Snowboarder loses leg after crashing into snowcat at Mammoth Mountain

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A woman snowboarding at Mammoth Mountain Ski Area lost her leg in a horrific accident Friday after crashing into a snowcat at the eastern Sierra resort.

Kathy Willhide-Michiulis, 43, was reportedly on her last run of the day when she crashed into the machine and became entangled in the spinning tiller behind it.

[Updated at 4:35 p.m.: an earlier post misspelled her last name.]

‘Her leg was gone,’ a resort employee, who asked for anonymity until investigators completed their work, told the Mammoth Times.

Ski Patrol members had to use a large wrench to free Willhide-Michiulis, a season-pass holder who also suffered facial lacerations and other major injuries.

Paramedics transported the woman to Mammoth Hospital, and she was immediately airlifted to a Reno hospital, where she remained Tuesday morning.

-- Kelly Burgess
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