old stream bed or deer trail - and it was strewn with rocks and chunks of ice. The whole area was really icy, just like glare ice . . . It was a really bad trail.

``The Ski Patrol wasn't there yet and this one kid stopped breathing, he seemed to be choking on something, so we turned him on his side to get him breathing again,'' Dawson said.

Ski patrollers found White, Stevenson and Dionne unconscious but all with pulses at 11:33 a.m.

At 12:20 p.m., White's pulse stopped. Attempts to revive him with CPR were unsuccessful and he was pronounced dead at 12:40 p.m.

Brooks said conditions were extremely icy and slippery yesterday due to heavy rain earlier last week.

-- Times staff reporter Elouise Schumacher contributed to this report.