Widow sues over husband’s death at Heavenly: ‘an unnecessary and preventable tragedy’
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – The widow of a man who died at Heavenly is suing Vail Resorts over an incident that happened in March 2023, during one of the snowiest years on record.
Chanel Whalen filed the complaint for damages on Jan. 24, 2025, including a wrongful death action alleging her husband died as result of the resort’s negligence in managing the snow, calling it “…an unnecessary and preventable tragedy.”
The accident
The morning of March 1, 2023, Heavenly reported over 24 inches of snow in 24 hours. This was in the middle of a multi-day blizzard stint and one of the snowiest winters on record for the region.
That was the same day that Wesley Whalen of New York arrived at Heavenly along with a group. According to the court document, Whalen snowboarded with a GoPro attached to his body and describes the incident based on the GoPro’s footage.
The footage shows Wesley stopping while on a black diamond trail, seemingly to catch his breath, the document describes. The snowboarder moved to the side of the trail, likely in an effort to avoid being a hazard to other snowboarders, it says and clarifying that the stop was still well within the open trail.
It continues to reveal that Whalen started to slowly, but consistency, sink into the snowpack. The video eventually captures snow collapsing on top of him, filling the hole he had just created.
“Wesley was buried alive,” it states. He had slowly ran out of oxygen.
In the complaint, the attorney says rescue efforts were nonexistent, insufficient, inadequate and poor.
“By the time he was found, Wesley was dead.”
The document describes him as a skilled and experienced snowboarder.
He was 46-years-old at the time of the accident.
The allegations
The complaint reasons the large amount of snow made the powder pack significantly deeper and looser than typical and despite Heavenly knowing that these conditions increase the risk of powder collapse, failed to take numerous actions in response.
One of those failed actions was increasing ski patrols, which could have focused on particularly deep areas. The complaint continues to allege the resort did not place temporary fencing around trees in the middle of runs nor did it place warnings about the risk of cave-ins or tree wells.
Attorney Mike Guasco, representing Whalen’s widow, clarified to the Placerville NewsWire, “It happened around a tree well but this wasn’t really a tree well incident. It was a loose-powder incident with the risk of a cave-in.”
His complaint goes on to say that Heavenly’s blasting of the upper portion of the mountain made the issue even worse. “Combining this freshly loosened powder with the practically unheard of levels of precipitation created a significant increased risk of cave-in.”
It claims that the resort failed to warn guests of the blasting, “…meaning that even skilled and experienced skiers and snowboarders would have no reason to believe the sink risk was as high as it actually was.”
Assumption of risk
The attorney argues that Whalen’s assumption of risk is inapplicable since Vail unreasonably increased the risk of injury beyond those inherent in snowboarding by blasting, increasing the risk of a sink-in.
“Injuries from falls, colliding with other individuals on the mountain, and hitting obstacles such as trees are undoubtedly inherent,” it states. “However, being swallowed by snow as if sinking in quicksand is not intrinsic in snowboarding.”
Guasco reasons the resort compounded the risk by failing to warn of it, claiming if there had been a warning, Whalen could have taken precautions such as stopping away from trees, having a partner, as well as maintaining contact through a communication device.
“Instead, nothing was done. And as a result, he sunk into snow, as snow slowly covered him, as it became darker, as he was being buried alive, and as he slowly ran out of breath.”
The complaint does not mention the location of the group Whalen had come to the mountain with at the time of the incident.
The Tribune reached out to Vail regarding the lawsuit. The resort responded, saying it does not comment on pending litigation.
The complaint states that Whalen was an active member of the deaf community, providing mentorship, and advocacy. One organization he contributed to was the U.S. Deaf Ski and Snowboard Association.
According to the National Ski Areas Association (NSAA) snow immersion fatalities accounted for about 10% of all ski/snowboard fatalities in 2023/24, which was down from prior years. The ten-year average of skier and snowboarder fatalities is 42 per year in the U.S.
The primary causes of fatal incidents are collisions with trees and the snow surface itself.
The National Ski Areas Association says skiers and riders should make themselves aware of the risks that come with heavy snowfall and skiing off-piste or in glades in any conditions. You can learn more at deepsnowsafety.org.
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