Ski Safety Blog

The National Ski Area Association reports that ski helmet usage nationwide has increased 140 percent since the 2003 season, when only 25 percent of skiers and snowboarders were routinely wearing a helmet. More importantly, 74 percent of children aged 17 and younger wear helmets while skiing and snowboarding, which represents a significant increase of 131 percent from the 2003 season.

The annual Demographic Study is compiled from more than 130,000 interviews of skiers and snowboarders nationwide, over the course of the 2010-11 season. The NSAA Demographic survey also shows that 91 percent of children 9 years old or younger wear ski helmets, 77 percent of children between 10 and 14 wear ski helmets, and 74 percent of adults over the age of 65 wear ski helmets. Skiers and snowboarders aged 18 to 24 typically show the lowest percentage of helmet use among all age groups. This past season, 48 percent of all 18 to 24 year olds interviewed wore helmets, representing a 166 percent increase in usage for this age group since the 2002-03 season, when only 18 percent wore helmets.

NSAA and its member resorts promote the use of helmets. NSAA recently revamped the Lids on Kids website, a site designed to provide parents with pertinent helmet safety information that includes new videos, fun games for kids, and simple helmet sizing instructions to help ensure a proper fit.

Posted by Linda Chalat at 2:47 PM | Permalink

The video was allowed into evidence by the judge, but it was not sufficient to persuade a jury that the Aspen Skiing Company employee was guilty of charges of reckless endangerment and third-degree assault. Though the former SkiCo lift operator slammed into a 7-year-old boy during an off-duty snowboarding run last March, the jury returned not guilty verdicts for both charges.

Travis Lee Huffman, 22, of Pfafftown, N.C., declined to testify on his own behalf during the daylong trial. The jury took about 90 minutes to deliberate on Friday afternoon. It took longer than that to put a jury in place, due to the extensive media coverage pre-trial. At one point in open court, 9th Judicial District Judge Erin Fernandez-Ely expressed her displeasure with the Aspen Daily News and other media outlets over their pre-trial coverage.

Many potential jurors who arrived at the courthouse at 8 a.m. Friday morning were said to have read a newspaper story about a Thursday court hearing to determine whether a video of the incident could be shown at trial. The same article was discussed here regarding the admission of the video and defense attorney's motion to dismiss the case.

Nedlin portrayed Huffman as a selfish risk-taker who ignored his SkiCo training and had no concern for the safety of others when he sought to "catch some air" by flying off a "blind roller" on the Green Cabin run at Snowmass ski area on March 12. Huffman crashed into a 7-year-old Brazilian boy who was learning to ski under the supervision of his father and uncle. The youngster was taken to Aspen Valley Hospital and treated for bruises, but survived the incident.

It would be interesting to know how much the video hurt the prosecution, as well as helping it. In the audio that accompanied the video, which jurors watched Friday afternoon, a man is heard to be shouting obscenities at Huffman: "F--- you, motherf---er! I'm gonna kill you!" But no charges were filed against the father and uncle because there were no witnesses to the alleged action, and the injuries of which Huffman complained may have occurred in the actual collision. Huffman was charged because there was concrete evidence of the act, the father's video recording.

In closing, Nedlin said Huffman made "a conscious choice to tuck himself off a blind roller. He wanted to hot dog a little bit." But Rubinstein inferred that the young boy's family was partly at fault for taking him to ski down a trail that wasn't kid-friendly. In the end, the jury found the defendant's version more credible.

Posted by Linda Chalat at 11:20 AM | Permalink

Travis Luffman, 22, of Pfafftown, N.C., is charged with reckless endangerment and third-degree assault, both misdemeanors, for allegedly leaping off a rolling hill blindly, and then crashing with a seven-year-old boy. The extent of the injuries suffered by the youngster are unknown.

One of the boy's relatives was videotaping him skiing at the time of the accident near the Coney Glade lift and turned the footage over to police. And now it is up to the judge to determine whether the video may be used in his trial. Deputy District Attorney Richard Nedlin has indicated his intent to show the video. But the lawyer for Luffman has objected to any attempt by Nedlin to introduce the video at trial without proper authentication. Judge Erin Fernandez-Ely of Pitkin County Court will decide whether the video is admissible during Friday's trial.

Luffman was on a break from his job with Aspen Skiing Co. at the time of the crash. He lost his job after the accident. He also has said that the boy's relatives assaulted him, punching and splitting his lip, hitting him on the head with a ski pole and breaking his goggles.

No charges were brought for the alleged retaliation because Snowmass Village Police Chief Art Smythe said at the time it was unclear if Luffman was attacked or was injured in the crash. Officers also weren't sure which of the relatives allegedly struck the defendant.

Posted by Linda Chalat at 3:23 PM | Permalink