UCI Graduate Dies in Colorado Slide

A former Costa Mesa resident who was a UC Irvine graduate was one of two cross-country skiers killed in an avalanche of snow near Silverthorne, Colo., on Friday, authorities said.

Richard Hartman, 27, of Dillon, Colo., died after being buried beneath the slide for 30 minutes.

Tom Stewart, 28, also of Dillon, Colo., died Saturday when he was taken off life support at St. Anthony Hospital Central on Saturday. Two others skiers with Hartman and Stewart were unhurt.

Hartman had no pulse and was not breathing when he was removed from the snow. Efforts to revive him were unsuccessful.

The deaths were the 11th and 12th avalanche fatalities this season in Colorado, surpassing the number of avalanche deaths in 1986-87, when 11 people died in slides, officials said.

Nancy Hartman said Sunday that her son was a ski instructor for disabled children at the Keystone Ski Resort near Frisco, Colo.

“He worked with handicapped children. They loved him,” she said.

“His first love was the mountains and the outdoors. And he loved children,” she added.

Hartman is survived by his mother and his father, Roger, and his sisters, Laura Hartman of Memphis, Tenn., and Pamela Smith of Newburg, Ore.

He graduated from Estancia High School in Costa Mesa in 1983, and UC Irvine in 1988, majoring in economics. He moved to Colorado about two years ago, his mother said.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.