On February 13, the skiing world lost one of its best. Katherine “Kasha” Rigby died in an avalanche at Brezovica, Kosovo. She was 54 years old.
Kasha Rigby was a legend in the world of big mountain telemark skiing. Born in Vermont, she first began skiing as a teen, when she discovered telemarking and quickly made a mark as an up-an-comer. In 1995, she joined the North Face ski team, which allowed her to travel the world. In an issue of Outside Magazine from the fall of 1998, she was called “the best female telemark skier in the known universe.”
Rigby was the first to ski many of the tallest and most difficult peaks on the planet, including the Five Holy Peaks in Mongolia.
“She soon became known as a pioneering ski mountaineer,” wrote photographer/writer Mary McIntyre in a touching tribute to Rigby published in Powder magazine. She had a love for experiencing different cultures, and skiing first descents in the biggest mountain ranges of the world. She impacted generation after generation of skiers, so many of whom recall having posters of Rigby on their walls growing up. Pure and simple, she was a legend.”
The first news of the accident that took Kasha Rigby’s life came when The Kosovo Mountain Search and Rescue Service received a call for help in the “Eagle’s Nest” area of the Brezovica ski resort. It’s a zone that’s particularly prone to avalanches, so teams converged quickly. The avalanche wasn’t all that big — around 80 feet by 30 feet and on a 35-degree slope — but it picked her up and she was thrown violently into downslope trees.
“Rigby suffered extreme trauma to the chest during a skiing incident, where she was caught in a small avalanche,” wrote SKI magazine. The avalanche… led to a high-force collision with trees, resulting in massive internal bleeding and damage to her organs, particularly her lungs.”
Although her skiing partner and fiancé Magnus Wolfe Murray was able to reach her in under a minute, her injuries were grave. CPR didn’t work, and sadly, she died on the mountain.
Rigby’s impact on skiing and everyone she met was profound. Our condolences go out to family, friends, and anyone affected by her passing.
