Ski Safety Blog

A top Canadian brain surgeon and seasoned skier, Dr. Charles Tator, is advocating helmet use for all those who enjoy snow sports. Around the world traumatic brain injuries are on the rise, probably due to increased speed and acrobatics in skiing and snowboarding and helmets definitely save lives, says Tator, the foremost expert on spinal cord and head injuries in sports.

Head injuries are the most common cause of death among skiers and snowboarders. But 44% of skiing and snowboarding head injuries could be prevented simply by wearing a helmet. Despite these figures, helmets are not mandatory on North American slopes.
Helmets can prevent what Tator calls "the most catastrophic of brain injuries." They can prevent fractures of the skull and fragments of the bone penetrating into the brain, he explains. They can prevent blood clots from forming in and around the brain (the kind of injury that is thought to have killed the actress Natasha Richardson whose unprotected head hit the slopes.)
In a research paper co-authored by Tator, the rise in traumatic brain injuries coincide with the development of and acceptance of acrobatic and high speed activities on the mountains. Traumatic head injuries can be devastating and therapeutic interventions to restore neurological function in survivors may be limited.

Ski helmets can be single or multiple impact helmets (check the manufacturer's label.) They should cover more of the back of the head than a bicycle helmet. For exact specifications, go to www.thinkfirst.ca for invaluable sports safety information plus a video on ski safety , or www.lidsonkids.org.

Aspen Skiing Co. has required students 12 and under at its ski schools to wear helmets since 2002. "We strongly encourage helmet use by all our employees and guests, but we only make it mandatory for children 12 and under while taking lessons," Aspen spokesman Jeff Hanle said. "A child 12 and under couldn't be expected to make their own educated decision, and we decided to make it easy on everybody."

Vail Resorts now requires all its on-snow employees to wear helmets, the first resort to do so, and requires children 12 and under to wear helmets during group lessons. It joins the list of resorts tightening their rules on wearing helmets during ski and riding lessons, particularly for young skiers and riders.

Intrawest, which owns Copper Mountain, Winter Park and Steamboat, now requires all those under 17 to wear helmets in terrain parks and in ski school and issues helmets with all youth gear rentals. Next season, Intrawest will require all on-hill employees to wear helmets.

Other Colorado resorts, such as Powderhorn, take the route that stresses personal responsibility. The only mandatory helmet use is for instructors and students using the resort's terrain park.

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A man was arrested near Arapahoe Basin Ski Area recently after apparently trying to sneak in a few early-season runs. According to Summit County Sheriff's office, ski patrollers tried to stop the snowboarder at the top of the ski area after he allegedly hiked up Sundance run and boarded the Norway Lift. The man was told to meet with the general manager at the bottom of the mountain by the ski patrollers, but he snowboarded away and attempted to enter another lift line, causing a commotion.

When ski patrol told the man the Sheriff's Office was being called, the man "skied out of bounds and ran off into the woods," according to the report. Ski patrol pointed out the man's footprints in fresh snow to deputies near the side of Highway 6 at about noon. Deputies followed the prints to the man, who refused to stop after being told to do so several times.

"(The man) told me he didn't realize we were following him because he always walks down the ravine to head home to Breckenridge. There were no previous paths of footprints and the terrain was very dense and difficult to travel," according to the report.

Asked why he didn't buy a ski pass, the man said he did not have a job, though his wallet was found to contain $1,165 when he was booked into Summit County Jail. Charges against the man include theft of a $49 day pass to A-Basin, third degree trespassing, violation of the Skier Safety Act for skiing out of bounds, obstructing a passageway (for creating a commotion in the lift line) and obstructing a peace officer (for failing to yield to deputies' commands and instructions).

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Sadly, just before the Thanksgiving holiday week the first ski death of the 2009-2010 season occurred at Breckenridge Ski Resort. A 14-year-old Colorado Springs girl died Friday after a ski incident on intermediate Spruce trail at Breckenridge. The teen was reportedly "skiing very fast and into a tree," according to a press release from Summit County Coroner Joanne Richardson. The young victim was wearing a helmet, but the collision resulted in fatal injuries. Cause and manner of death are pending investigation but are related to blunt force trauma to the chest, according to Richardson.

A call came in to Ski Patrol at 11:48 a.m. and Flight for Life provided advanced life support before the girl was transported by ambulance to Breckenridge Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead, according to the press release.

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According to a report released in Innsbruck, nine out of ten skiing and snowboarding accidents involve only one person. Sports scientist Gerhard Ruedl from Innsbruck University's Sports Sciences Institute said a study based on 3,000 injured skiers and snowboarders last season found that just eight per cent of accidents on Austrian slopes involved collisions between more than one person. The scientist said another result of the survey was that more and more snowboarding accidents - one in ten in the past winter season - occur at fun (terrain) parks. Ruedl said skiing had the reputation of a dangerous sport, while only 1.2 to 1.7 in 1,000 skiers injure themselves every winter, adding that the risk of an accident had fallen by around ten per cent in the past ten years.

The Austrian Committee for Traffic Safety (KfV) recently announced they expected around 56,000 of the nine to ten million people skiing or snowboarding on Austrian slopes this winter to end up in hospital as 58,100 people had been severely injured during the last winter season.

