A student walks across the Penn State campus.
Min Xian / WPSU
Avalanche near Breckenridge kills UNC president’s adult son who was a Penn State student
“One minute I was skiing and enjoying the powder, and the next minute I was riding what looked like a violent wave of whitewash.”
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The Associated Press
Min Xian / WPSU
A student walks across the Penn State campus.
The president of the University of Northern Colorado says his 22-year-old son was killed in an avalanche while the two were backcountry skiing near Breckenridge on New Year’s Eve.
Andy Feinstein told The Greeley Tribune that he and his son, Nick Feinstein, were navigating terrain outside the Breckenridge Ski Resort boundary when they were buried in the slide.
“I literally had to use my fingertips to dig out a pocket for me to see light and to dig out,” Feinstein said. “One minute I was skiing and enjoying the powder, and the next minute I was riding what looked like a violent wave of whitewash.”
A team with a search dog found Nick Feinstein’s body about two hours after the slide.
As a family, the Feinsteins frequently took part in outdoor activities like skiing, hiking, camping and fishing, and Andy Feinstein said he and his son were “fit and experienced skiers.”
Nick Feinstein’s sister, Rachel, described Nick as “the best big brother and role model” who taught her everything she knows about growing up.
“He was honest to me all the time, even when I didn’t want him to be,” she said. “I really want to emphasize not only how good of a person he was but how good of a big brother he was. … I will forever learn from him.
Nick Feinstein was studying enterprise technology integration at Penn State and was set to graduate in the spring.
Avalanches have killed three people in the U.S. so far this winter, according to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center, which tracks the deaths nationally.
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