Five years ago, Stefan Ytterborn , a Swedish industrial designer, who has worked for Volvo and Ikea, brought his concerns about ski safety to Dr. Claes Hultling, an M.D. who devoted his practice to spinal cord injuries after a diving accident paralyzed three of his limbs. Ytterborn, 42, had one simple question: "How do we build a safer ski helmet?"
At 17,388 feet above sea level, Chacaltaya, an 18,000 year-old glacier that delighted thousands of visitors for decades, is gone, completely melted away as of some sad, undetermined moment early this year. According to Yale Environment 360 report the world's highest ski area Chacaltaya (which means "cold road" in Aymara) situated in Bolivia has ceased to function due to global warming. The snowcap where the ski area lays has melted down and now the area is barren and desolate.
Chacaltaya ski area was founded in 1939. A road built by courageous locals in the 1930's links Bolivian capital La Paz and Chacaltaya. The head of that construction perished in an avalanche in 1945 and is believed by Bolivians to be a victim of the snow gods disturbed by works.
The doctrine of primary assumption of risk is still very much the law in New York for skiers and golfers - but perhaps not for leisure bike riders. A New York appeals court has ruled last month that the doctrine of primary assumption of risk bars a claim filed on behalf of a teenage skier who broke his tibia trying to slide along a rail on the Whiteface Mountain ski area.
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