College athlete dies from tragic accident on ski resort’s most difficult trail
A 19-year-old college student died on Tuesday in Massachusetts after a skiing accident.
Alex Kemp, a Williams College freshman from New Jersey, was skiing at the Jiminy Peak Mountain Resort in Hancock, Massachusetts on Monday when the incident happened, the Berkshire County District Attorney's Office said in a press release.
Officials received a 911 call at 2:39 p.m. Monday about the accident, which took place on the left side of Cutter Trail.
"The caller indicated that Mr. Kemp had gone over an embankment and appeared to have suffered significant head trauma," according to the release.
Ski patrol were immediately dispatched to the scene and paramedics tried to save Kemp. He was transported to the Berkshire Medical Center and then later transferred to Baystate Medical Center for further care, but he succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead on Tuesday.
Kemp was wearing a helmet at the time of the accident, the District Attorney's Office said, adding, "There is no indication that drugs or alcohol were involved in the incident."
The Cutter Trail is a black diamond trail labeled "most difficult" and for expert skiers, according to a Jiminy Peak trail map.
Kemp, an avid runner, came to Williams College from Christian Brothers Academy in New Jersey, after being recruited to the cross-country team, university president Maud Mandel said in a statement on Wednesday.
"Alex was fearless and incredibly motivated as a runner, both in training and competition. But even when he didn’t have his own best day, he took sincere joy and pride in seeing teammates do well," his cross-country coach Dusty Lopez said in the university's statement.
"Our thoughts and hearts are with his family, his high school teammates and coaches, and everyone else who was lucky enough to know Alex," Lopez continued.
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The late student also aspired to complete a doctorate in computer science and was studying political science and economics.
"Alex was one of the strongest students I’ve taught in 21 years at the college," Dukes Love, a professor of economics who taught Kemp, said in the statement.
During high school, Kemp regularly volunteered, including at a camp where he helped teach children with disabilities to ride adaptable bikes as a step in their independence.
Kemp's own words in his college application essay included, "Everyone needs someone to root for them and to remind them to always root for themselves."
"That was the spirit described by so many people who knew him," Mandel concluded in the university's statement.