Not to be left behind in the innovation game, The Canyons ski area is spending millions of dollars to reconfigure the mountain and add North America's first heated chairlift with a bubble shield that swings over passengers like a pair of orange goggles. Ultimately, the Canyons and other resorts in Park City hope to steal market share from Colorado, which draws three times as much skier traffic. Utah's resorts, have been waging an aggressive campaign to woo destination skiers for a decade now, with advantages such as double Colorado's snowfall and a short drive from Salt Lake City's airport.

The rivalry has not just been in marketing and innovation - The Canyons is owned by Toronto-based Talisker Corp., a closely held resort operator. When Talisker bought the Canyons two years ago for $123 million, Colorado rival Vail Resorts Inc. filed a lawsuit claiming it had a deal to buy the resort from now-defunct American Skiing Co. but lost.

The second bill, AB1652, was also was approved by lawmakers this week. It now requires ski resorts to develop and publish safety plans, and submit reports to state safety officials only when a fatal accident occurs. The ski industry had fought a an earlier version of the bill that would have required ski resorts to publish reports on how many people are injured or killed on the slopes, increase safety measures, and force minors and employees to wear helmets.
California has 32 largely unregulated ski resorts, including Heavenly Mountain Resort, Kirkwood Mountain Resort and Sierra-at-Tahoe. Data regarding injuries or fatalities occurring at ski resorts is only aggregated nationally by the ski industry associations; therefore, consumers are unable to get information about the overall death and injury statistics or the relative safety performance of individual ski resorts.

Numerous recent studies have found that traumatic brain injuries are the leading cause of injury-related deaths among skiers and snowboarders, and children in particular are at higher risk. A 2008 study conducted by University of Washington professor Peter Cummings concluded that the use of helmets could reduce the risk of serious injury in up to 60 percent of all accidents. Additionally, skiers and snowboarders who crashed or fell had a 15 percent reduction in the risk of any head injury if they were wearing a helmet. The Federal Consumer Products Safety Commission has found that more than 7,000 head injuries per year on the slopes in the U.S. could be prevented or reduced in severity by the use of a helmet. The CPSC study also showed that "for children under 15 years of age, 53 percent of head injuries would be prevented or significantly reduced in severity by use of a helmet.

To become state law, the governor must sign the bills by September 30th.

SKI REX hours are Saturday, Sept. 4 from 9am to 6pm and Sunday, Sept. 5 from 10am to 5pm. The final "tent" day is Monday, Sept. 6 from 10am until 5pm but the same deep discounts are available until Sunday, Sept. 19 at the following Colorado Ski & Golf locations:

• 2650 S. Havana, Aurora
• 7715 Wadsworth, Arvada
• 8100 W. Crestline, Littleton
• 2454 Montebello Square Drive (corner of Montebello & Academy), Colorado Springs
• Boulder Ski Deals - 2525 Arapahoe Avenue, Boulder

Perisher Ski Patrol, NSW Ambulance and Perisher Medical Centre staff promptly attended to the scene, where Meagher was pronounced dead of massive head injuries.
Meagher was a senior member of corporate communications firm CPR, and was previously employed as a journalist with The Australian, The Bulletin and on television at the Nine Network. He had a senior role in media and communications with the Australian Olympic Commission during the 2000 Olympic Summer Games in Sydney, and also served as an associate editor at BRW Magazine.

June 13 - Queenstown mum Janine Learmonth, 32, suffers a serious neck injury after being trapped by a chairlift safety bar at Coronet Peak

June 14 - Arthur Richardson, 60, from Christchurch, dies after his car veers off the access road at Mt Hutt and down a cliff when driving home from the mountain

June 23 - A 21-year-old female American student dies in hospital in Christchurch days after seriously injuring herself while skiing off-trail at Mt Hutt

July 12 - Christchurch woman Dimity Anne Tomkins, 54, dies after falling while skiing outside the boundary of the Mt Hutt skifield

August 6 - Snowboarder Nello Donaggio, 30, dies after sliding 100 metres at Mt Hutt and suffering multiple fractures and a major head injury

August 10 - An 80-year-old Japanese man dies at hospital in Dunedin after seriously injuring himself in a fall while skiing at Coronet Peak

The snow season is from June to October. Mount Hutt prides itself on and historically has been the first ski area, or ski-field as it is revered to in New Zealand, to open at the beginning of each season in the Southern Hemisphere.

