An 18-year-old high school senior died yesterday in a skiing accident at Windham Mountain in the Catskills. According to state police, Erin Claire Malloy-McArdle lost "control while skiing and left the trail at a high speed into a wooded area where she struck a tree. She had not been wearing a helmet and sustained extensive head injuries as a result of hitting the tree." more ›

It must have sucked to be a downhill skier stuck in NYC during Blizzageddon, what with all that great powder lying around but no way to get to any ski slopes. But if you had some rope and a friend with a car, you could get your kicks all the same, without paying through the nose for lift tickets. Watch this lunatic get towed on skis behind an SUV barreling down Park Avenue in the snow: more ›

While the snow didn't really hit NYC (though it did bury parts of southern NJ and totally pummeled DC) as badly as feared, the snow festivities at Winter Jam went on as planned in Central Park. See, the Department of Parks & Recreation was prepared, with 10 inches of fake snow ready for skiing, sledding, snowboarding and more. Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe told the Daily News, "It's a good thing that we did not listen to the meteorologist." more ›

An Upper East Side man is suing the owners of his building for $10 million after his doorman allegedly left him with severe injuries following "a seriously misguided effort to be social." 55-year-old Glenn Reit had just gotten back from a ski vacation when he crossed paths with doorman Fred Rosario, who excitedly told him to sit down and "close his eyes and pretend he was skiing," an always ominous request. Rosario's ski fantasy for Reit turned out to be less Bode Miller and more Sonny Bono when the doorman began laughing and yelled, "You've hit a tree!" and according to the suit, "planted a forceful karate chop on the back of the plaintiff's neck," that has left Reit "substantially disabled." Reit claims the chop cost him $7,000 in medical bills from "a herniated disc, vertigo, neck pain, blurry vision and a concussion." Rosario denies any karate chop and describes his interaction with Reit as being more like an Atomic Sit-Up, where the tree was simply played by a slap to Reit's forehead. more ›

Following Natasha Richardson's death last night, the NYC medical examiner's office performed an autopsy and announced the actress died from an "epidural hematoma due to blunt impact to the head." The NY Times looks at how a seemingly innocent spill on a bunny hill could have killed the actress, who walked back to her room joking about her fall on Monday, and turned away an ambulance that was originally sent for her by ski patrollers. Sadly, the Times talks to a doctor who assumes "The most likely injuries would have been treatable had they been detected promptly." While funeral arrangements are being made at the Greenwich Village Funeral Home, Playbill reports that "marquees of the Broadway theatres will be dimmed [tonight] at 8 PM for one minute." more ›

Last night TMZ reported that Natasha Richardson's mother, Vanessa Redgrave, was seen entering Lenox Hill Hospital to visit her daughter sometime just before 9 p.m. Richardson, a Tony-winning stage and film actress was transported to New York yesterday after suffering a brain injury during a skiing accident in Canada. more ›

As previously mentioned, sad news of actress Natasha Richardson being injured during a skiing accident yesterday was reported this morning. Richardson, wife of Liam Neeson, was at a Montreal-area resort taking a beginner's lesson when she fell. While she didn't have a helmet on, the NY Times has word from a spokeswoman at the resort who said “She didn’t show any signs of injury, she was talking and she seemed all right.” But now the 45-year-old Tony-award winner is reportedly in critical condition with a brain injury. The latest word is that she is "sedated and suffering from brain swelling -- but is not brain dead." And TMZ has just reported that she was boarded onto a private jet with a medic team to be taken to a new hospital that they believe is in New York City. more ›