Acclaimed Free Skiier Arne Backstrom Dies in Skiing Accident

SEATTLE -- Acclaimed free skier Arne Backstrom has died in a fall on a mountain in Peru, his father said Friday.

Steve Backstrom told The Associated Press that he was notified of his 29-year-old son's death by rescuers and later by the U.S. Embassy officials.

Backstrom, of Olympic Valley, Calif., was the reigning Freeskiing World Tour champion and a rising star in the ski world.

He apparently had been leading some skiers down a mountain Thursday when he fell, said Steve Backstrom, a resident of the Seattle suburb of Normandy Park. He added that he's still waiting to find out more detail on how the accident occurred.

The elder Backstrom told Seattle's King TV that he's "naturally sad," but added his son "had 29 pretty awesome years and a very quick ending."

Clem Smith, who described himself as a close friend, said Backstrom was in Peru to film a ski movie for a Colorado-based production company.

"Everything's sort of secondhand on the cause of the fall," Smith told the AP in a telephone interview. "I know that he's in a really remote area that's really difficult to get to."

Smith said he spoke with two of Backstrom's brothers earlier in the day. His sister Ingrid Backstrom is one of the world's top female freeskiers and his brother Ralph Backstrom is a professional snowboarder.

"He's just the smartest, athletic, humble, stoic person. He was just a great example for everyone," Smith said. "It's a shame. We all thought he was immortal."

Smith said he plans to organize a memorial at the Squaw Valley ski resort in the Olympic Valley.

Squaw Valley was the site of the tragic death in February of noted professional free skier C.R. Johnson, 26, who fell and hit his head on a rock outcropping while taking a run down a steep chute.