JACKSON, Wyo. — The skier who collided with Jackson local Peter Wuerslin on April 14 at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort (JHMR), eventually causing Wuerslin’s death, will not be charged with a crime, according to the Teton County Sheriff’s Office (TCSO).
After a lengthy investigation, detectives with TCSO determined that the incident was an accident and that Michael Shell, 31, the skier who collided with Wuerslin, 71, had not acted recklessly.
The incident occurred around 10 a.m. the morning of April 14. The two skiers were on Rendezvous Trail shortly before it intersects with Cheyenne bowl, with Shell skiing to the left of the run and Wuerslin to the right, when Shell turned right and Wuerslin turned left and the two collided, according to information gathered in TCSO’s investigation.
Wuerslin, who was a part-time ski instructor at JHMR, was eventually airlifted to the Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center, where he died from his injuries on April 17. Teton County Coroner Brent Blue determined the cause of Wuerslin’s death to be “intracranial hemorrhage,” or bleeding in the brain.
While Blue earlier determined Wuerslin’s death to be a homicide, TCSO found that Shell had not been skiing dangerously. By looking at the damage to the two pairs of skis, investigators determined that Wuerslin and Shell had collided at about a 60 degree angle, which “is consistent with two people turning into one another rather than somebody being hit directly from behind,” Sgt. John Faicco of TCSO told Buckrail. “This was extremely clear to us.”
Investigators did not have enough information to figure out what speed either of the skiers was going when they ran into one another, Faicco said.
TCSO detectives gathered information from JHMR Ski Patrol, medical experts and witnesses, which mostly included friends skiing with Wuerslin and with Shell, respectively. Investigators went back to the scene several days after the collision at the same time of day it had happened, when they determined weather conditions to be similar, to gather drone images of the area and better understand shadows and trail conditions.
“Keeping all these things in mind, we were able to come up with a pretty good understanding of what the terrain was like on that day,” Faicco said. That included more melted spring corn snow toward the middle of the run and icier conditions towards the side of the trail near the trees. It’s unclear whether Wuerslin might have been moving to avoid icier patches of the trail.
After a two-month investigation, TCSO determined that the evidence didn’t point to foul play.
Investigators considered several possible violations of the Wyoming State Statute, including reckless endangerment and reckless skiing, along with manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide, but ultimately concluded Shell did not meet the criteria for any of these crimes, according to Faicco.
“In order to convict somebody we need to prove fact beyond a reasonable doubt and right now the facts we have don’t show probable cause of a crime occurring,” Faicco said. He noted that Shell didn’t show any intention to ski recklessly and that he seemed to have been using sound judgment.
Because Wyoming does not have a statute of limitations, Faicco said the investigation will remain open and future criminal charges cannot be ruled out if more information comes to light.