Prior to this season, the resort had no fatalities since 2005. But it has been a deadly year for the ski area. In July, a 54 year-old woman died while skiing with her daughter outside the skifield boundary. A month earlier, a 21-year-old American woman died after injuring herself while skiing, also off-trail. And in June, a 60 year-old man died after his car veered off the access road as he was driving home from a day at the mountain.

Reports state that Ericsson had been acclimatizing on Pakistan's K2 for weeks, and had been waiting for a new weather window to make his second summit attempt of the trip. The Austrian news agency APA reports that Ericsson was climbing with female climber Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner when he slipped and fell over 3,000 feet off a steep cliff. Kaltenbrunner, who is trying to become the first woman to climb all fourteen of the world's 8,000-meter peaks without oxygen, immediately retreated down the mountain to safety.

A sporting goods manufacturer, Riddell, currently sells a similar type of football helmet, which measures impact data and sends this information wirelessly to the sidelines where computers are being monitored by coaching and medical staff. Riddell's helmet sells for $1,030.99.

A helmet often prevents an injury, but in the case that it did not, a 'smart' ski helmet would alert the skier to the severity of the fall. The ski accident that led to the death of actress Natasha Richardson last year is an obvious example of the benefit of such a helmet.

At this point, the ski helmet is a lab tool and not a consumer product. The helmet will aid in work to study traumatic brain injury - the kind that doesn't cause obvious brain tissue damage - within the first 24 hours of impact. The hope is to understand what is happening at the microscopic level in order to prevent potential brain damage.

Now in its second year, Woodward is expected to serve a total of 450 campers this summer -- triple the number that used the facility during the 2009 summer camps. Since its opening in February 2009, almost 10,000 people have developed their skills at Woodward for a total of about 25,000 sessions. The average age of a Woodward guest is 15, but the training center has hosted guests from 8 to 53.

Woodward at Copper is an off-shoot of the original Camp Woodward, located in Pennsylvania, it is a state-of-the-art training center known worldwide in gymnastics circles. Top-level snowboarders have been taking advantage of Camp Woodward's foam pits, tumbling strips, spotting belts and trampolines for years. With the opening of the Copper location, athletes can now train in the gym and on the slopes in one location.

The 35-foot-tall indoor jump replicates the largest jump in Catalyst Terrain Park. But instead of landing on snow, athletes gently plop down into a pit of thousands of bright blue foam cubes. Launching tricks into the pits and on trampolines before taking them to snow gives athletes a head start on critical aerial awareness and timing. This changes the learning process from "the huck-and-hope method" to a safe progression that begins with fundamentals and builds from there.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

Direct Travel Insurance warns skiers to read all the terms and conditions and make sure it covers you for the following:

• Medical and air ambulance costs including Search and Mountain Rescue


• Personal liability up to $3 million if you are the cause of someone else being injured (in the U.S. many homeowners policies cover personal liability for ski accidents)


• Piste closure cover - due to high winds, too much or lack of snow (make sure you don't have to prove that 100 percent of all local resorts are closed - 80 percent is more reasonable).

There are also safety precautions you can carryout to minimize your risk of an accident: Check the weather forecast if you're planning to go off-piste and make sure you tell someone where you're going; ensure you and your children always wear helmets; take regular rest breaks as most accidents happen when skiers are tired; and limit drinking on the mountain as alcohol can severely damage your coordination and reaction times.