lowell@fluke.UUCP (Lowell Skoog) (03/19/85)
Statistics: So far this year (through February), there have been
twenty-nine fatalities at ski areas in the United States. Of these,
two were avalanche-related. Eight were outside area boundaries. The
rest were in-area collisions. In half of these, the skier hit a fixed
object like a tree or a lift tower. In the other half, two skiers
collided.
Editorial: Due to equipment improvements, many of the injuries
traditionally associated with skiing have been reduced. Boot-top
fractures, twisted joints, and ski whiplashes are less common than
they used to be. Collisions, on the other hand, have increased.
To some extent, the newer equipment is to blame. With good boots,
reliable bindings, and ski brakes, inexperienced skiers are tempted
to ski faster than they should. This is only part of the problem
however. Experienced skiers have been involved in many crashes.
The biggest contributor is trail grooming. In the last few years,
ski areas have become much more thorough and skillful at trail
maintenance. Better skiing is the result, but unfortunately, skier
attitudes have not kept pace with the change. People are skiing
faster than ever before. At high speeds, even the best skiers
cannot avoid unexpected obstacles.
If you want to keep yourself and your friends from getting hurt, if
you want to keep insurance rates from driving lift prices even higher,
use some common sense:
o Ski so that you can avoid obstacles, both expected and unexpected.
Demand that other skiers do the same. Report offenders to the ski
patrol, and encourage the patrol to pull their tickets.
o If you insist on skiing faster than you can control, stay away
from other people. Stick to runs reserved for fast skiing.
Wait for the run to clear. Ski the sides. Have a friend act as
a spotter on jumps, rolls, and blind corners. Remember that
speed gives you no rights. Everyone downhill of you has the
right of way. Don't take anyone with you when you crash.
Skiing gives a feeling a speed and exhilaration like no other sport.
Unfortuately, the ignorance and/or arrogance of some skiers threatens
to spoil this.
Lowell Skoog, PSIA-NW
Seattle, Washingtoneugene@ames.UUCP (Eugene Miya) (03/21/85)
a timely article, i just got out of my casts [has it been that long?]. as one who hit a tree, let me add, you don't have to travel fast to get cremed by a tree. i was travelling less than 10 mph in moderately difficult, but tight terrain, and am an experienced tree skier. you don't have protection around you like a car, seat belts, and so on. on the other hand, if you want to be perfectly safe, do not ski. remove any doubt about possibly getting injured: don't ski, it's will say you pain, and anybody you run into [i think of my collisions as a beginner into people: agwh!]. i see in the news, two major accidents: the goldminer's daughter blew up [not directly related to skiing, but i work there one christmas season] and a big avalanche at park city. as for speed, i don't like speed, and don't ski fast. you cannot ski fast in trees, or avalanche terrain [it is not possible to out ski an avalanche, only to the side]. extreme skiing requires a one turn at a time attitude. in the tahoe region they have had at least two fatalities due to high speed collisions, and they recently enacted a hit-and-run skiers law which is being used to prosecute two people right now. my girlfriend was hit by a hit-and-run, and i'd clobber the guy who did it if i could find him. perhaps the problem is ski resorts, perhaps we should only have cross country skiing? --eugene miya
roy@hpmtla.UUCP (roy) (03/23/85)
Why should cross-country enthusiasts have to put up with the downhill morons. Your suggestion of keeping resorts and converting to cross-country does not sit well with me. Downhill ski resorts are a lot like mental hospitals - all the sick-os are concentrated in one area. Oh give me a mobile home, where the buffalo roam...
roy@hpmtla.UUCP (roy) (03/23/85)
Plant big trees on the ski runs? sounds great! We could have a big weenie roast when they burn down the condos!! Our forests are not amusement parks for rich Texans!