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The new Rio Grande Scenic Ski Train hopes to run winter excursion trains to Winter Park as a successor to the Anschutz Co.'s Ski Train. The new ski train service is expected to operate between Dec. 27 and March 28, running as many as 50 round trips between Denver's Union Station and the ski town on weekends, holidays and other select days. The Rio Grande Scenic Railroad company also runs excursion trains in southern Colorado.

For months, Rio Grande Scenic has been negotiating terms of its takeover of Ski Train service with the Union Pacific Railroad, which owns the track, and Amtrak, which will provide operating crews for the new venture. Rio Grande Scenic still needs a final sign-off from Amtrak, but the company has moved forward with selling Ski Train tickets for the upcoming season.

Rio Grande Scenic Railroad's passenger cars and locomotives will be used, and tickets will range from $49 round trip for a coach-car seat to $99 round trip for a "premium" ticket -- an upper-level seat in the company's dome cars, which will also offer limited food and beverage service. Rio Grande Scenic will also sell a limited number of season passes for $600 a pass for the expected 45 to 50 days the trains will run.

Rio Grande Scenic's daily trains will have total capacity of 2,000 seats, more than double the capacity of last season's Ski Train, Ellis said. The typical run will have 17 cars -- two dome cars that seat 140 each and a mix of club cars and standard coaches. Rio Grande Scenic is collaborating with Winter Park Resort on special Ski Train promotions, Winter Park is offering special package deals that include a round-trip train ticket, overnight lodging and a lift ticket for $139 a day.

Travelers can get more information about the new Ski Train's schedule and prices by calling 877-726-RAIL or by going to riograndeskitrain.com.

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Everyone has heard the jokes about being a mile-high in Colorado ski towns, where alcohol in the open and illicit drugs in the shadows are perceived by many as the norm. But two weeks ago Breckenridge asked voters whether the possession of small amounts of marijuana should be decriminalized and the response was a resounding "yes."

But how the town's drug ordinance will impact locals is still uncertain. For business owners ever vigilant about the town's image, it raises concerns particularly for those shops dependent on a more conservative clientele. Resort managers and ski bums openly discuss the implications of the ordinance. The leader of the group that organized the petition drive leading to the vote, Sensible Colorado, said that Breckenridge, where 71 percent of voters approved the marijuana measure on Election Day, was the opening salvo in a town-by-town strategy toward the goal of a vote on statewide legalization within a few years.

Local efforts, said the group's founder and chairman, are now organizing or under way in two other Colorado resort towns, Durango and Aspen. And after the election, inquiries from Montana and Washington were made seeking advice on starting voter initiatives.
State and federal law still make marijuana possession a crime in Colorado, but residents here say that local enforcement has not been a high police priority.

A spokeswoman for the Breckenridge Resort Chamber of Commerce, said she thought that because of those other laws, little would change. But she said that some chamber members were concerned about perceptions -- that the statute could send a message of broader drug tolerance that could turn off visiting families, who remain a cornerstone of the economic base.

At Vail Resorts, a publicly traded company that owns the Breckenridge resort, a spokeswoman said she expected no change in management practices, claiming that resort employees were already trained to be "hypervigilant" in watching people for dangerous behavior from drugs or alcohol.

Whether the new measure will lead to more accidents on the slopes is yet to be tested.

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For those who can't resist pushing the limits of their respective discipline, only a fool denies that a devastating injury may result. If you avoid a deadly accident you may still be faced an accident that is not only career-ending, but life-changing.

While the emotional impact is undoubtedly difficult, the associated financial burdens to these athletes often creates extreme hardship. For anyone who has ever suffered a major injury or sickness, they know the burden that medical care in the United States can create.

Many top pro action sports athletes are currently competing without health insurance. They are categorized as uninsurable, due to the high levels of risk they undertake each time they participate in their sport. Xtreme Sports Insurance (XSI) out of Draper, Utah is now offering accident insurance policies for high-risk athletes. Starting at $17 a month, athletes can purchase a Level 1 individual policy. While the policy is still not enough in the event of a permanent injury, it's some coverage.

XSI doesn't cover basic medical checkups for illness or minor medical procedures, typically covered by a health insurance policy. However, XSI doesn't place restrictions on how the accident occurred. Whether it happened on the hill, or walking home drunk from the bar, you would be covered.

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Colorado Discover Ability, an adaptive sports program for people with disabilities enables physically handicapped skiers to learn to ski independently. Last winter 107 volunteers helped CDA clients ranging in ages, 4 to 75, learn how to ski, snowboard or snowshoe using adaptive equipment. Many volunteers return year after year. Last winter 161 clients participated in winter sports with CDA.

Currently, CDA has 50 volunteers lined up for this year's winter program. The organization would like to add more. Colorado Discover Ability is holds volunteer training sessions for people who would like to become an adaptive ski or snowboard Instructor at CDA's Adaptive Snowsports School at Powderhorn Resort. People who commit to the training can volunteer whenever it fits their schedule, Tuesday through Sunday when the school is open.

New volunteers who want to teach must commit to two days of training at Powderhorn. Trainees also shadow lessons with experienced instructors. Some instructors have volunteered with the program for 20 years. The organization also needs volunteers to staff its snow sports school office by handing out passes, answering phones, scheduling lessons, and greeting participants.

Clients' disabilities range from cognitive to physical, and include spinal cord injuries, cerebral palsy, traumatic brain injuries, multiple sclerosis, and Down's syndrome. For more information call 257-1222 or visit www.coloradodiscoverability.org.

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