Qns. man in skiing tragedy
A vacation turned tragic for a Queens mailman this week when he skied off a marked trail at a Wyoming resort and froze to death in a treacherous canyon, officials said yesterday.
Edward Fitzgerald, 46, of Forest Hills, made a wrong turn Tuesday at the Grand Targhee resort in Jackson and got stuck in an area so remote that even rescue workers had trouble entering. Fitzgerald’s only chance came at about 7:40 p.m., when he made three desperate cellphone calls to authorities. But the signal was weak and he could not tell rescue workers where he was. He said only that he did not know how to use his GPS device before he lost contact.
“His message was very garbled because of the lack of cellphone coverage,” Teton County Search and Rescue Unit spokesman Doug Meyer told The Post.
“We didn’t really know where to begin to look for him.”
Fitzgerald, who was not dressed for back-country conditions, fell into a frigid creek. He got so soaked that hypothermia soon set in, Meyer said. “We’re just in shock right now,” his mother, Gail McCaul, told The Post yesterday. “He’s such a good man. He’s such a good person.”
The 20-year veteran of the US Postal Service worked on Long Island.
He had a form of mild autism called Asperger’s syndrome, but he never let that get him down. His family said he had earned a master’s degree in chemistry and liked adventure sports like skiing and skydiving.
“He was such a hard worker,” his mom said. “He never considered himself challenged. He didn’t want to be treated differently. He was incredibly bright.”
