ACADIA NATIONAL PARK – A 52-year-old Mount Desert man died over the weekend while cross-country skiing at night in Acadia National Park.
Park officials say Duncan Rosborough was found Sunday morning on the park’s carriage road system, near Paradise Hill. They say Rosborough was an experienced skier, mountain biker, hiker and canoeist who apparently died of natural causes.
Park ranger Ed Pontbriand said Rosborough, a former chairman of the board of directors for Ellsworth’s Down East Family YMCA, was found with his skis still in groomed tracks, his headlamp still illuminated.
“This was a very active, very outdoorsy guy,” Pontbriand said. “He loved living out here.”
Pontbriand said Rosborough left home shortly after 10 p.m. Saturday to ski the Eagle Lake loop of the carriage roads, which run throughout the interior of the park. When Rosborough failed to pick up his daughter by midnight as planned, his family became concerned and searched the park before leaving to find cell phone service so they could call 911.
Volunteers and park rangers formed a search party shortly after 3 a.m. Sunday, heading out on skis, snowshoes and snowmobiles. Rosborough’s body was found around 7 a.m.
One year and one week ago, 53-year-old Kenneth Leighton of Trenton was found dead in the middle of the afternoon on a snow-covered carriage trail near the south end of Eagle Lake.
“They were both found with their skis on,” Pontbriand said. “It was like they had died in mid-stride.”
Pontbriand said nighttime skiing within the park is not uncommon, particularly with abundant snow on the carriage roads.
“It’s a beautiful spot,” he said. “Passing away in a national park is not a bad way to go — better than (dying) in a hospital with cancer.”
Staff Writer Glenn Jordan can be contacted at 791-6425 or at:
gjordan@pressherald.com
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