The 10-year-old suburban girl killed in a skiing accident in northern Michigan on New Year's Day has been identified.Delaney O'Connell of LaGrange and her family were skiing at Crystal Mountain Ski Resort in Michigan.On Wednesday, LaGrange, was awash in purple ribbon in memory of 10-year-old O'Connell, a fourth grade student at Cossitt School in LaGrange.Despite her young age, she was apparently a relatively experienced skier. O'Connell and her family were apparently regular visitors to the ski resort.O'Connell was taking lessons with an instructor on Sunday afternoon when she lost control and smashed into a tree. Though she was wearing a helmet, she suffered serious injuries and was pronounced dead Monday at a hospital in Grand Rapids, Michigan."It was a child, one who has been coming up here with her family for many years. So there's a relationship that many people here have with this family," said Brian Lawson with Crystal Mountain.According the organization Ski Michigan, serious injuries and fatalities are very rare at Michigan's 48 ski areas. The state has more ski facilities than any other state in the country besides New York.Nationally, there are also relatively few fatalities skiing. Last season, out of nearly 53 million ski and snowboard visits there were 39 fatalities. The majority of ski fatalities are typically in the northeast and western parts of the country where the runs tend to be steeper and longer.The family has planned a funeral for Saturday and has requested privacy.A representative from LaGrange School District 102 said that social workers and support staff will be at Cossitt School on Monday when classes resume after winter break. 

 Delaney O'Connell was no stranger to the slopes of Crystal Mountain, a ski resort in northern Michigan. Her family had gone there for years, a resort spokesman said, and on Sunday afternoon, she was taking a lesson on a hill judged to be well within her capability. 
 
 But as she took her run, something caused her to lose control and she slammed into a tree hard enough to damage the helmet she was wearing, the spokesman said. Two days later, Delaney, a 10-year-old from La Grange, died from what authorities determined to be a closed head injury. 
 
 It was the first ski school death in the resort's 60-year-history, spokesman Brian Lawson said Wednesday. 
 
 "This was just an instance where a string of variables came together in a tragic way, and there was an accident," he said. "That doesn't mean we won't take a look at what we do and see if there's something that could be done or if there's a better way. We'll certainly be examining it very closely." 
 
 The death left many in La Grange heartbroken, from the church the O'Connells attend to the school where Delaney was a well-loved, artistic and bookish fourth-grader. 
 
 "She was one who was always quick with a hug," said Michael Michowski, principal of Cossitt Avenue School. "Hers were sincere and spontaneous. It was representative of who this child was, for sure." 
 
 Through family friends, Delaney's parents declined comment. 
 
 Lawson said the O'Connells have been frequent visitors to the resort, and not just in winter. Delaney was taking a lesson Sunday on an intermediate hill, but had already shown in other classes that she had the ability to handle the terrain, Lawson said. 
 
 Delaney, the lead skier in a group of three students, was heading down the slope near a wooded area when she lost control and went into a tree, Lawson said. The instructor immediately called three ski patrol members — two of whom were also emergency medical service providers — to the scene, in keeping with the resort's emergency response protocol, he said. 
 
 Delaney was taken first taken to Munson Medical Center in nearby Traverse City, Mich., and later to DeVos Children's Hospital in Grand Rapids, Mich., where she was pronounced dead. Officials at the Kent County Medical Examiner's Office said Delaney died of an accidental closed head injury. 
 
 Though she was wearing a helmet, experts said the equipment is not always a lifesaver. Dave Byrd of the National Ski Areas Association said while they offer the most protection at speeds of 12 to 14 mph, most people ski at 20 to 30 mph. 
 
 Association statistics show that 39 people died in ski accidents nationwide during the 2015-2016 season, and 23 of them were wearing helmets. But those figures don't mean the equipment is pointless, Byrd said. 
 
 "They're really not effective at preventing fatalities, but they are protective for potentially serious head injuries," he said. 
 
 Dr. Adil Haider, a physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, said research has shown that helmets do not encourage skiers to take extra risks on the slope, nor do they cause spinal injuries during a crash, a misconception that has long plagued motorcycle helmets. 
 
 A medical group with which Haider is associated, the Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma, recommends that all recreational skiers and snowboarders wear helmets. Haider said nothing in recent scientific literature has contradicted that. 
 
 "I think they really do save lives," he said. 
 
 In La Grange, school leaders remembered Delaney as a happy and intelligent child. 
 
 "She was an incredible student, a wonderful girl, and this is a tragedy for her family and the entire school community," said Kyle Schumacher, superintendent of La Grange School District 102. 
 
 Michowski, the principal at her school, said Delaney was an artist and a writer, "articulate and very wise for someone who was only half-way through fourth grade … She loved leaving notes for her teachers. It was her way of communicating and making sense of the world." 
 
