Utah native Catherine “Kasha” Rigby lost her life in an avalanche while skiing close to Brezovica, the only ski resort in Kosovo.
The 54-year-old skier, who was born in Vermont but currently resides in Utah, was engaged in a project known as Tour de Piste. She engaged in backcountry skiing at many ski resorts across the globe.
On one of those descents in Kosovo, an avalanche swept Rigby into some trees. It was referred to as the Eagle’s Nest. The Daily Mail claims that she passed away shortly after the collision.
Her fiancé, Magnus Wolfe Murray, was with her when it happened and attempted, but was unsuccessful, to revive her. First, news of her passing spread via Euronews.albania.
Rigby gained notoriety as one of the pioneers of telemark skiing in the United States throughout the 1990s. She transformed it into a quick, aggressive style that made her “the best telemark skier in the known universe,” according to Outside magazine.
She soon began to ski in high altitude locations beyond the Rockies and Alaska.
She was the first person to ski down Cho Oyu with telemark skis and has down 5,000- and 6,000-meter peaks in India, Kamchatka, the Andes, and the Himalaya. Nine ski-related films feature Rigby.
Hilaree Nelson, another lost legend, skied much with Kasha Rigby. Sadly, Nelson passed away in 2022 while skiing down Manaslu’s peak. In 2010, Rigby, Nelson Margaret Wheeler, and Alison Gannett accomplished the first ski descent of the Northwest Face of 5,982-meter Hanuman Tibba in the Indian Himalaya. They had perfected a 2,500-meter couloir.