Florida man dies at Sugar Mountain while sledding on ski slopes after hours

SUGAR MOUNTAIN, N.C. — A Florida man was killed last week in a sledding accident at Sugar Mountain Resort.

Officials confirmed that John Joseph Nevins IV, 53, of Titusville, Florida, died Friday at Sugar Mountain Resort. The cause of death was blunt force trauma, said Sugar Mountain Police Chief David Henson.

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Kimberley Jochl, the resort’s marketing director, said Nevins went down Sugar Mountain’s Big Birch and Lower Flying Mile slopes at high speed while riding a plastic disk. He was found unconscious next to a snowmaking machine.

The plastic disk Nevins was riding on apparently hit the snowmaking machine, police said. Paramedics tried to revive him but he did not survive.

Jochl said the incident happened around 11 p.m., about an hour after the ski slopes closed Friday night. She said sledding is prohibited on the resort’s slopes.

Police said Nevins was with his wife and friend at the time, and that no charges will be filed.

*The Associated Press contributed to this story.