Ski Safety Blog

A Brooklyn assemblyman wants ski helmets to be mandatory. Assemblyman Felix Ortiz makes no apology for wanting to require the protective headgear at ski areas.

Those who favor mandatory ski helmets in New York argue it will reduce the number and severity of head injuries. Those against the law include the president of Ski Areas of New York who says the accident rate is below 2.6 per thousand visits that Ortiz claims.

The Democratic assemblyman has never skied, but believes very strongly everyone who does should wear a helmet. The helmet law would provide a $1,500 fine to the ski area for each customer without protective headgear and a $500 fine against the individual. Ortiz says the law would be enforced by officers with the Department of Parks and Recreation.

The ski area president argues requiring mandatory helmets places a financial and regulatory burden on ski areas. The mandatory helmet bill has been pending in the Legislature in previous years without passing. Ortiz was not making any predictions of better success this year.

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Last week three ski deaths occurred due to skiers losing control and colliding with a tree.

A memorial was held Friday for an Edmonton teenager who was killed during a ski trip in B.C. The 16 year old died Monday morning after he lost control and slammed into a tree at the Panorama Ski Resort near Invermere, B.C. The accident happened at the junction of two blue runs, described as being moderately-difficult.

And a woman credited with building Ontario's snowboarding regulatory body and organizing numerous competitions died after crashing into a tree while boarding near Markdale, Ont. on Wednesday. Jacqueline Anne Snarr, 48, the president of the Association of Ontario Snowboarders, went snowboarding that morning at the Beaver Valley Ski Club. Around 11 a.m., she went off the hill and into the woods, where she struck the tree. Paramedics took her to Markdale Hospital, where she died. Police said she was wearing a helmet at the time of the crash.

A young teen from Coppell, Texas was declared brain dead on Monday after an accident while skiing Sunday on the intermediate Latigo trail at Beaver Creek Resort in Avon, Colo. She lost control and fell over backward, slid off the run and collided with a tree. She was wearing a helmet. After the accident the young skier was taken to the Vail Valley Medical Center and later transferred to St. Mary's Hospital in Grand Junction. She was pronounced brain dead at the hospital early Monday afternoon.

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Breckenridge Ski Resort hopes to offer a new way to get down the hill. The resort has proposed to build an "alpine coaster," a 2,500-foot-long ride on rails that could be used both summer and winter, possibly even at night.

The proposed attraction would be located on Peak 8, above the Kids Castle, in a stand of lodgepole pine that now separate the Twister and Dyersville ski runs. Vail Resorts will go before the Breckenridge Planning Commission on Tuesday night to present the application for the coaster.

The ride is similar to an alpine slide, except that its cars run on steel rails instead of a solid track. The cars would be propelled up the track to the launch point, much like those of a roller coaster. Riders would be strapped into the cars and would have the ability to control their speed. The resort hopes to operate the ride June 1 through Sept. 15 and early November through mid-April.

The company plans to construct the ride this summer, pending approval by the Town of Breckenridge. The project would require the installation of about 3,000 feet of steel track, tree clearing on 0.6 acres, grading on 0.5 acres and construction of a 540-square-foot operations facility.

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Sadly, another victim has been taken by a Colorado avalanche. On Wednesday, a backcountry snowboarder was killed in an avalanche a mile west of Arapahoe Basin.

The Summit County coroner's office said he was a 20-year-old from Spring Grove, Ill., who worked for Breckenridge Ski Resort and had lived in Colorado since November.

The man was skiing with two friends, who were behind him and avoided the avalanche just before 3 p.m. The two told survivors it took them more than 20 minutes to get a cellphone signal and that they reached their friend, but he died later.

The Colorado Avalanche Information Center said the slide happened in a steep gully south of U.S. 6. It was 150 feet wide and slid down about 800 feet.

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A five year old fell from a chair lift and was dragged for several feet before the operator responded. His parents said a chair lift operator at the Sierra-At-Tahoe Resort wasn't paying attention when the boy fell out, resulting in his hips and thighs being in a cast.

