A 20-year-old college student died from injuries he suffered in a snowboarding accident at Spirit Mountain Recreation Area in Duluth Sunday afternoon, the area's executive director said Tuesday.

Derek Harms, a Winona State University student, was identified Tuesday afternoon by the Anoka County Medical Examiner's office. His family is from Illinois, the examiner's office said.

Harms was snowboarding with friends on one of the area's more challenging hills early Sunday afternoon when the accident occurred, said Executive Director Brandy Ream.

When he didn't make it to the bottom, his friends waiting at the end of the run went to look for him and found him on the ground near the bottom, Ream said.

Harms was taken by ambulance to a Duluth hospital, where he died later Sunday, she said. The medical examiner's office determined that he died from multiple blunt-force injuries.

The group was snowboarding in Big Air Terrain Park, Spirit Mountain's most challenging area for snowboarders. It makes a vertical drop of nearly 100 feet and measures roughly 450 feet in length.

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482