ed@mtxinu.UUCP (Ed Gould) (03/23/85)
> perhaps the problem [hit and run skiing] is ski resorts, perhaps we > should only have cross country skiing? > > --eugene miya In my experience, the problem is *much* more prevalent in California than elsewhere. In February, I had the pleasure to ski at Sun Valley, Idaho for a week. There, as well as in Europe where I went skiing two years ago, people stayed within their ability. I've also skied in Colorado and Utah, but there only for single days. Maybe the problem is that there are too many "kids" who get to ski here. The large Bay Area population that feeds the Tahoe area on weekends makes it relatively easy for less mature skiers to get to the slopes. The less accessable resorts tend to attract only more serious skiers - not the ones who get to ski for one or two weekends a year and still want to prove that they can ski the steepest, most difficult slope on the mountain. I've long believed that there were really only two ways that skiers got hurt - by skiing when too tired or skiing slopes that are more difficult than ability allows. It seems that I'll have take a more liberal view of this to include getting clobbered by other skiers who are either too tired or skiing over their heads. (At least, I believe, this accounts for something like 95% of injuries. There are times when good skiers in good shape get hurt, too. Sometimes, there are hazards that can't be seen. Skiing isn't perfectly safe in the best of all possible worlds.) -- Ed Gould mt Xinu, 739 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA 94710 USA {ucbvax,decvax}!mtxinu!ed +1 415 644 0146
seb@ahutb.UUCP (s.e.badian) (03/25/85)
REFERENCES: <938@vax1.fluke.UUCP>, <886@ames.UUCP> Skiers and ski areas are both responsible for fast-skiing. Now that most areas are well-groomed(like a snow carpet) skiers get this feeling they can ski real fast. You won't get caught in the snow, and there aren't any bumps to contend with. And skiers take advantage of this. I'll be the first to admit that I ski fast. I like the speed. But I won't ski fast if there are lots of people around. In fact, I'm almost too terrified to ski when there are lots of people around. I know my limits, but how about all of them! I also think it is unfair to blame just the fast skier. Some- times moving at all is too fast. How about people that stop in the middle of narrow trails? People who ski runs that are too difficult for them so they are all piled up all over the slope? People who stop in a blind spot? These people are dangerous too. Maybe people don't die, but it certainly diminishes the skiing experience to have to contend with people like that. All skiers have to be more responsible. That's all there is to it. Sharon Badian ihnp4!hocsp!ahutb!seb
jans@mako.UUCP (Jan Steinman) (03/25/85)
In article <886@ames.UUCP> eugene@ames.UUCP (Eugene Miya) writes: >perhaps the problem is ski resorts, perhaps we should only have cross >country skiing? > Keep the resorts, but only allow cross-country skiis! That usually slows people down a bit, and downhillers find it puts safe, moderate-speed excitement back into intermediate slopes! If it ain't worth telemarking, O_\ it ain't worth skiing. O / -- :::::: Jan Steinman Box 1000, MS 61-161 (w)503/685-2843 :::::: :::::: tektronix!tekecs!jans Wilsonville, OR 97070 (h)503/657-7703 ::::::
haas@utah-gr.UUCP (Walt Haas) (03/25/85)
Reckless skiing is unfortunately not confined to California.
The other day I was giving a friend a beginner lesson on the
Albion [read "baby"] run at Alta when some jerk yelled "Look
out!" and zoomed between us. He was totally out of control.
I caught up with him and read him the riot act. Alta has more
casualties on the Albion run than anywhere else, and I think
a lot of it is collisions - of course some of it is poor
physical condition and bindings adjusted wrong. I can only
recall once in recent years that somebody did something like
that to me on a reasonably difficult run.
There are, unfortunately, ways for good skiers to get hurt.
One friend was on STH at Snowbird when he blew out of his skis-
he slid down about 40 feet and stopped against a tree, with a
broken leg as the result.
It /is/ occasionally possible to ski an avalanche.
I have a series of slides of Ed LaChappelle skiing in an
avalanche, which I use in the avalanche course I teach for
the Wasatch Mountain Club. I also have a home movie of
Wayne Slagle attempting to do the same thing, and failing.
Incidentally, both of the avalanche fatalities here this
winter were caused by somebody skiing into an area clearly
posted CLOSED by the local ski patrol. There were numerous
skiers caught in avalanches, both within and outside the
various resorts, that were rescued alive. This is a
satisfying observation to me, since it implies that the
serious skiers are more knowledgeable and better prepared
than they used to be, so the fatal accidents are caused
by the small percentage of complete assholes, which seems
to be an unalterable constant.
Regards -- Walt Haas
ARPA: Haas@Utah-20
uucp: ...{decvax | ihnp4 | seismo}!utah-cs!haaseugene@ames.UUCP (Eugene Miya) (03/29/85)
> In article <886@ames.UUCP> eugene@ames.UUCP (Eugene Miya) writes: > >perhaps the problem is ski resorts, perhaps we should only have cross > >country skiing? > > > Keep the resorts, but only allow cross-country skiis! That usually slows > people down a bit, and downhillers find it puts safe, moderate-speed > excitement back into intermediate slopes! > > If it ain't worth telemarking, O_\ > it ain't worth skiing. O / > -- > :::::: Jan Steinman Box 1000, MS 61-161 (w)503/685-2843 :::::: > :::::: tektronix!tekecs!jans Wilsonville, OR 97070 (h)503/657-7703 :::::: Oh, sorry, misinterpretation! I meant, plant big trees on all ski runs, let them return to a natural state, and we can all X-C. ;-) --eugene