The youngster, along with his brother, father and grandfather, took a skiing trip to the resort Friday. Just as they were reaching the end of their second ride up the Easy Rider Express chair lift, which is near the base lodge, the boy fell out. His father reported that when he looked over at the chair lift operator, she was looking down and didn't notice the accident until the chair had dragged him 10 to 15 feet.

An ambulance took the boy to a hospital with bruises and a dislocated hip.

The resort disputes the family's story, saying the operator did her job just fine. A Sierra-At-Tahoe spokesperson said the operator saw the boy fall and immediately hit the stop button on the lift. At that point, the chair passed over him. The operator reportedly then ran out of the lift shack to help the youngster and came back into the lift shack to immediately call ski patrol.

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The conditions on Mammoth Mountain Ski Area's Lincoln Mountain last Saturday were picture perfect. The week's storms had dumped more than six feet of snow, and this was a day for exhilaration - and risk.

But then, tragedy struck. At 1:30 p.m. Mammoth Mountain Ski Patrol were told that Erica Patterson, 43, from Hidden Hills in Los Angeles County, had become separated from her husband while snowboarding through the trees.

Ski patrollers searched the area and at 4:25 p.m. found Patterson about 50 yards off the side of a run in a tree well. Patterson was found when a senior ski patroller probed tree wells and first discovered her snowboard buried under the snow.

Tree wells - frequently found in the Western states and British Columbia where snowfall is heaviest - can suffocate much like a water drowning. The more a person struggles the deeper they sink. Without immediate help, the skier or rider can die quickly from suffocation.

Such deaths are called Non-Avalanche Related Snow Immersion Deaths. While 65 percent are from tree wells, the remaining accidents are caused by deep immersions into areas like snow banks. Many of the accidents happen during or after big snowfalls which also is when skiers and snowboarders are most tempted to leave the groomed runs in search of powder, often going into the trees.

Using the buddy system is one of the most important things an Alpine enthusiast can do when skiing or riding in deep snow.

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A December incident at Devil's Head Resort might lead to new national safety standards that would require resorts across the country to install new equipment on old chair lifts. Authorities say a lift at Devil's Head in Merrimac started rolling backward rapidly Dec. 17, causing frightened skiers and snow boarders to jump from heights of up to 40 feet to avoid being flung from their chairs at the bottom of the hill. A total of 14 people were injured, but none seriously.

Proposed changes would require that lifts installed before 1982 be retrofitted with a device that automatically activates the emergency brake when a lift begins to roll backward. The National Ski Areas Association, a trade group that represents the interests of the ski resort industry, also is active in developing ski lift safety standards that are adopted by government bodies nationwide to ensure the safety of the public.

The Devil's Head lift was not equipped with the automatic emergency braking device because it was built and installed in 1971. Guidelines adopted by the American National Standards Institute in 1982 require new lifts to be equipped with that device, but allows old lifts to be "grandfathered in."

ANSI is a non-profit organization that oversees the creation of guidelines for everything from construction equipment to bicycle helmets. The organization has accredited the ski resort trade group as a "standards developer" for ski lifts. Under ANSI rules, anyone is allowed to submit a proposal to change standards, Byrd said.

If the new standard is adopted, it could cause problems for resorts throughout the Midwest that have old lifts, because many of the companies that manufactured those lifts have gone out of business.

An inspector for Devil's Head's insurance company said the December incident occurred when a gear broke, disabling the lifts main brake, and backup braking systems failed to stop the lift from reversing directions.

Under state codes, resorts are allowed to have a qualified third-party examine their lifts annually, rather than a state inspector. Documents the Sauk County Sheriff's Department show that when the insurance company's inspector visited the resort prior to the ski season's opening, he authored a report requiring the resort to install the automatic braking device.

But when he listed the lack of that device as a code violation on reports he submitted to the Department of Commerce weeks after the incident, state officials would not accept the reports. They sent him a letter asking him to send new ones because the braking device requirement "is not contained in a Wisconsin adopted standard."

The device was not required when the Devil's Head lift was installed. And state codes, which incorporate ANSI standards, do not require that lift be retrofitted, said a spokesman for the Department of Commerce. Devil's Head has since released a statement saying it has voluntarily installed the automatic breaking systems on all lifts.

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