Snowmass Village, CO – A Snowmass ski patroller became the first avalanche fatality of the Colorado ski season on Sunday when a small in-bounds slide swept her off a cliff.

Patricia Hileman, 49, of Snowmass Village and a 26-veteran of the mountain’s ski patrol, was skiing alone in the permanently closed Ship’s Prow Glades area of Snowmass, adjacent to Upper Ladder, when the incident occurred. When she failed to check in with the patrol as scheduled a search was initiated around 12:45 p.m. on Sunday. Her body was located about 25 minutes later and she was pronounced dead at the scene.

Although Colorado leads the nation in annual avalanche fatalities, Hileman’s was the first such incident thus far this winter season. The Sunday incident is the second ski patrol avalanche fatality in the U.S. this winter following the death of an Alpine Meadows, Calif., patroller last week.