A nature-loving doctor was killed in a tragic avalanche on Friday while he was skiing in Idaho, authorities say.

Ketchum, Idaho, resident Dr. Terrence “Terry” O’Connor was identified as the sole victim of the avalanche, according to the Idaho Mountain Express. The 48-year-old was skiing with a partner on Friday on Donaldson Peak when he accidentally triggered the snowslide.

The avalanche began at around 11:55 a.m, according to officials. In reports from authorities, O’Connor was referred to as Skier 1.

“While downclimbing to their ski descent, Skier 1 triggered and was caught in a small wind slab avalanche,” a report from the Sawtooth Avalanche Center read. “The slide carried Skier 1 downhill, triggering a second and larger avalanche.”

FATAL WYOMING SKIING COLLISION THAT KILLED LEGENDARY OUTDOORSMAN RULED A ‘HOMICIDE’: CORONER

The report added that O’Connor’s ski partner acted quickly to remove him from the snow and alert authorities.

“Skier 2 used a satellite communication device to call for help before descending the avalanche path,” the statement added. “She located Skier 1 with her rescue transceiver and probe pole. Skier 1 was buried under at least 5 feet of snow.”

“She dug Skier 1 out of the snow with her shovel and began CPR. Search and rescue teams responded and evacuated Skier 1, but he did not survive the accident.”

O’Connor and his ski partner were both experienced backcountry skiers, the Sawtooth Avalanche Center said. At the time of his death, O’Connor worked as an emergency room physician at St. Luke’s Wood River Medical Center.

3 DUTCH SKIERS KILLED IN AUSTRIAN ALPS AVALANCHE

The avalanche was accidentally triggered by O’Connor while skiing. (Sawtooth Avalanche Center via Facebook)

The Idaho EMS Physician Commission, which O’Connor was previously affiliated with, made a Facebook post expressing its condolences over the tragic death.

“Terry was an outstanding physician and played a pivotal role in the early days of the COVID pandemic really demonstrating the public health role of the EMS medical director within a community,” the Facebook post read. “His loss will be missed not only in the valley itself but throughout the entire state and region.”

O’Connor’s death sparked sympathetic reactions on social media, with many members of his community praising him for his service.

“A hero to all of us and a life lived with such grace and enthusiasm,” one Facebook user wrote. “Thank you [for] being an amazing example to all of us.”

“There is no way to understand a loss like this,” another commenter wrote. “He gave so much in so many ways. His worth cannot be measured or replaced.”

The avalanche took place on Donaldson Peak in Idaho’s Lost River Range. (Sawtooth Avalanche Center)

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Fox News Digital reached out to the Custer County Coroner’s Office for more information, but did not receive an immediate response.

A former roommate of the slain University of Idaho students has broken her silence for the first time, revealing the moment she realized her friends were dead and the final text she sent to them.

Ashlin Couch told KXLY that she moved into the doomed off-campus house on King Road in Moscow, Idaho, in 2020, with her friends Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen.

She moved out in May 2022 and Xana Kernodle took over the lease.

Six months later, in the early hours of 13 November 2022, Goncalves, 21, Mogen, 21, Kernodle, 20, and Kernodle’s boyfriend Ethan Chapin, 20, were stabbed to death inside the student home.

Two other female roommates were in the home at the time but were unharmed. One of the survivors – Dylan Mortensen – came face to face with the masked killer, dressed in head-to-toe black and with bushy eyebrows, as he left the home in the aftermath of the murders, according to the criminal affidavit.

In an emotional interview, Ms Couch recalled the moment that she received an alert that continues to haunt her.

It was a message from the University of Idaho, alerting her to a suspected murder on King Road – the address that she had moved out of mere months earlier.

She said she sent a final text to Mogen, asking: “Are you okay?”

“I remember, I think, getting a second alert or I had been driving home and I texted like our group of friends, and I just had said, ‘Has anyone heard from Maddie?’ And I remember, like my last text message to her was like, ‘Are you okay?’” she said.

“And I felt it like right then and there, I kind of just knew that something was wrong.”

She later learned what had happened to her friends.

Six weeks later, Bryan Kohberger, a criminology PhD student at the nearby Washington State University, was arrested at his family home in Pennsylvania and charged with the murders. He is accused of breaking into the home and stabbing the four students to death with a large, military-style knife.

Now, more than one year on, Ms Couch is still traumatised by what happened in what used to be her bedroom – and the thought that she could have been there when it happened.

“It crosses my mind more that that could have happened while I was there,” she said. “And, you know, you never know like how long someone is watching your house.”

For months after the murders, she said she was scared to walk to her car in the dark.

Now, she works to raise awareness and educate students on social media safety.

“I couldn’t even walk to my car in the dark for months after, you know, it happened,” she said. “Like, you just want to at least feel a little bit safer. And if we can help college students do that and just create more awareness of that and just help them feel a little bit safer knowing that something like this had happened, I think is helpful in any way.”

Ms Couch said she also wanted to honor her friends. As co-founder of the “Made With Kindness” foundation, she helped create The Maddie Kaylee Scholarship fund to help support the lives of college students while spreading kindness and compassion.

“I want to, you know, spread some kind of message and start something, help people, you know, just do something more with this life that we are grateful to still be living,” she explained. “I just wish that I could do is just give her one last hug just to be able to say goodbye.”

In May 2023, Mr Kohberger declined to enter a plea in the case, prompting a judge to enter his plea as not guilty.

Idaho prosecutors intend to seek the death penalty against Mr Kohberger.

In March, the Idaho Supreme Court denied a request from Mr Kohberger for his grand jury indictment to be thrown out.

A trial date has not been set.

An avalanche caught and buried a backcountry skier at Donaldson Peak in Idaho’s Lost River Range on Friday, May 10. The skier was buried under more than five feet of snow and unfortunately all resucitation attempts were unsuccesful and he died at the scene. The deceased skier has been identified by Idaho Mountain Express as Dr. Terence O’Connor, a local physician aged 48. O’Connor was a very experienced mountaineer, former ski patroller, ultra-marathon runner, and emergency doctor. According to Ski Magazine, he was at Donaldson Peak with his girlfriend.

On Friday, May 10 around 11:55 a.m., two experienced backcountry skiers were traveling on Donaldson Peak in Idaho’s Lost River Range. According to the Sawtooth Avalanche Center, the pair was climbing down to their ski descent, when one of the two skiers triggered a small wind slab avalanche. He was carried downhill and the slide triggered a second, larger avalanche, which buried him under at least five feet of snow.

The skier’s backcountry partner set off a call for help via a satellite communication. She was also able to locate her partner with her rescue transceiver and probe pole. She dug the other skier out of the snow with a shovel and initiated CPR. However, when search and rescue teams reached the site of the avalanche, they could only confirm the death of the backcountry skier.

Donaldson Peak is one of Idaho’s nine “12ers” with an altitude of 12,023 feet, making it the eighth-highest peak in Idaho and the seventh-highest peak in the Lone River Range.

This avalanche death marks the third avalanche death in the 23/24 season in the State of Idaho and the 16th death in the United States after two backcountry skiers died at Lone Peak, Utah, the previous day, Thursday, May 9. 

You might also like: