A family is mourning the death of a woman who died while skiing in Big Bear this weekend.
Natalie Altieri died after slamming into a metal stairway at the end of a ski run Sunday morning at Bear Mountain Ski Resort.
"She was just beautiful inside and out,” said her mother, Beth Altieri. “She was talented in so many ways."
From their home in Canton, Ohio, she remembered her 21-year-old daughter.
"She just brought joy to everybody she was around."
Natalie Altieri was a third-year University of Cincinnati student who had come out to California for a fashion design internship in Los Angeles.
On Sunday, after dropping off her older sister Audrey at the airport, Natalie headed to Big Bear with a group of friends.
She was skiing down the mountain when somehow she ended up slamming into a metal stairway toward the end of her run.
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"Nobody witnessed it,” said her father, Bruce Altieri. “She must have come into a rail too quick."
Beth Altieri said they were told that her daughter likely had internal injuries, and that first responders were unable to find a pulse.
They are hoping to get some answers from an autopsy report, and said her organs are being donated to help save other lives.
Family members said Natalie Altieri was a recreational skier and it had been awhile since her last trip to the slopes.
Her father said that she loved LA and even called herself a California girl. In 2018, she was supposed to graduate from college.
Natalie’s parents are left heartbroken, after losing the youngest of their three children.
"Just hug your children and embrace the joy they bring to you because it's God's greatest gift," Beth Altieri said.