Kasha Rigby Dies in Avalanche

American skier Catherine “Kasha” Rigby (54) has died in an avalanche in Kosovo.

Kasha was known as a pioneer of extreme Telemark skiing and for many first descents.

Born in Stowe, Vermont she skied as soon as she could walk and began telemark skiing as a teenager. While based in Crested Butte, Colorado she became involved in telemark racing and extreme-skiing competitions, joining The North Face Ski Team. She subsequently skied all over the U.S., Canada, South America, New Zealand, Russia, Asia, Europe, India and the Middle East, skiing first descents of some of the world’s most revered peaks.

Her many achievements included climbing and descending Choy Oyu (8201m) making the first telemark descent; a ski descent of world’s highest active volcano; multiple first descents along Gibb’s Fjord, Baffin Island; first ski descents of the Five Holy Peaks in Tavan Bogd (including Kuitan, the highest peak in Mongolia); the first ski descent of RFHP – a 2500m couloir in the Himachal Pradesh region of India; the first ski descent of Mt. Udina and Mt. Zimina, as well as the first female ski descent of Mt. Tolbachik. Kasha also skied 21 peaks in 21 days in Bolivia, made a first ski descent of Qornet as-Sawda and traverse of the Mt. Lebanon Range, made a ski exploration and descent of the highest peaks in Siberia and skied the Cotopaxi (5897m) and Chimborazo (6310m) Volcanoes of Ecuador …to name but a few.

Kasha died at Brezovica resort in Kosovo where she was caught in an avalanche.