EDMONTON - A local skier is dead after a skiing accident in southern B.C. last weekend.
20-year-old Will Schooler was skiing with friends in Nelson, B.C. on Saturday when he hit his head. Schooler was an avid skier but wasn't wearing a helmet at the time.
A family member tells Global News that Schooler shook of the fall and completed a few more runs before turning in.
However, when friends went to pick him up sunday morning they found him unconscious. Schooler was air-lifted to a Kelowna hospital but never recovered from his brain injury.
The news has devastated Schooler's family and friends, as well as one of his former teachers who shared the young man's passion for the slopes.
"We hit it off right off the bat because I've been skiing since I was a little kid," said Leigh Vilbrunt, a teacher at Austin O'Brien High School in Edmonton. "(He was) a really genuine natural nice kid. He was easy, you could make him smile quite easily. he always had a smile on his face."
Family members say their loss serves as a reminder to skiers to always wear a helmet.
A celebration of Schooler's life is scheduled for December 10th.
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