SNOWBIRD, Utah, Nov. 14 (UPI) -- Professional skier Jamie Pierre was killed when he was swept off a cliff by an avalanche while he and a friend were snowboarding in Utah, police said.
The friend escaped unharmed.
The accident occurred at mid-afternoon Sunday in the South Chute area of the Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort, which has yet to open for the ski season, The Salt Lake Tribune reported.
Pierre, 38, of Big Sky, Mont., was dead when rescuers reach him, Unified Police Department Spokesman Justin Hoyal said.
"The terrain is back-country conditions and should be treated as such," Hoyal said. "No one is allowed on the resort while it is closed. This is a sad and unfortunate situation to remind the public that these are dangerous conditions."
Pierre set a world-record cliff jump in 2006 at Wyoming's Grand Targhee Resort by dropping 245 vertical feet, the newspaper said.
