Ski Safety Blog

Aspen Skiing Co. will try to attract more skiers this winter by renewing and expanding some of the discount packages it offered for the first time last season, Skico announced this month. The Skico will renew the Kids Stay, Ski Free package with lodges in Aspen-Snowmass. It offered the deal in March last season. It will be offered in March and April in 2011.

The Perfect Storm, a package that offered a fifth lift ticket and a fifth night of lodging after purchases of four of each, will also be renewed. The Skico and its marketing partners responded to the demand with deeper discounts than the resort traditionally offered. The Skico believes the deals helped spur business that was sluggish because of the recession. It reported its skier visits were up 4.3 percent from the recession-damaged 2008-09 campaign.

Posted by Linda Chalat at 4:21 PM | Permalink

A gondola at Whistler resort that collapsed, injuring a dozen people, went down because water seeped in and then expanded when it froze, ripping the structure apart says a report by the British Columbia Safety Authority. The authority has issued a safety order for all ski hill towers in the province to be fitted with drain holes by November to prevent any similar incidents.

Six gondola cars were damaged when they fell from the Excalibur line at Whistler Blackcomb in December 2008. Forty-three passengers were riding the lift at the time and surprisingly, most walked away with bumps and bruises. One person did suffer a fractured vertebra.

A number of lawsuits were filed against Whistler Blackcomb following the crash, but the safety authority's report avoided the issue of liability.

At the time of the collapse, the Excalibur gondola had been in service for 14 years with no serious incidents reported. Dozens of passengers were stranded for hours after the collapse on Blackcomb Mountain, which neighbors Whistler Mountain, the home of alpine events at the 2010 Winter Games. One gondola car hung over a creek as resort and emergency officials worked to stabilize the tower before they could attempt an evacuation. See Collapse of Gondola Tower at Whistler.

The safety authority's report cited a faulty design which was supposed to prevent water from seeping in, it is suspected that the water entered through a plate connecting the tower's upper and lower sections. The water then froze and the ice expanded inside the cavity, pushing against the walls and the plate, compromising the structural integrity of the tower and triggering the collapse.

The authority, which oversees the province's gondolas, ski lifts, trams and other ropeways, makes six recommendations in its report. The primary order is for all B.C. ski areas to ensure that towers have drain holes by November 1. Whistler Blackcomb has already put drain holes in its several hundred towers.

The report said although tests for water accumulation were conducted during periodic inspections of the tower, resort staff didn't detect any because the test method is dependent on the tester's knowledge of the tower construction. It recommends that manufacturers clearly communicate how to undertake an effective inspection, and called on passenger ropeway contractors to ensure safety bulletins are followed correctly. The safety authority also recommends improving its own communication process.

Posted by Linda Chalat at 3:59 PM | Permalink

Two skiing deaths within a month have prompted calls for helmets to be mandatory for everyone on New Zealand slopes. A woman died last night after she fell while skiing outside the boundary of the Mt Hutt ski-field. The 54-year-old woman was skiing with her teenage daughter on the southwest face yesterday when she slipped and fell about 500 meters over rocks, a Mt Hutt Ski Area spokesman reported. The woman was evacuated by helicopter to a nearby hospital where she died that evening.

Last month, an American woman died while skiing off-trail at Mt Hutt. The 21-year-old student slid about 130m and hit rocks before sliding another 30m.

As in North America, out-of-bounds areas are not managed by the ski resort operator, so people ski there at their own risk. For ski area employees, staff were given free helmets, which were mandatory or "highly recommended", depending on where they were on the ski area. The resort spokesperson noted that helmets are available to buy or rent, and he encouraged skiers to wear one.

The local head neurosurgeon Martin Macfarlane said he saw "more than several" people a year with brain injuries from skiing or snowboarding and that one or two would die each season. Macfarlane campaigned to make bicycle helmets compulsory in the early 1990s, and he wanted helmets to become mandatory on ski-fields. Making helmets compulsory could save lives and prevent long-term disabilities such as memory loss and paralysis.

The issue of wearing helmets came up during inquests into the skiing deaths of heliskier Llynden Riethmuller and heliski guide Jonathan Morgan held in Ashburton last week. Morgan was apparently knocked unconscious during an avalanche and was not able to use his AvaLung - a breathing device for use in avalanches - while buried. The coroner questioned experts on whether Morgan could have survived the accident had he been wearing a helmet. Department of Labor health and safety inspector David Bellett said the department recommended that all skiers and snowboarders wear helmets.

Posted by Linda Chalat at 3:41 PM | Permalink

Lift accidents in Colorado typically occur during the ski season, but during Aspen's Fourth of July fireworks five valley residents were on a wooden platform when it collapsed and fell 12-15 feet to the ground.

The accident happened on the "cow catcher," a ramp and net just below the top unloading platform of Lift 1A, where a group of people had gathered to watch the fireworks display, according to a Pitkin County sheriff's deputy who is also an Aspen Mountain ski patroller. Another deputy explained the incident as the structure simply gave way and fell to the ground, bringing its occupants with it. Two people were injured and one was sent to the hospital, then treated and released.

The incident initially created some confusion among emergency response personnel. The call came in to 911 from someone reporting that a balcony had collapsed with several people on in near Lift 1A. Aspen police responded to the Lift 1A condos, assuming that the only balconies in the area were attached to apartments or houses.

Officials then thought the accident had taken place on the deck of the old Ruthie's restaurant, which would have been more serious. The fire department sent its rescue vehicle and numerous personnel were dispatched up the mountain. Steep, rocky terrain that had become slick with rain added some challenge to the response.

Posted by Linda Chalat at 3:31 PM | Permalink

Have you noticed that ski season is becoming shorter with each year? The folks at Protect Our Winters have, and the nonprofit organization is working to spread awareness to winter sports enthusiasts worldwide.

Prior to this summer, Protect Our Winters, POW, which is based in the United States, has been focusing on educating and giving grants for clean energy to the mountain communities in the USA. This summer--or winter as it may be--the initiative has headed south.

POW has begun outreach programs in both Australia and Argentina, and hopes to have programs up and running in Chile and New Zealand within the next month. The organization has a wealth of supporters in each of these countries, as winter sports are an important part of life for people who live in the southern mountainous regions.

POW is a grassroots approach to climate change, sponsoring community based events, as well as giving out grants to promote environmental education. The supporters of POW in the Southern Hemisphere are what pushed the organization to expand operations beyond North America.

Programs are just getting underway in Las Lenas and Bariloche, Argentina, and Melbourne, Australia. In the U.S., POW has partnered with the Sierra Club to fight for legislation, and given out grants to support solar-powered schools and development of renewable energy sources.

Climate change is a global issue, and POW recognizes that the winter sports community is one of the first groups to see first-hand the effects. In 2007, pro snowboarder Jeremy Jones founded the organization. Support comes from all age groups, but particularly the young. More can be learned about POW at www.protectourwinters.org.

Posted by Linda Chalat at 3:25 PM | Permalink