Featured Image: Ace Kvale
It’s a heartbreaking day for the ski community as we learn of the passing of Kasha Rigby. The Stowe, Vermont native was swept up in a small avalanche at Brezovica Resort on February 13. Conditions were challenging that afternoon, with overcast skies and cold temps. The avalanche began at the cornice, sending Rigby into a high-force collision with trees. Despite her partner Magnus Wolfe quickly reaching her and attempting resuscitation, Rigby unfortunately passed due to traumatic injuries.
Rigby was a force in the ski community. She began telemark skiing as a teenager, and at 22, she left Stowe for Crested Butte, Colorado, to compete in racing and extreme-skiing comps. From there, her accomplishments started stacking up quickly. “Rigby joined The North Face team in 1995, where she skied through the US, Canada, South America, New Zealand, Russia, Asia, Europe, India and the Middle East. She skied first descents on many of the world’s most revered peaks, including the Five Holy Peaks in Mongolia. She telemarked off the top of Cho Oyu with Hilaree Nelson and Willie Benegas in 2005, which was only the second and third time an 8000m peak had been skied by American women,” writes Mary McIntyre in Rigby’s memorial.
Over the last few years, Rigby had taken time off from skiing and was actively working to provide earthquake relief in Katmandu and assist the World Food Program with the Rohingya refugee crisis in Bangladesh.
In an Instagram post, Mark McIntyre writes, “You were always ready to chase the next adventure, and because of this, we shared so many wonderful times together, at home in Utah, in Iceland, in Canada, in Uganda, in Argentina and Chile… your first descents around the world inspired me to become the skier I am today. But even more importantly, the love, sparkle, and joy you brought to everything you did, and the people you cared about, and the world you cared about, is something I will remember and aspire to for the rest of my life.”
Join us in remembering and honoring one of skiing’s most badass women. Donations are welcomed via GoFundMe.
