Safety
Safety is a big problem in skiing. There were 57 deaths during the 2021-22 season and 53 catastrophic accidents causing paralysis, loss of a limb, or serious head injuries in 2022-23 in addition to all other sprains and broken bones. The effects of these devastating injuries to the victims and the people around them are told in the stories at the bottom of this page.
Based on the 18.6 percent of the deaths coming from collisions between participants in the Austrian study below, about ten deaths a year in the U.S. are from people colliding into each other. If this were aviation, large scale investigations would be looking for the causes and trying to find solutions. Airlines don’t say that flying is dangerous, so you are doing it at your own risk, that they are not responsible for your safety.
These risks are just considered part of the cost of participating on the slopes, but people don’t even know the cost because it is so hard to get statistics on the number of deaths and accidents. However, the problem can be see without any statistics on blue runs at busy resorts, this is where most accidents occur. It is hard to believe with the number of close calls and accidents that don't cause serious injuries, that the number of serious accidents and deaths is not much higher.
Speed
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People cannot drive without training and testing, but they can ski any run as fast as they want without instruction or assessment. There is no license plate or way to identify who caused a crash when people do not stop. In serious crashes, it is sometimes assumed that no one was at fault, "it was just an accident". Maybe no one intends to cause a crash, but skiing out of control is something many skiers do because they do not know how to slow down, and the industry can fix this problem.
Most people learn from their family and friends or try to ski on their own. They assume it will be easy and they expect to soon be skiing bigger slopes like other people on the hill. Their friends take them to slopes that are too difficult which cause fear, frustration, or accidents. The result is only about 18 percent return which prevents the industry from reaching growth targets.The beginners who do return usually have control problem because they do not know what to do besides ski faster and go to steeper runs.
At the very least, resorts should provide more information to first timers about where to start, how to stop and turn, and when to know if they are ready for the next run.
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Demonstrate ability
Some resorts have programs for school groups that limits where students can ski until they achieve a certain level of ability. This could be done for other skiers with RFID technology that allows them progress to more advances slopes as their skills develop. Awarding pins and providing a leaderboard type of recognition in the form of a score would motivate participation. It is like a golf score that motivates people to improve as a fun challenge rather than a restriction. Discounts can be provided for greater achievements. Having the best safety record could be a competitive advantage for a resort. Our program provides skiers with a score.
Instruction for control
About 30 to 50 percent of beginners take a lesson, and only about 7 percent of all skier visits involve instruction, so few people are taking lessons. More instruction would make the slopes safer especially if they focused on helping guests to ski incontrol. It is the first rule in "Your responsibility code" but it is not worth having rules if people can not follow them.
The average skier only skis about 6 times a season, many are older, out of shape, and not athletic. They often just want to ski more of the resort with their family, they are not trying to become expert skiers. Our program focuses on the skills they need for better control.
Instruction content tends to be created by top instructors who are very enthusiastic about expert skiing. They attend an international meeting of instructors every four years called Interski. It traditionally focused on comparing instructors to find the best new technique. Instructors who represent their countries have to train very hard to develop expert technique.
There has been more interest in teaching lower level skiers at Interski recently, but there is still a strong interest in the newest expert technique. It is content developed by fit, athletic, enthusiast who teach mostly other instructors. The goal for a long time was carving fast on steep terrain. Some even have to be within a certain time of world cup racers. Their instruction programs tend to get skiers carving as soon as possible so they can one day reach the the goal of expert skiing. Long debates are made about the value of edging movements over steering, even though most guests lack the time, fitness, and desire to ski at this level.
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Technology solutions
Adding more video cameras may help to identify the people causing accidents when they do not stop. But people are often covered up and hard to identify.
Many people are already using apps to track their vertical feet, in some cases to earn pins, beat a friend, or move higher on a leaderboard. This is making the slopes more dangerous. But requiring people to use an app that could identify the person causing an accident and immediately turn off their pass if they are under the influence would make the slopes much safer.
People may act more responsibly if they know they are being tracked. It would interfere with the culture of total freedom, but guests have the right to enjoy time on the slopes with their family without being in a serious accident or killed.
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Stories on safety
The comments detail many more accidents
IS RESORT SKIING GETTING MORE DANGEROUS? - SeniorsSkiing.com
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Collisions with another person while skiing or riding
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https://www.mcquaidinjurylaw.com/skisnowboard-accident-statistics
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Fatal Collision: It’s Time to Act - SeniorsSkiing.com
Jackson Hole Skier Collision Death Ruled a Homicide | SKI (skimag.com)
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At least 16 people died on Colorado slopes this season
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This group is most likely to have a fatal accident
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Letter to the editor: It’s time for ski resorts to start putting up cameras | SummitDaily.com
Ski fatalities, while rare, show small but marked increase in recent years (bostonglobe.com)
Colorado ski areas: 5 years of crashes, injuries and hit-and-runs (coloradosun.com)
https://coloradosun.com/2023/09/06/fort-lewis-college-slide-with-respect-survey/
Has skiing become too fast and too furious? (telegraph.co.uk)
Hospital reports dramatic increase in accidents at Swiss ski resorts (iamexpat.ch)