Lyndon Ellefson
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Vail Daily - July 11, 1998
Vail's Ellefson dies in Europe hiking accident
Vail resident Lyndon Ellefson, one of the pioneer mountain runners in the world, died Friday afternoon in a hiking accident as a result of a fall into a crevasse on Plateau Rosa in the Swiss Alps near the Italian border.
According to a statement issued by Swiss Mountain Rescue, the 39-year-old Ellefson was hiking with friends during a week--foot-long trip to Italy when he broke through a covered crevasse. He sustained massive head wounds resulting from the 75-foot fall into the waters at the base of the crevasse.
Mountain rescue from Zermatt, Switzerland was notified immediately. The 12-member rescue crew arrived on the scene by helicopter within 20 minutes. A medical support staff, including doctors, was unable to revive Ellefson after he was hoisted from the crevasse.
Ellefson, who was preparing for Sunday's Skyrunning World Championships in Cervinia, Italy, was airlifted by helicopter directly from the scene to a hospital in Bern, Switzerland.
Further intensive efforts failed to recive Ellefson, the statement said. Medical authorities established the cause of death by drowning.
Ellefson joined Vail Associates as a lift operator in 1981, and worked his way up to become lift operations foreman.
"It is a tragedy," said Vail Associates president Andy Daly. "We were incredibly saddened to receive the news of his death. He was truly a valued employee and a wonderful person. Everybody in the company will miss seeing him by the gondola and around the mountain."
Lyndon, a fixture on the world mountain running scene and one of the most accomplished athletes in the Vail Valley, is survived by his wife Tashina and two sons, Sylvan, 11 and Kjell, 7.
"Certainly he was an outstanding individual, he was an outstanding parent, he was a great father. This is a tremendous loss for the community," said Bob Armour, former mayor of the Town of Vail. "I am truly saddened. We pray for his family."
Vail Daily page 16 - July 11, 1998
Ellefson's legacy is a major one
While the global running community mourned the death of Lyndon Ellefson Friday, the local community mourned the passing of a man who had a smile as wide as his resume of athletic achievement.
Elefson, 39, died Friday in a crevasse fall in the Swiss Alps, just days before he was scheduled to compete in the Skyrunning World Championship in Cervinia, Italy.
"He was really a pretty wonderful human being, a a great competitor. We're all going to miss him a lot," said Loveland's Pablo Vigil, who had competed against Ellefson for more than 15 years, the last time at Sunday's Vail Hill Climb.
"I can't imagine anybody having anything bad to say about Lyndon. He was such an amicable person," said Vail's Mike Kloser, a mountain biking legend who frequently trained with Ellefson. "As an athlete I have the utmost respect for him. Now, I'll cherish the moments I had with him, whether it was training or just day-to-day life.
Former Vail mayor Bob Armour was a neighbor of Ellefson's in West Vail.
"Every time you saw him he had a smile on his face. He was always smiling. Life for him was really great," Armour said. "He had a passion and a love for life that I really admired."
Ellefson was a fixture throughout the world at athletic events of all kinds--Skymarathons, Fila Vertical Kilometers, snowshoe races. He was proficient at his training, and developed a friendly through competitive relationship with the world's elite runners.
"I'm still sort of in a bit of shock," said Vail's Dawes Wilson, a frequent competitor against Ellefson. "He's part of the town, he's part of the local athletic scene. It's just a sad thing."
Ellefson's legacy goes far beyond his individual athletic achievements. He spent tremendous energy on the organizational end of his sport, trying to get races sanctioned and drumming up interest among competitors, whether that meant convincing some locals to enter the Vail HillClimb, or getting some elite Americans to venture overseas for an international event.
"He was definitely one of the most influential people in getting mountain running going in the U.S., and in the history of the sport," said Jay Johnson, owner of The Boulder Running Company. "His personality, too...he was a real positive guy, always really gung ho about everything."
Johnson, urged on by Ellefson, took his running talents to Europe, winning a 1987 World Cup mountain running race in Switzerland.
In an interview with the Vail Daily in December 1997, Ellefson expressed why he switched from road racing to mountain running.
"I've seen some really great places, some really neat sunsets," he said. " Animals, elk, deer...I've run into herds of 50 to 60 elk in the middle of a forest. I run because I like it. I'm a mountain runner because I love the outdoors. I rarely run road races anymore, just because I love the woods."
Sunday, he would have been among the favorites in the Skyrunning World Championship. The event is a 26-mile race with an 11,550-foot vertical gain from Cervinia to the Breithorn in the Italian Alps.
Vail's Ellen Miller, part-time Vail resident Matthew Cull and former Vailite Matthew Carpenter, all elite athletes who were affected by Ellefson's dedication, were also in Europe preparing for that race.
"He was really excited about this trip to Italy. He was real excited about the fact that it was a race at altitude. He was in good shape. He was ready to go," Vigil said.
The people who knew Ellefson as a premier athlete knew him even more so as a premier person. That sentiment was echoed again and again Friday as his running counterparts expressed their grief.
"He definitely impacted a lot of people in a positive way. We're all going to miss him," Vigil said.
"He leaves behind a wife and two kids, and that's a really sad thing," Wilson said. "I know how much they enjoyed him."
"Lyndon was the personification of joie de vivre and good will, said nearby neighbor Cliff Thompson. I'll miss him. The neighborhood just won't be the same."
"It was all about having fun and enjoying life with Lyndon," Kloser said"..."We'll never forget him."
