Retired ABC News Pentagon reporter hits tree, dies at Keystone
By Tillie Fong, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Published February 7, 2008 at 12:30 a.m.
Updated February 7, 2008 at 9:38 a.m.
Photo by ABC News via KMGH/Associated Press
John McWethy, 61, a former ABC News correspondent, died Wednesday after a skiing accident at Keystone.
John McWethy, a former ABC News correspondent, died Wednesday after skiing into a tree at Keystone resort.
McWethy, 61, of Boulder, was pronounced dead at Summit Medical Center in Frisco.
The incident happened shortly after 10 a.m.
McWethy was skiing fast when he missed a turn, sliding chest-first into a tree, according to Joanne Richardson, Summit County coroner. He was wearing a helmet at the time.
The ski patrol responded and provided life support.
It was not known Wednesday who alerted the authorities or if anyone was skiing with him at the time.
The Summit County coroner's office has determined that the cause of death was blunt- force chest injuries and that the death was accidental.
McWethy moved to Boulder last fall.
He served as a correspondent for ABC News from 1979 to 2003, and was the network's chief national security correspondent from 1984 to 2003. He was at the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, when the building was struck by an American Airlines plane hijacked by terrorists.
McWethy retired from ABC News in 2003, and served as a special correspondent for ABC News from 2003 to 2006.
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February 7, 2008
1:10 p.m.
Suggest removal
fleetmack writes:
Does anybody know what run Mr. McWethy was on?
February 7, 2008
1:13 p.m.
Suggest removal
fleetmack writes:
nevermind, he was on Porcupine. To get to that run there are a lot of trees you have to go through but once you're on it it's quite the wide-open run. Sad deal.