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Long-time Tofino resident Jack Bauer dies in ski accident

 

Longtime Tofino resident Jack Bauer, 63, died Saturday, Jan. 11 in a tragic skiing accident at Whistler Blackcomb.

"He and his partner were skiing along a path and he fell head-first into a tree well. His head was buried … they couldn’t resuscitate him,” said his former partner, Shelley Renard of Tofino.

A news release says the mountain's ski patrol, a paramedic and doctor responded to a tree well incident at about 11:15 a.m.

People tried reviving Bauer with CPR while he was being transported down the mountain, but he was pronounced dead at the Whistler Health Care Centre, the Times-Colonist reported.

Tree wells are holes or depressions that form around the base of a tree while snow builds up.

An avid surfer and a longtime owner of Tofino Charters for 30 years, Bauer developed a passion for skiing after moving to Vancouver three years ago, Renard said.

Bauer was well-known on the West Coast. 

“Jack and I came out in 1977. He already was a surfer at that time. From the time we were here in 1978 until he left in 2010, he was an avid surfer,” she said.

“He certainly supported the sport for his son as well,” Renard said of Bauer’s son Simon, a Tofino-based semi-pro surfer.

Bauer also leaves behind his son Nico Bauer of Tofino.

Following an autopsy report, a cremation in Vancouver is planned.

“His sons will spread his ashes over his favourite surf break on the West Coast,” Renard said.