Safety
Safety is a problem on the slopes. 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 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 and they are not responsible, so do it at your own risk.
These risks are considered part of the cost of participation, but people don’t even know the cost because it is so hard to get statistics on the number of deaths and accidents. The problem can be seen on blue runs at busy resorts where most accidents occur. It is hard to believe with the number of close calls and minor accidents 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 way to identify who caused a crash if they 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. Their friends take them to slopes that are too difficult before they are ready. The beginners who do return usually have control problem because their goal has been to ski on bigger runs and go faster.
Beginners need to know what to do before skiing, where to start, how to stop and turn, and how to tell when they are ready for the bigger hills.
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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. Having a great safety record could be a competitive advantage for a resort.
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Technology
Adding more video cameras may help to identify the people causing accidents, but people are often covered up and hard to identify.
Many people are 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. Tracking skiers to identify the person causing an accident and immediately turning off their pass would make the slopes much safer.
People may act more responsibly if they know they are being tracked. It might interfere with the culture of freedom, but people have the right to enjoy time on the slopes with their family without being in a serious accident or killed.
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 it focuses 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. Teaching them expert moves is like putting a new driver in a race car.
Instruction content tends to be created by top instructors who are very enthusiastic about expert skiing. They attend an international meeting of instructors and compare the technique of top skiers. Instructors who represent their countries have to train very hard to develop expert technique, some are just top demonstrators. In a few countries they even need to ski within a certain time compared to a World Cup racer. This traditional approach can work for enthusiast but not as well for recreational skiers.
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Stories on safety
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The comments detail many more accidents
Collisions with another person while skiing or riding
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Jackson Hole Skier Collision Death Ruled a Homicide | SKI (skimag.com)
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Fatal Collision: It’s Time to Act - SeniorsSkiing.com
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IS RESORT SKIING GETTING MORE DANGEROUS? - SeniorsSkiing.com
https://coloradosun.com/2023/09/06/fort-lewis-college-slide-with-respect-survey/
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Letter to the editor: It’s time for ski resorts to start putting up cameras | SummitDaily.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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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)
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Has skiing become too fast and too furious? (telegraph.co.uk)
Hospital reports dramatic increase in accidents at Swiss ski resorts (iamexpat.ch)
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https://www.mcquaidinjurylaw.com/skisnowboard-accident-statistics