Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — Autopsy results have revealed a Texas woman died in February because of a ruptured bowel sustained while skiing at the Steamboat Ski Area.

Norma Raye Teague, 63, died of respiratory failure after bowel content filled her abdominal cavity because of the rupture, Routt County Coroner Doug Allen said.

Allen said the toxicity of the bowel content caused the Spring, Texas, woman to experience respiratory distress and ultimately respiratory failure.

Teague died at Yampa Valley Medical Center two days after she suffered the abdominal injury.

Officials said Teague was vacationing in Steamboat Springs and went skiing Feb. 24.

Officials believe Teague ruptured her bowel that afternoon when she fell while skiing on Headwall, a beginner trail at the base of the Steamboat Ski Area. Teague ruptured her bowel because of "a hard 'skier-to-snow' fall," Allen said.

At the time, Teague did not notify the ski area's ski patrol of the injury and was not attended to at the resort by medical personnel.

Teague went back to her room but the injury prompted her to seek medical attention at the hospital.

Because of the injury, Teague underwent surgery but died of complications from the ruptured bowel, Allen said.

Teague's family in Spring, which is north of Houston, could not be reached for comment.

The woman's death is the first one at the Steamboat Ski Area this ski season. Last season, two men died at the ski area.

The death brings accidental skier fatalities in the state to 15. The mark exceeds the previous record of 12, which occurred in the 1998-1999 ski season.

Deaths have been reported at Aspen Highlands, Keystone, Snowmass, Breckenridge, Telluride and Monarch.

Prior to last winter, the Steamboat Ski Area went about three years without a fatality.

During the 1996-1997 ski season, a skier died on the mountain because of a heart attack. During the 1995-1996 season, two people died while skiing.