Skier being treated for injuries

The Daily Inter Lake

The U.S. Ski Team racer who was hospitalized after a crash Tuesday on Big Mountain suffered a concussion, spinal injuries and a fractured pelvis.

Dane Spencer, a 28-year-old from Boise, Idaho, is being treated at Kalispell Regional Medical Center's intensive care unit.

According to Dr. Melinda Roalstad, the U.S. Ski Team's medical director, Spencer is being treated for a concussion, an injury to his second cervical vertebra and a fracture of his lower thoracic vertebra. Those injuries have been stabilized.

Cervical vertebrae are the spinal bones in the neck; thoracic vertebrae are in the middle of the back.

She said Spencer also suffered a pelvis fracture and is being evaluated for other injuries.

Spencer crashed Tuesday after going airborne on a jump known as the Launch Pad on the Big Mountain's Ursa Major downhill course. He was competing in the Doug and Rollie Smith Memorial Downhill.

He was treated at the scene by U.S. Ski Team Dr. Joe Pugleasa and Big Mountain Ski Patrol and transported by Big Mountain Ambulance to Kalispell Regional.

Spencer had finished ninth on Sunday in the first day of downhill racing at Big Mountain.

Spencer is a member of the U.S. World Cup "A-Team," a group of 17 men and women that includes Olympic standouts Bode Miller and Ted Ligety.