 She was an athlete, too, swimming with the Lyons Aquatics club. Head coach Casey Hnatiuk said the team might hand out purple temporary tattoos as a show of support during a February swim meet. 
 
 "We heard her favorite color was purple," he said. "We'll do something to honor her memory." 
 
 Annemarie Mannion is a Pioneer Press reporter. 
 
 jkeilman@tribpub.com 
 
 amannion@tribpub.com 
 
 Twitter @JohnKeilman 
 
 Twitter @triblocalam 

 A 10-year-old girl taking a ski lesson at a Michigan resort died Tuesday of a head injury after apparently losing control on the hill and crashing into a tree on New Year’s Day, authorities say. 
 
 Delaney O’Connell of La Grange, Illinois, was taken to the hospital after the accident at 2 p.m. on Sunday but died Tuesday of cranial cerebral trauma, or a closed head injury, the Kent County, Michigan Medical Examiner’s Office tells PEOPLE. 
 
 The force of the impact was so great “that it cracked her helmet and caused a serious brain injury,” her mother, Dawn O’Connell, wrote in a message posted on Facebook. “We are heartbroken.” 
 
 O’Connell added, “Life will never be the same for our family. We will miss our dear, sweet Delaney every single day.” 
 
 Delaney was in a class on an intermediate ski trail at the Crystal Mountain ski resort in Thompsonville and ahead of two other children and a certified ski instructor, resort spokesman Brian Lawson tells PEOPLE. Delaney, who had been attending ski classes at the resort since she was 3 years old, was classified as a Level 4 skier, “which means her skill and control far exceeded the terrain,” he said. 
 
 Though “she was a proficient skier,” he said, “she may have caught an edge or slipped a little bit. That’s when she struck a tree.” 
 
 It is unknown how fast she was going but “it’s clear there was loss of balance here,” Lawson said. The instructor “did exactly what she was supposed to do,” and summoned immediate medical attention, he said. 
 
 The girl was “unconscious, but alive” when paramedics arrived, Craig Johnson, Benzie County Medical Director, tells PEOPLE. She was transported to Munson Medical Center in Traverse City and then sent to DeVos Children’s Hospital in Grand Rapids, where she was pronounced dead, according to Lawson. 
 
 Delaney’s death was the fourth fatality in the resort’s 60-year history and the first child, Lawson said, which left the employees shaken. “It’s like they’ve lost a family member,” he said. “It’s been extremely difficult for them.” 
 
 RELATED VIDEO: Mom Who Fell to Her Death from Colorado Ski Lift Did Not Have Safety Bar Down 
 
 Fatalities at U.S. ski areas are rare. Of about 52.8 million skiers and snowboarders, 39 died last ski season, according to the National Ski Areas Association, a trade association. 
 
 Though “fiercely encouraged,” helmets are not required at Crystal Mountain or in Michigan, Lawson said. About 80 percent of people do wear them but New Jersey is the only state that requires helmets, calling for skiers or snowboarders under age 18 to wear the head protector, the NSAA says. 
 
 Evidence shows that helmets are “very effective” in reducing the rate of potentially serious head injuries, particularly at speeds up to about 13 mph, Dr. Jasper Shealy, an emeritus professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology who has studied ski-related injuries, tells PEOPLE. 
 
 At higher speeds, however — the average maximum speed was 27 mph in a study he conducted — the ability of helmets to prevent death drops, he says. 
 
 “If you hit a tree or another fixed object,” Shealy says, “you’re simply going to need more than a helmet to save your life.” 
 
 Still, he and other ski experts strongly recommend wearing one. “Wear a helmet by all means,” he says. “But don’t expect miracles.”
– A 10-year-old girl is dead following a ski accident during a lesson Sunday at a Michigan resort, People reports. Delaney O'Connell of Illinois has been skiing at Crystal Mountain since she was 3 and was with two other students and a ski instructor at the time of the accident. A spokesperson for the resort says Delaney was a Level 4 skier, "which means her skill and control far exceeded the terrain." The spokesperson says "she may have caught an edge or slipped a little bit" before hitting a tree. According to a Facebook post from her family, Delaney hit the tree so hard it "cracked" her helmet. Delaney was unconscious when she was taken to the hospital and later died of cranial cerebral trauma. "We are heartbroken," her family says. "Life will never be the same for our family, and we will miss our dear, sweet Delaney every single day." On Wednesday, Delaney's school was decked out in purple ribbons in her memory, WLS reports. Her principal tells the Chicago Tribune she was an "articulate and very wise" girl who "was always quick with a hug" and "loved leaving notes for her teachers." Delaney's was the fourth death in the 60-year-history of Crystal Mountain and the first during a lesson.