This ski season saw a high number of avalanche fatalities, but also some miraculous survival stories thanks to avy-safety technology. There seems to be no question that airbags saved several lives this season. But, they also failed to save a few, proving that they’re not a guarantee in an avalanche.
A Dublin trial was unexpectedly halted last week after the judge hearing the case said she had suffered a similar accident. The case was brought by a woman injured in a skiing accident, the plaintiff had sued Traveldev Ltd, trading as directski.com, after suffering a severe break to her ankle while on a skiing holiday in Lavigno, Italy, in February 2009.
Now that Steamboat has closed for the season, only Loveland and Arapahoe Basin hang on to a ski season to which many are all too happy to say good riddance. With Colorado’s snowpack half its normal level, skier visits were down around 7 percent before a record dry March effectively killed the season.
It is not the type of lawsuit you expect to arise from running a ski resort. But the Aspen Skiing Co. has been named in a lawsuit claiming that it kept a vicious dog that bit a woman at the Gondola Plaza. The plaintiff, an Aspen resident, filed her lawsuit Monday in Pitkin County District Court, with claims that she continues to receive treatment for medical issues connected to the dog bite, which happened Sept. 18th. She has had multiple surgeries to her hand and resulting staph infections because of the attack, the suit says. Her medical bills have exceeded $200,000, and she has suffered lost wages and other damages.