Man dies at NC’s Sugar Mountain while sledding after hours down the slopes 

A Florida man died Friday night at Sugar Mountain Resort in the N.C. mountains after the plastic disk he was riding on apparently hit a snowmaking machine, police said.

John Joseph Nevins IV, 53, of Titusville, Fla., died after efforts to revive him at the scene failed, said Sugar Mountain Police Chief David Henson. The cause of death was ruled to be blunt force trauma, Henson said.

The resort’s marketing director, Kimberley Jochl, said the incident happened just after 11 p.m. Friday, an hour after the ski slopes closed. Sledding is prohibited on the resort’s slopes, Jochl said.

Nevins had descended Sugar Mountain’s Big Birch and Lower Flying Mile slopes at high speed while riding a plastic disk, Jochl said. He was found unconscious next to a snowmaking machine, but Jochl said the resort couldn’t confirm whether he struck the machine.